Books & Movies

Thoughts on Booktube + Booktuber Recommendations

October 16, 2019

I know I’m a writer, but hey, sometimes you just have to talk about books, okay? (Well, to be more accurate it’s more that I’m not into authortube — I really only watch one channel regularly *cough* Abbie Emmons *cough* — so that’s why we’re talking about booktube.)

Anyway, here we are.

Thoughts on Booktube

Booktube has been around long enough for the terms ‘booktuber’ or ‘bookstagram’ to become familiar to those who are present on social media. It’s really just a corner of YouTube for people to talk about books and reading and all that jazz — but although the community is gaining traction, they’ve never been as popular as visual artists or musicians.

From what I’ve seen, booktube is usually a family-friendly place (because you know, demonetization), but there are always exceptions. And like a lot of communities on YouTube, there’s almost always going to be some hot tea to spill beneath the surface.

Yet despite its pitfalls, booktube continues to be a place for readers to find other readers and get book recommendations (or be recommended books to steer clear away from). Most of the people there are nice and make their little corner of YouTube a much brighter place. And because of the attention it’s been getting recently, booktube has become a steadily growing community that is beginning to be recognized by many publishing companies and businesses. I’ve noticed that there can be some tension over major booktubers getting book deals more easily, but honestly, that’s just how publishing works and you can’t avoid it. Publishers like people with a bigger audience — it means selling more books.

Still, I haven’t exactly traveled around enough of booktube to know it more fully, but there are a couple of channels I like to visit every now and then. Many of these people have distinct personalities and open themselves to their audience in their own ways.

With that, I’m going to go into some of my booktube recommendations.

1. jessethereader

Jesse is probably one of the most well known booktubers in the community. He’s constantly coming up with new video ideas (including building a throne from books and decorating a cake based on a book cover) and his editing skills are amazing. Jesse specializes mostly in young adult fiction, but also pulls out the occasional adult read.

2. Merphy Napier

On the other hand, we have Merphy, who is a little bit of a smaller booktuber. She specializes mostly in adult fiction and fantasy, but I love her personality and she’s just such a down-to-earth and relatable person.

3. itsdivya

Divya has the most spontaneous uploading schedule, sometimes going for months on hiatus and then suddenly posting two videos in a week. Divya isn’t your typical booktuber, but her videos are generally quite fun.

Specializes in: primarily young adult but also adult and non-fiction

4. PeruseProject

I haven’t really been on much of Regan’s channel, but from what I’ve seen, it’s cool! Regan is incredibly bubbly and enthusiastic about books, and specializes in young adult (especially fantasy). Again, that’s just from what I’ve seen.