“Ninety-nine percent of the books I’ve read, since I’ve started my [YouTube] channel, have come from BookTube. Every time I’m watching videos, I always have an Amazon tab open and I’m just adding books to my wish list,” says Riley Marie, 18, from the BookTube channel, Riley Marie.
YouTube’s motto is “broadcast yourself” and with over 11,574 views per second, according to Mashable, people on the Internet are well off to take advantage if they want their 15 minutes of fame. Amongst the fashion, music and beauty community there is also something else brewing: the BookTube community.
Vlogging, a video blog or video log in which the medium is video, has become the ultimate spotlight on getting noticed by companies in the last decade. From rising designers and singers, there is also a new community of writers and book lovers on the rise. Taken from the same name as YouTube, BookTube- where book lovers unite, is a new community that is getting fast recognition amongst publishing companies. BookTube is still a developing community, so its existence in the publishing community is very new.
“A few years ago there wasn’t an established communication between BookTuber’s and publishers but within this past year that has changed a lot,” says Marie.
In BookTube, viewers can find book reviews, monthly TBR’s (to-be-read, where the vlogger tells its viewers what they want to read for the month), monthly wrap-ups (where they tell their viewers if they accomplished their monthly TBR’s), book hauls (where they show their viewers books they’ve bought or books that publishing and book companies have sent them for reviews), amongst other things.
Although BookTube is only a few years old it has already opened a lot of doors to book vloggers. BookTuber’s are able to travel to book conventions such as BookCon: a book convention in New York City that combines pop culture and books. Other events they get to attend are Yall West, a book festival in Santa Monica, VidCon, a video conference in Santa Monica, where all YouTuber’s can attend, and BEA (Book Expo America) held in New York City (but will be in Chicago this year-- May 14th).
Working with publishing companies has its benefits aside from getting free books- arcs (advanced copies) and finished copies as well. “If I’m lucky sometimes, when I am able to, I get to go to some author parties and book launches. Courtesy of some publishing companies that I have worked with,” says Marie. Attending events does not guarantee that publishing companies pay for all or any of the accommodations. Ninety-nine percent of the time for BookTuber’s it is the journey and destination that makes it all worth-while.
Publishing companies are noticing the hype that BookTube is producing amongst the vlogging community and they want in. Companies such as Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Macmillan, Simon and Schuster, Disney Hyperion and smaller press, like Entangled Teen, are a few that are constantly mentioned.
“I mostly work with Penguin Random House,” says Marie. “They send me a monthly list of all their new releases and let me pick and choose which ones sound interesting and want to review. Whereas with the other publishers they contact me every so often just if there is a particular book they think I would be interested in.”
It is a lot easier for BookTubers to get acknowledged by publishers now than when BookTube first came into the scene. There are certain requirements that vloggers have to follow to work with publishing companies, like Penguin Random House and Harper Collins. Among those requirements is an unspoken minimum number of subscribers that they must have and what they discuss with their publisher.
“Sometimes they have specific dates that they want you to upload a review. But usually, there aren’t any specific requirements other than you are expected to do a review of the book they sent you,” says Marie.
Collaborating is a great tool that many, within the publishing and BookTube community, are taking advantage of. The advantages in collaborating between the two is the avid reader market that they get to reach out to. “The majority of people who watch BookTube videos are avid readers, and by working with BookTubers, publishers have direct access to this community.”
Is collaborating a huge success in both businesses? Marie seems to think so.
“I do. This past year, publishing companies have been working a lot more with BookTubers and taking a lot more creative liberties with them by doing fun projects and I think it is definitely paying off.”
BookTubers work with publishers has been an interesting experience for viewers across the web. From seeing new books before they hit the market, to being able to see their favorite BookTubers in person at events, for viewers, BookTube has open a new door for adventure and not only in the books they read. There are a lot of kinks that still need to be worked out between BookTuber and publishers, but one thing Marie hopes changes in the near future is the involvement of BookTubers in said events.
“When new books are released publishers will put together a blog tour to promote the book and I would love to see BookTuber’s featured on these tours.
