I'd find it hard to take a Booktuber seriously if they never expressed any sense of negativity towards some of the books they read, and I don't watch anyone I would describe as having a toxic positivity issue. I've seen it here and there, but I naturally click away from those kinds of videos. It's simply unrealistic to have no negative thoughts or emotions about books or authors and if someone is endlessly positive it makes them come off as if they're acting out a character on stage, and I question if they're even genuinely reading at all. That being said, since I've started making videos, I have found it difficult to criticize books. Facing the camera, it is hard to say negative things about a book or issues with an author, but I believe it's necessary if we want to foster a culture of honesty and genuine discussion, which is certainly what I hope to be a part of and what I wish to see across Booktube.
@@MustReadMore I agree with both parts of your response and I think we are similar in our approaches. Your first paragraph aligns pretty closely with what Kieran said in his video. I do find it difficult to be really negative about a book unless I go into a good deal of depth. So my wrap up discussions of books are usually either positive or mildly negative.
@@BookishTexan I've always found your reviews, positive and negative, to be fair and respectful to both the books and their authors, and that's one reason I've always enjoyed your videos. (Congratulations on publishing your book, by the way!) I do wonder if perhaps some Booktubers are overly positive because they don't quite understand how to criticize a work or what differentiates respectful criticism from an attack or an insult, which leads them to gloss over anything negative.
This is a really interesting discussion, Brian. I don't tend to do a lot of negative reviews, but I also don't think that I suffer from "toxic positivity." I don't think I talk much about books that I don't like. I don't actually read too many books that I don't like either. It's not that I DNF many books. I almost never give up on a book. I think I at least try to choose carefully. I do find, though, that when I review a book and I do talk about the things that didn't work for me or that I didn't like, people who loved that book go into overdrive to try to convince me of their opinion. Have you had that happen when you have been less than effusive about an extremely popular book? When judging BookTube books, for example, you have to have a #1 and you have to have a #6. I tried to be very careful in my reviews of all 6 in each round, all 12 all together in the two rounds I judged. I didn't trash my #5 and #6 in each round. I think I was judicious in my discussions. Sometimes, though, viewers become defensive about their favorites. I guess I can feel that way too about my favorites, though. I'm starting to ramble here. Sorry. One thing I tend to stay away from are videos that go for a provocative negative title where they are going to bash a book. That holds very little appeal to me. Anyway, very thought-provoking discussion, as always. Thanks.
Thanks for your comment Pat. You and a few other commenters have brought up the great point that most of us have gotten good at choosing our books and so we have fewer negative reading experiences. I do get push back on most of my negative reviews. I still have people leave comments on my negative review of McCarthy’s The Passenger calling me an idiot and trying to explain all the greatness I missed. I get a kick out of it most of the time.
@@BookishTexanoh my goodness! I can’t imagine anyone calling you an idiot! It also hadn’t occurred to me that people are talking about books positively to get free books. I think I can be very naive…
Thanks for sharing, Brian. There were a few articles this past week about how some folks (more frequently on BookTok than BookTube) engage in a positive feedback loop with publishers, algorithms, etc. and a trend towards declining media literacy, and I suspect a few of us are reflecting on this. There’s an impulse to be “Midwest Nice” when making videos because as you describe, an author puts an enormous amount of effort into actually creating a work. I find that if I am going to be negative it is likely on a book that has an established reputation rather than a new release.
That is interesting. I was not aware of those articles. I don’t understand why media literacy would be declining.with more exposure and more media. I wonder if what is being defined as a lack of media literacy is really just cynicism and an acceptance that everything is corrupt so why bother to figure out what is true and what isn’t.
I feel like I sit similarly to you. I don’t mind saying when I dislike a book but equally I do say “just because I didn’t like x for these reasons doesn’t mean you will feel the same”. With doing the book prizes so regularly especially, even the books that can be most disliked there’s always some people that love them. Example being Pod etc. I personally just don’t want to exclude people from being able to tell me when they have a different opinion to me.That’s what I am most mindful of. Also I don’t mention my DNF’s (unless it’s for a prize where I am talking about it regularly) mostly because I start and stop quite a few books and if I haven’t finished them or only tried a few pages then it’s I often feel it’s not worth mentioning. That’s the only area that maybe I should address or keep more of an active log on. It’s each to their own and we just all need to do and say whatever we are comfortable with. Interesting discussion and it’s good to hear your thoughts Brian.
I think we are very similar on this. I don’t usually mention DNFs and I almost always try not to give the impression that I think someone who likes a book I hate is just wrong (unless it’s Gemma🤓). I don’t think that’s toxic positivity, though it is a conscious decision to be more positive than negative.
The PR around books is something I find very fascinating. I work in Communcations/PR, so the way they distribute ARCs is really smart on the publisher’s/marketing end because they distribute these books in a way to create a particular discourse. I do get ARCs from time to time but not as many as others because I will share my honest opinions. I find that what I do get, they have studied my taste in books. I’m never going to get a Rooney book and I would never accept it because the review won’t be nice 😂 so what I’ve received, I generally like because they did thier research haha Great video!
Thanks for the great comment. I think publishers are very savvy about who they send what books and that using social media creators to promote their books is really cost effective. I don’t have much experience in getting books from publishers or bring approached by publishers. Most of the offers for free books seem to come from Indy authors and small presses that just send out mass emails to anyone with a channel. They are almost always offers to read books from genres that I almost never read.
I tend to discuss only the books about which I feel I have something to say. Now that I think about it, I often don’t explicitly judge them, either-just try to figure out what they are doing. Perhaps because I tend to read older books?
Good Morning cousin! I think for me wrap ups kind of force me to make a positive or negative pronouncement on a book because I see them as recommendation videos. I think people watch them to find out what I read and what I thought. For most books this the last thing I will publicly say about them. I do think there is more pressure (not sure that’s the best word) to pass judgement on recent books than older ones.
Yeah. I think with older books, it's fair to analyze what they accomplish. It feels different with new releases. Who is this book for, and does this have attitudes that belong to the 19th century are bigger issues in new releases.
A thoughtful address of these concerns; much appreciated. I rarely have a completely negative regard for a book because I realize that effort had to go into its composition and publication. And even if the book is not to my liking, it might be well be for another, and that's perfectly valid for them. The exceptions to these general approaches would be when a book is utterly repugnant from an ideological point of view. But even works that are problematic (such as 'Gone With the Wind') still might have merit for sheer storytelling or for historical or cultural import. Works of art are multivalent in their functions and values, and these in turn are historically mutable. On the subject of bad reviews, I can say that some of my favorite reviews from my single favorite film critic, Jonathan Rosenbaum (formerly of the 'Chicago Reader') are of those films he dislikes. The review can be instructive and even a pleasure to read in itself even if the work under discussion is unsuccessful.
I love a good, well reasoned and presented negative review. They can be the most useful. I agree with your entire first paragraph. Even with a book I hate like Gone With the Wind, I could appreciate the story telling and character development.
Thanks Brian, I’m glad to see a response to that video. I watch a lot of BookTube and KD's comments don’t reflect my experience. I watch to learn about books I might not otherwise hear about. I see both positive and negative opinions. I have fairly quirky taste in books, so I rarely assume I will agree with the consensus. Actually, I often feel like it's a dare not to. Sometimes I am wrong (I did love James), and sometime's I’m right (didn’t love DC, thought it was overhyped). I also find that some Booktubers are kinder about expressing their negative opinions about a book, which I appreciate. After all, it’s just their opinion. A well-constructed positive, or negative, opinion should be useful to help a reader judge whether they want to seek out a given book, or not.
Love your last paragraph and would say that is what I am shooting for. I do sometimes feel the pressure of positive consensus. Demon Copperhead is a good example. I thought it was good to ok, but may have been less critical in my review video because being an outlier in the book made me feel like it just didn’t speak to me the way it did others.
I am ecstatic that you did this video!!!! I would not know about being sent free books - is that a thing? I would say lucky them but I don't read many modern books which I guess these will be. I think there are some people who are part of the fabric of the modern book publishing industry who are pushing sales and there are people who are not and just talking about books they like. A lot of people just like to be nice. Best wishes with what you are reading and to your channel.
Thank you. I agree there is a division between what are increasingly professional booktubers and amateurs. As an amateur I do prefer talking about books I like.
I am another person who picks with care so my reviews are usually, but not always positive. Even if I am taking a chance on a book that might not be my cup of tea, I will at least have reason to believe it will be interesting. I wouldn't choose to do a standalone review about a book I felt had no value or interest. I can have the opposite problem to seeing only the positives in a book that others have enthused about, as I can be disappointed if my expectations were high and I will then be more critical. Never had a free book but have had authors I don't know personally comment a couple of times.
I've had a similar experience as you. I think it's important for viewers to distinguish "This creator loves every book they read" vs "This creator only talks about books they like." If my experience of work is negative, it's so often an underwhelming "Oh, I guess I didn't love that. That's a shame. Oh well, plenty of books in the library." It's only when I feel like my criticism has a tinge of "I would have loved this book if..." or "Based on my preferences I should have loved this, but...." In those examples, I'll probably make a video sharing my thoughts, but otherwise I don't think there's anything wrong with having a mostly-positive bias in the content we make.
@@readreadofficial Great distinction. Like you, I temper my opinion on books that just didn’t work for me as opposed to books I really disliked. And I am much more likely to find a book mildly disappointing than anything else. Thanks for your great comment.
Genuine criticism is a specialised skill that requires a great deal of knowledge and taste, whereas amateur reviews are often nothing more than personal opinion. No matter how negative an amateur review is, the author or publisher should not think anything of it. In fact, I think the lightness (not frivolity, but lightness) is the most appealing aspect of amateur reviews.
Very interesting discussion. I'm sure there are some booktubers that do the toxic positivity thing to benefit from it but I would think most don't. I do know some people purposely don't talk about books they didn't enjoy to avoid negativity in their content, but I think that's probably harmless. I personally find it interesting and helpful to hear why others didn't enjoy a book but nobody should feel obligated to talk about it if they don't want to. Poor Zelda, hope she gets better soon.
I don’t think many do the positivity hit gain either, but I can’t imagine that none do and I can see the temptation. Zelda is doing much better. Today is the last day in the blue collar
Great topic! The reason I started my channel was to talk about books I enjoy so I’m generally searching out books that I’m pretty sure I’ll like. If I truly dislike something, I’m probably not going to have the desire to discuss it. I don’t consider myself a critic so I’d hate to give the impression that I know enough to properly critique a book. As you said it’s subjective and all I can report is how I felt about the book but I definitely don’t hide any negative feelings that I have but I try to determine how or why someone else might enjoy it. I’m actually editing a somewhat negative video right now on a few books that I just can’t understand why they are so popular. No toxic positivity in that one. 😂😅
Excellent point about how booktubers looking for books they will enjoy and finding them probably contributes the most to why the majority of reviews are positive. And I think most of us feel like you about not being professional critics and being aware of the subjectivity involved in our reviews. Looking forward to your “negative” video🤓
I’m glad I have only gotten a few books from publishers. I think the danger is if you get free books it drives what you read. Instead of you picking your TBR, publishers do it.
Very True. I have watched innumerable videos in which booktubers lament not getting to arcs or other books sent to them. I think I would feel the same. Which, I think, proves your point about how books from publishers influence your reading.
Similar drama circulates around the board gaming community regarding the positive feedback loop of "publishers send free games to reviewer, reviewer gives glowing reviews, publishers send more free games to reviewer, etc." Things become really spicy when it comes out that a popular reviewer has threatened publishers with negative reviews of their games if money isn't sent! 😧
Yikes! That sounds worse than the book situation. I wonder if the gigantic booktubers ever threaten publishers with bad reviews or demand money for good ones.
I just joined booktube and I’m ignoring all the trends because I can’t stand the constant same trends of book hauls and top 10 lists every week and “I read 50 books this month” type stuff. I created my channel to not be negative but provide a different perspective on this platform and within the book community.
@@Thomas.R.Howell Almost every month is a designated reading month (for example this month is Victober in which people read Victorian lit and next month is Non-Fiction November). People will make videos introducing the month and the reading goals and you can join in to whatever extent you want. If you haven’t made the Booktube newbie tag I would definitely do that. It will help people find your channel. You can find the questions by just searching BookTube Newbie Tag.
@@BookishTexan Awesome thank you! So in regards to a "Tag" do I put that as my video title or as a tag in the hidden tags? Still learning the ropes of modern TH-cam lol.
@@Thomas.R.Howell Usually you make it the title of your video. I went to your channel and now I feel bad about giving you advice about building your channel.
Good, good, Zelda has arrived. Oh dear, what has she done? I see her wearing a collar ... oh, now I've seen your on screen explanation. Get well soon, Zelda
She only has to wear the blue collar for three more days😂. We take it off when she sleeps. She’s been pretty mopey. I was a little surprised she made an appearance in the video.
Love watching Zelda saunter into the room and cuddle up in her favorite chair. I hope her ear infection clears up soon. I tend to follow booktubers who are positive, but not in a positive for positive sake way. The reviews are constructive even if there are some negative reviews, and I'm always able to figure out from the review if a book is for me or not.
She is feeling better. We were able to leave the donut collar off until she started scratching this afternoon. Like you I learn a lot about what books I should try from the reviewers I trust.
If I'd had a channel 10 years ago my reviews would have much more of a mixed bag. My selection skills have improved so I just don't hit as many clunkers but I also don't refrain from negative reviews when it happens. I do have to wonder about some channels where the Booktuber seems to receive a weekly mountain of free books from publishers. Does that influence them and more importantly, how can I get in on that action?! 😄
This is the key that I think explains why so many of us only seem to post positive reviews. At some point your ability to pick books improves. I sometimes think I would want all those free books to, but imagine the pressure to read them all.😳
Would it be true, do you think, that we now have two different Booktube "worlds"? Most of the channels I watch regularly do few if any book hauls and they are honest if they do not like books. I see more channels appearing that have unique approaches, more low key
I think that division exists with some bleed through. I have yo admit that I am sometimes surprised when I discover that channels in our part of Booktube are getting dozens of free books from publishers. But I think those channels handle it well. One of the best things about the BookTube experience for me is the variety of channels and the variance in their approaches. I think it’s a shame that TH-cam creates a homogenized group of really big channels and requires a certain amount of uniformity to achieve big channel status.
Yes I saw the video you talked about. KD is a booktuber I follow almost religiously and the one I fawn upon the most haha. He’s introduced me to authors I was totally unaware of and is unafraid of diving into the works of the most obscure foreign-language writers. Another guy I like is an Aussie or maybe a New Zealander who makes even more frenetic vids than KD and will savage any book he thinks isn’t very good regardless of the convention wisdom. There’s a woman in Canada who mainly reviews horror and sci-fi/fantasy who seems to consume a huge amount of books but was honest enough to say she DNFs some of what she reads but will NEVER review a book she hasn’t actually finished. Be well..⚛️❤
I think Kieran is great though we do have different taste in books. I could never do what he does, but I have a great appreciation for it. A great negative review is a joy to watch, but for me not fun to make (well sometimes they are)
I think a lot of these videos Kieran makes are true, but only in the world of BookTube that exists to make money and is basically an arm of the marketing department. I don’t really watch mainstream BookTube, so I don’t think this is a problem. Most of us are experienced enough readers to generally pick books we are going to like, so negative reviews are naturally rarer (though I love a rant review). Publishers vary, and I think it’s nice when they send books to ‘micro-influencers’ and allow them to be honest, but at the higher level, they are essentially an advert.
Excellent point about most of us having developed the ability to pick books that we are going to like. I feel like I do a pretty good job which probably explains why some of my most negative reactions are to books that I read related to prizes. Thanks for your comment Aaron.
We're book enthisiasts, tp the exyent we set up channels to talk and enthuse about the books we like and spend a lfair chunk of our lives doing so. It's hardly surprising that many of these videos are infused with positivity. I'm always on the search for that next book that will blow my socks off, or at least blow my mind. Like you, I rarely receive free books, none from major publishers, usually only from authors directly. I don't think I've ever crucified any of these, if I really didn't like the book I would tell the author first and ask if they still wanted me to go ahead and review their book on video. But I do enjoy the chance to go to town on a poor book now and again, such as our Ms Rooney buddy read book.
I did relish my negative review of McCarthy’s The Passenger. Of course you are right about book enthusiasts enjoying talking about books we love. We are all searching for our next great read not our next terrible read. I get emails from independent authors and publishers from time to time offering me free book to review, but they are almost all in genres I really don’t read.
Not seen the video, but from your discussion i have to say, i think with the big channels it may be true, they may have been paid to say nice things. I tend to just get rid of books that i did not enjoy and actually do not think about talking about it and as i type you said my thoughts about the authors feelings. Plus the fact i only talk about 10% of the books i read tbh, i must get better at that. I stay away from hyped books and most of the time i am disappointed, learnt my lesson the hard way.
I have had some disappointing reads of hyped books this year. Some I read for prize reading and some I read because they were hyped. So I have had more negative things to say this year than most.
I do a book a week most of the time. Can't like them all and can't like everything about every book. Every once in awhile something might push a button and I might be jerkish about it. But otherwise it's just conversation.
People want free books? I looked at many of those new, shiny books. I read their first paragraphs/page/chapter and want to put them ALL in a garbage bin. How could one want free new books? Nothing good is being published.
I think we forget also that people tend to choose books they think they are going to enjoy - not many people set out to find books they won't find engaging. Hence its much more likely that we will see positive reviews. Having said that - people are also entitled to their opinion of Book tubers. If one thinks certain people are doing this just for profit, and for the wrong reasons - dont watch them! There are plenty of excellent content creators out there and it is also the responsibility of publishers and authors to make sure they are connecting to the appropriate ones.
Your first point is a great one. I think the ability of people to pick books they will like probably explains most of the positivity. And of course we should only watch channels that we like or feel are sincere. I’m do think there is some value in video creators reflecting on their own content and motivations.
Interesting thoughts. I try very hard to avoid books I don’t think I’m going to like so my reviews are probably mainly positive because I choose to read books I’m going to enjoy. I don’t get free books other than ones fellow booktubers have sent me and they usually send them because they think I’d like them 😊
That is a great point and one I wish I had brought up in the video. We are probably all pretty good at picking books we are likely to enjoy which naturally means most of our reviews will be positive.
My philosophy regarding reviews on my channel is similar to yours... But with the big difference that the majority of standalone reviews I do are for ARCs I have gotten (almost always from NetGalley, which is to say books I actively request, not publishers/authors offering). In almost every review I point out things in the book that didn't work for me for one reason or another. But if it isn't a book I can recommend by some metric then I just don't feel a strong need to make a video for it. I will mention it in my wrap-up videos, and I will leave a full length written (less than positive) review on Goodreads & The Storygraph, but I just don't feel especially compelled to exert effort to make a video to simply criticize something, unless there is what I see as an overall benefit. For example, my most recent video is for a debut author's queer gothic horror novel that uses Tibetan Buddhist ideas as the basis for the story's central complication... that review is longer than most of my reviews because while I enjoyed the writing and pacing and I appreciated a queer love story at the heart of this fantastical Gothic horror, there were depictions of Tibetan Buddhist ideas and culture that I found pretty problematic, and I thought that was useful to share. I am not a paid critic, this isn't my job, I choose what I highlight via review on my channel. Just this month there are two books I had planned in my schedule that never got video reviews because I didn't feel like I could recommend them... and, maybe more importantly, there are more than enough books out there that I can recommend, so at this point I just find more fulfillment in focusing on those...
I think you are right that we do agree on most points. I have made a few negative stand alone review videos, but I don’t think I would if they hadn’t both been books by authors who couldn’t possibly be affected by my review. If I got ARCs I think I would follow your example and just not make review videos about them.
@@BookishTexan It is definitely a different thing to be reviewing a famous author's work, for sure. Nothing to do with ARC or not, just with the status of the author. I think there are all sorts of valid reasons for critical reviews--it is just unusual for those valid reasons and my own reading habits to overlap. I am sure that won't be the case all of the time, but for now I just review books I think are worth sharing, and try to include honest critique as appropriate.
Yeah, because when I'm barmabared with the 100th video on why this flavor of the month romance novel is bad. My main thought is about how these people are being too positive. "Why do people like The Forth Wing?" Why do you keep asking? You don't want the awnser.
I agree with much of the sentiment below that KD seems to be watching different booktube than I/many others do. I think I am wise enough to realize when a reviewer is not authentic. And if he is talking more about Insta, TikTok, etc. then, yeah, um don't take your book advice from 30-second snippets from people you don't know! But what I really wanted to say is that I found it interesting that this is happening on booktube right now. I also follow a lot of fragrance content, and, without going into too much detail, one of the OG (and real) reviewers did a video on all the newbies who are being sent free bottles to do reviews. Shockingly, these reviews are almost all positive and notably qualitatively vacuous (because they have often not actually used the fragrances they are "reviewing"). This caused huge stir in fragcom with all sorts of reaction videos, etc. I suspect it's happening elsewhere too. Now that social media has become so big, anyone who wants to promote something can find a ready made audience with certain unethical reviewers who are willing to post positive reviews for free stuff.
Kieran included those other social media platforms so that could be right. Really interesting to learn that it’s not just book communities. I agree that almost all products could be hawked on social media and in the process corrupt social media creators.
@@KDbooks sure thing. In Rough order of favorite (and besides Bookish, of course!): Eric Karl Anderson/lonesomereader Benreadsgood Bobthebookerer Rororeads Russell/ink and Paper blog Supposedlyfun Readingismysociallife
I think KD must watch different channels than I do. The channels I watch do negative reviews when they need to. I review books negatively when I need to. That doesn't mean he hasn't found a problem. I've definitely run into the problem of people saying "Just let people enjoy what they like" when others try to discuss books critically in a positive or negative way. I don't know if you have to get arcs frequently to have a toxic positivity problem. That can come from someone's attitude to life and ooze into their Booktube channel.
I don’t think free books are the cause of toxic positivity, but I think they can tempt people into it. Kieran probably does watch more widely across different platforms than I do.
@@KDbooks I sometimes watch history related channels. I don't know if you're interested in that. I'd point you to Revenant Reads, John David, and Read by Fred. They do fair reviews. Sorry to self promote, but I have a channel where I try to be fair but negative when I need to be.
I think a confusion is positive or negative reviews. I think a review should reflect the readers thoughts of the book, highlighting what they liked and didn't (if they didn't like things worth highlighting). I wonder if it is toxic positivity when people enjoy talking about the books they liked instead of those they didn't. The opposite would be the trend of rant reviews. Which I find much more problematic, reading books just for the sake of trashing them for views. Isn't that much more hurtful and toxic than just talking about what you love? Which I know was a concious decision many creators made in the past. Not in with the popular crowd these days, so who knows what motivates them. I totally can't make up my mind on the free book getting danger. But that just might be me not enjoying gifts and free stuff in general.
I don’t know if it’s toxic positivity to decide to choose to discuss books you like more than books you don’t like. I don’t think it is, but since that is what I do I may not be the best judge. I think almost all the channels that I watch that get free books are honest in their reactions. And, I think that reading books just to trash them is far worse than reading books and bring positive.
Poor Zelda. How on earth did you get her to wear that thing? I went back and watched a bit of his video. Now we're complaining about booktubers being too positive and getting free stuff?? This is TH-cam, basically an advertising platform. I think the term toxic positivity is kinda like velveta light- not really a thing except maybe in ones own mind. I am not swayed to like a book because someone else holds one up and loves it. Coming from an outsiders prospective, one of the most boring things a booktuber can do is talk about the negative aspect of other book tubers. Get well soon Zelda!
Zelda is a wonderfully obedient dog so getting her to wear the collar is easy. She pouts and mopes but almost always does what we ask her to. I suppose there is a desire among TH-cam video makers to call out change/trends that we don’t like and spend time thinking about BookTube as an entity that is boring. I think for many of us BookTube has become a big enough part of our lives that sometimes we forget that most people are just here for the books. I think I have a tendency to think that if most people I respect like a book I should like it too and that makes me more likely to look for reasons to like it.
Whoa, was I ever wrong about that boring part, according to the views and comments. I must be a party of one. Anyway, I always enjoy your post no matter the subject.
@@pennyg156 The algorithm is a mystery. I haven’t checked the analytics on this video but o feel like it’s one that people are clicking on and then only watching a few seconds of.
There's only one book tuber I'm subscribed to who seems to have been given a lot of stuff, not just books, I tend to skip through those parts of the video as I have some similar taste in books, otherwise I would be signed up to them at all.
Maybe someone should make a video about the internet’s toxic negativity problem. I’m more bothered by people referring to books and other things as trash or crap of whatever. If you don’t like something why would you give it your time?
@@KDbooks I guess I could be more clear. When I say “why would you give it your time,” I was not speaking of the time to read a book, I was speaking of the time to make a video about how much you hated the book.
@@BookishTexan To be honest, I’m conflating a lot of the internet into that comment, which I’ll admit is unfair. But oddly enough the two people at the front of my mind I tried after you mentioned them. I’m not salty about it. It cost me nothing to give them a try. They just weren’t my cup of tea for a few reasons. It could be that the strong negative opinions are not a regular occurrence of theirs. And to be completely fair, they weren’t without their virtues. This is why I’m hesitant to name them. I’m not interested in bad mouthing anyone. They do what they do and I applaud and encourage that. I also want to make it clear that my original comment wasn’t meant as a criticism of you or the video or even the issue. It’s valid. I just struck me as odd that with so much negativity on the internet it’s positivity that is being seen as a problem.
SPOILER! Since you mentioned the positive reviews of James, I need to inject a criticism. The end. I was so disappointed that James told Huck he saved him from the river because he was his father. In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain builds a story of a friendship that develops by getting to know someone - regardless of race. It irritated me that Percival Everett implies that the only motivation James has for befriending Huck is his paternity. Shifted the whole story for me. Quite a difference from Twain's lesson.
I have heard several people express their express their unhappiness with the ending of James. I liked it. I thought it fit Everett’s message which was much different than Twain’s. On the other hand I think the ending of Huckleberry Finn kind of ruins that book.
I appreciate your thoughts, as always, Brian! However, I am not a fan of the broad, vague accusation that BookTube has a toxic positivity problem. Unless specific channels are called out, it’s a baseless claim. I know of channels far bigger than mine who likely receive free items from publishers, but I don’t know of any channel creators who fake reading enjoyment. If that does happen, I think it’s far more likely the exception than the rule.
I don’t know of any who do that either. I certainly don’t think I watch any such channels. But I imagine that some exist because I think the temptation is too great for both the publisher and the channel creator.
@@BookishTexanI didn’t mean you, sorry 😂😅 Was referring to the person who originally posed that BookTube is overly positive. I thought you made great points to the contrary
Jesus, I'm 3 minutes and 37 seconds into this and I'm sayin' to myself ' Criminy, am I looking for a guiding light, only to ultimately only ending up in general hospital' Stop.... stop ... stop...........................
Are you aware that a mix of negative and positive book reviews signals honesty and thoughtfulness? Only having positive reactions to books signals that you may not have read those books. If you did, you may not have thought about them very deeply. That may be fine with a few fun books. No one expects you to deeply analyze a beach read, but if it's a pattern, it could be a problem.
I'd find it hard to take a Booktuber seriously if they never expressed any sense of negativity towards some of the books they read, and I don't watch anyone I would describe as having a toxic positivity issue. I've seen it here and there, but I naturally click away from those kinds of videos. It's simply unrealistic to have no negative thoughts or emotions about books or authors and if someone is endlessly positive it makes them come off as if they're acting out a character on stage, and I question if they're even genuinely reading at all.
That being said, since I've started making videos, I have found it difficult to criticize books. Facing the camera, it is hard to say negative things about a book or issues with an author, but I believe it's necessary if we want to foster a culture of honesty and genuine discussion, which is certainly what I hope to be a part of and what I wish to see across Booktube.
@@MustReadMore I agree with both parts of your response and I think we are similar in our approaches. Your first paragraph aligns pretty closely with what Kieran said in his video. I do find it difficult to be really negative about a book unless I go into a good deal of depth. So my wrap up discussions of books are usually either positive or mildly negative.
@@BookishTexan I've always found your reviews, positive and negative, to be fair and respectful to both the books and their authors, and that's one reason I've always enjoyed your videos. (Congratulations on publishing your book, by the way!)
I do wonder if perhaps some Booktubers are overly positive because they don't quite understand how to criticize a work or what differentiates respectful criticism from an attack or an insult, which leads them to gloss over anything negative.
This is a really interesting discussion, Brian. I don't tend to do a lot of negative reviews, but I also don't think that I suffer from "toxic positivity." I don't think I talk much about books that I don't like. I don't actually read too many books that I don't like either. It's not that I DNF many books. I almost never give up on a book. I think I at least try to choose carefully. I do find, though, that when I review a book and I do talk about the things that didn't work for me or that I didn't like, people who loved that book go into overdrive to try to convince me of their opinion. Have you had that happen when you have been less than effusive about an extremely popular book? When judging BookTube books, for example, you have to have a #1 and you have to have a #6. I tried to be very careful in my reviews of all 6 in each round, all 12 all together in the two rounds I judged. I didn't trash my #5 and #6 in each round. I think I was judicious in my discussions. Sometimes, though, viewers become defensive about their favorites. I guess I can feel that way too about my favorites, though. I'm starting to ramble here. Sorry. One thing I tend to stay away from are videos that go for a provocative negative title where they are going to bash a book. That holds very little appeal to me. Anyway, very thought-provoking discussion, as always. Thanks.
Thanks for your comment Pat. You and a few other commenters have brought up the great point that most of us have gotten good at choosing our books and so we have fewer negative reading experiences. I do get push back on most of my negative reviews. I still have people leave comments on my negative review of McCarthy’s The Passenger calling me an idiot and trying to explain all the greatness I missed. I get a kick out of it most of the time.
@@BookishTexanoh my goodness! I can’t imagine anyone calling you an idiot!
It also hadn’t occurred to me that people are talking about books positively to get free books. I think I can be very naive…
Thanks for sharing, Brian. There were a few articles this past week about how some folks (more frequently on BookTok than BookTube) engage in a positive feedback loop with publishers, algorithms, etc. and a trend towards declining media literacy, and I suspect a few of us are reflecting on this.
There’s an impulse to be “Midwest Nice” when making videos because as you describe, an author puts an enormous amount of effort into actually creating a work. I find that if I am going to be negative it is likely on a book that has an established reputation rather than a new release.
That is interesting. I was not aware of those articles. I don’t understand why media literacy would be declining.with more exposure and more media. I wonder if what is being defined as a lack of media literacy is really just cynicism and an acceptance that everything is corrupt so why bother to figure out what is true and what isn’t.
I feel like I sit similarly to you. I don’t mind saying when I dislike a book but equally I do say “just because I didn’t like x for these reasons doesn’t mean you will feel the same”. With doing the book prizes so regularly especially, even the books that can be most disliked there’s always some people that love them. Example being Pod etc. I personally just don’t want to exclude people from being able to tell me when they have a different opinion to me.That’s what I am most mindful of.
Also I don’t mention my DNF’s (unless it’s for a prize where I am talking about it regularly) mostly because I start and stop quite a few books and if I haven’t finished them or only tried a few pages then it’s I often feel it’s not worth mentioning. That’s the only area that maybe I should address or keep more of an active log on.
It’s each to their own and we just all need to do and say whatever we are comfortable with.
Interesting discussion and it’s good to hear your thoughts Brian.
I think we are very similar on this. I don’t usually mention DNFs and I almost always try not to give the impression that I think someone who likes a book I hate is just wrong (unless it’s Gemma🤓). I don’t think that’s toxic positivity, though it is a conscious decision to be more positive than negative.
The PR around books is something I find very fascinating. I work in Communcations/PR, so the way they distribute ARCs is really smart on the publisher’s/marketing end because they distribute these books in a way to create a particular discourse.
I do get ARCs from time to time but not as many as others because I will share my honest opinions. I find that what I do get, they have studied my taste in books. I’m never going to get a Rooney book and I would never accept it because the review won’t be nice 😂 so what I’ve received, I generally like because they did thier research haha
Great video!
Thanks for the great comment. I think publishers are very savvy about who they send what books and that using social media creators to promote their books is really cost effective. I don’t have much experience in getting books from publishers or bring approached by publishers. Most of the offers for free books seem to come from Indy authors and small presses that just send out mass emails to anyone with a channel. They are almost always offers to read books from genres that I almost never read.
I tend to discuss only the books about which I feel I have something to say. Now that I think about it, I often don’t explicitly judge them, either-just try to figure out what they are doing. Perhaps because I tend to read older books?
Good Morning cousin! I think for me wrap ups kind of force me to make a positive or negative pronouncement on a book because I see them as recommendation videos. I think people watch them to find out what I read and what I thought. For most books this the last thing I will publicly say about them. I do think there is more pressure (not sure that’s the best word) to pass judgement on recent books than older ones.
Yeah. I think with older books, it's fair to analyze what they accomplish. It feels different with new releases. Who is this book for, and does this have attitudes that belong to the 19th century are bigger issues in new releases.
A thoughtful address of these concerns; much appreciated. I rarely have a completely negative regard for a book because I realize that effort had to go into its composition and publication. And even if the book is not to my liking, it might be well be for another, and that's perfectly valid for them. The exceptions to these general approaches would be when a book is utterly repugnant from an ideological point of view. But even works that are problematic (such as 'Gone With the Wind') still might have merit for sheer storytelling or for historical or cultural import. Works of art are multivalent in their functions and values, and these in turn are historically mutable.
On the subject of bad reviews, I can say that some of my favorite reviews from my single favorite film critic, Jonathan Rosenbaum (formerly of the 'Chicago Reader') are of those films he dislikes. The review can be instructive and even a pleasure to read in itself even if the work under discussion is unsuccessful.
I love a good, well reasoned and presented negative review. They can be the most useful.
I agree with your entire first paragraph. Even with a book I hate like Gone With the Wind, I could appreciate the story telling and character development.
Thanks Brian, I’m glad to see a response to that video. I watch a lot of BookTube and KD's comments don’t reflect my experience. I watch to learn about books I might not otherwise hear about. I see both positive and negative opinions. I have fairly quirky taste in books, so I rarely assume I will agree with the consensus. Actually, I often feel like it's a dare not to. Sometimes I am wrong (I did love James), and sometime's I’m right (didn’t love DC, thought it was overhyped).
I also find that some Booktubers are kinder about expressing their negative opinions about a book, which I appreciate. After all, it’s just their opinion. A well-constructed positive, or negative, opinion should be useful to help a reader judge whether they want to seek out a given book, or not.
Love your last paragraph and would say that is what I am shooting for. I do sometimes feel the pressure of positive consensus. Demon Copperhead is a good example. I thought it was good to ok, but may have been less critical in my review video because being an outlier in the book made me feel like it just didn’t speak to me the way it did others.
" Americans, their positivity drains you " M. Flanagan.
@@AJT222-1 Maybe that’s why I’m always so tired.🤓
I am ecstatic that you did this video!!!! I would not know about being sent free books - is that a thing? I would say lucky them but I don't read many modern books which I guess these will be. I think there are some people who are part of the fabric of the modern book publishing industry who are pushing sales and there are people who are not and just talking about books they like. A lot of people just like to be nice. Best wishes with what you are reading and to your channel.
Thank you. I agree there is a division between what are increasingly professional booktubers and amateurs. As an amateur I do prefer talking about books I like.
I am another person who picks with care so my reviews are usually, but not always positive. Even if I am taking a chance on a book that might not be my cup of tea, I will at least have reason to believe it will be interesting. I wouldn't choose to do a standalone review about a book I felt had no value or interest.
I can have the opposite problem to seeing only the positives in a book that others have enthused about, as I can be disappointed if my expectations were high and I will then be more critical.
Never had a free book but have had authors I don't know personally comment a couple of times.
I've had a similar experience as you. I think it's important for viewers to distinguish "This creator loves every book they read" vs "This creator only talks about books they like."
If my experience of work is negative, it's so often an underwhelming "Oh, I guess I didn't love that. That's a shame. Oh well, plenty of books in the library." It's only when I feel like my criticism has a tinge of "I would have loved this book if..." or "Based on my preferences I should have loved this, but...." In those examples, I'll probably make a video sharing my thoughts, but otherwise I don't think there's anything wrong with having a mostly-positive bias in the content we make.
@@readreadofficial Great distinction. Like you, I temper my opinion on books that just didn’t work for me as opposed to books I really disliked. And I am much more likely to find a book mildly disappointing than anything else. Thanks for your great comment.
Genuine criticism is a specialised skill that requires a great deal of knowledge and taste, whereas amateur reviews are often nothing more than personal opinion. No matter how negative an amateur review is, the author or publisher should not think anything of it. In fact, I think the lightness (not frivolity, but lightness) is the most appealing aspect of amateur reviews.
Very true. Generally I prefer the sincere thoughtful amateur to the seasoned professional.
Very interesting discussion. I'm sure there are some booktubers that do the toxic positivity thing to benefit from it but I would think most don't. I do know some people purposely don't talk about books they didn't enjoy to avoid negativity in their content, but I think that's probably harmless. I personally find it interesting and helpful to hear why others didn't enjoy a book but nobody should feel obligated to talk about it if they don't want to. Poor Zelda, hope she gets better soon.
I don’t think many do the positivity hit gain either, but I can’t imagine that none do and I can see the temptation. Zelda is doing much better. Today is the last day in the blue collar
Great topic! The reason I started my channel was to talk about books I enjoy so I’m generally searching out books that I’m pretty sure I’ll like. If I truly dislike something, I’m probably not going to have the desire to discuss it. I don’t consider myself a critic so I’d hate to give the impression that I know enough to properly critique a book. As you said it’s subjective and all I can report is how I felt about the book but I definitely don’t hide any negative feelings that I have but I try to determine how or why someone else might enjoy it.
I’m actually editing a somewhat negative video right now on a few books that I just can’t understand why they are so popular. No toxic positivity in that one. 😂😅
Excellent point about how booktubers looking for books they will enjoy and finding them probably contributes the most to why the majority of reviews are positive. And I think most of us feel like you about not being professional critics and being aware of the subjectivity involved in our reviews.
Looking forward to your “negative” video🤓
I’m glad I have only gotten a few books from publishers. I think the danger is if you get free books it drives what you read. Instead of you picking your TBR, publishers do it.
Very True. I have watched innumerable videos in which booktubers lament not getting to arcs or other books sent to them. I think I would feel the same. Which, I think, proves your point about how books from publishers influence your reading.
Similar drama circulates around the board gaming community regarding the positive feedback loop of "publishers send free games to reviewer, reviewer gives glowing reviews, publishers send more free games to reviewer, etc." Things become really spicy when it comes out that a popular reviewer has threatened publishers with negative reviews of their games if money isn't sent! 😧
Yikes! That sounds worse than the book situation. I wonder if the gigantic booktubers ever threaten publishers with bad reviews or demand money for good ones.
I just joined booktube and I’m ignoring all the trends because I can’t stand the constant same trends of book hauls and top 10 lists every week and “I read 50 books this month” type stuff. I created my channel to not be negative but provide a different perspective on this platform and within the book community.
I think that will be very welcome. But, don’t forget to participate in some of the fun community events every once in a while.
@@BookishTexan Appreciate the advice! Since I am new, what kind of events happen within the community that I should be aware of?
@@Thomas.R.Howell Almost every month is a designated reading month (for example this month is Victober in which people read Victorian lit and next month is Non-Fiction November). People will make videos introducing the month and the reading goals and you can join in to whatever extent you want. If you haven’t made the Booktube newbie tag I would definitely do that. It will help people find your channel. You can find the questions by just searching BookTube Newbie Tag.
@@BookishTexan Awesome thank you! So in regards to a "Tag" do I put that as my video title or as a tag in the hidden tags?
Still learning the ropes of modern TH-cam lol.
@@Thomas.R.Howell Usually you make it the title of your video. I went to your channel and now I feel bad about giving you advice about building your channel.
Good, good, Zelda has arrived. Oh dear, what has she done? I see her wearing a collar ... oh, now I've seen your on screen explanation. Get well soon, Zelda
She only has to wear the blue collar for three more days😂. We take it off when she sleeps. She’s been pretty mopey. I was a little surprised she made an appearance in the video.
Love watching Zelda saunter into the room and cuddle up in her favorite chair. I hope her ear infection clears up soon. I tend to follow booktubers who are positive, but not in a positive for positive sake way. The reviews are constructive even if there are some negative reviews, and I'm always able to figure out from the review if a book is for me or not.
She is feeling better. We were able to leave the donut collar off until she started scratching this afternoon. Like you I learn a lot about what books I should try from the reviewers I trust.
If I'd had a channel 10 years ago my reviews would have much more of a mixed bag. My selection skills have improved so I just don't hit as many clunkers but I also don't refrain from negative reviews when it happens. I do have to wonder about some channels where the Booktuber seems to receive a weekly mountain of free books from publishers. Does that influence them and more importantly, how can I get in on that action?! 😄
Right?!? 😂
This is the key that I think explains why so many of us only seem to post positive reviews. At some point your ability to pick books improves.
I sometimes think I would want all those free books to, but imagine the pressure to read them all.😳
Would it be true, do you think, that we now have two different Booktube "worlds"? Most of the channels I watch regularly do few if any book hauls and they are honest if they do not like books. I see more channels appearing that have unique approaches, more low key
I think that division exists with some bleed through. I have yo admit that I am sometimes surprised when I discover that channels in our part of Booktube are getting dozens of free books from publishers. But I think those channels handle it well. One of the best things about the BookTube experience for me is the variety of channels and the variance in their approaches. I think it’s a shame that TH-cam creates a homogenized group of really big channels and requires a certain amount of uniformity to achieve big channel status.
Yes I saw the video you talked about. KD is a booktuber I follow almost religiously and the one I fawn upon the most haha. He’s introduced me to authors I was totally unaware of and is unafraid of diving into the works of the most obscure foreign-language writers. Another guy I like is an Aussie or maybe a New Zealander who makes even more frenetic vids than KD and will savage any book he thinks isn’t very good regardless of the convention wisdom. There’s a woman in Canada who mainly reviews horror and sci-fi/fantasy who seems to consume a huge amount of books but was honest enough to say she DNFs some of what she reads but will NEVER review a book she hasn’t actually finished. Be well..⚛️❤
I think Kieran is great though we do have different taste in books. I could never do what he does, but I have a great appreciation for it. A great negative review is a joy to watch, but for me not fun to make (well sometimes they are)
This was a really fun discussion!
Thanks
I think a lot of these videos Kieran makes are true, but only in the world of BookTube that exists to make money and is basically an arm of the marketing department. I don’t really watch mainstream BookTube, so I don’t think this is a problem. Most of us are experienced enough readers to generally pick books we are going to like, so negative reviews are naturally rarer (though I love a rant review). Publishers vary, and I think it’s nice when they send books to ‘micro-influencers’ and allow them to be honest, but at the higher level, they are essentially an advert.
Excellent point about most of us having developed the ability to pick books that we are going to like. I feel like I do a pretty good job which probably explains why some of my most negative reactions are to books that I read related to prizes. Thanks for your comment Aaron.
We're book enthisiasts, tp the exyent we set up channels to talk and enthuse about the books we like and spend a lfair chunk of our lives doing so. It's hardly surprising that many of these videos are infused with positivity. I'm always on the search for that next book that will blow my socks off, or at least blow my mind. Like you, I rarely receive free books, none from major publishers, usually only from authors directly. I don't think I've ever crucified any of these, if I really didn't like the book I would tell the author first and ask if they still wanted me to go ahead and review their book on video. But I do enjoy the chance to go to town on a poor book now and again, such as our Ms Rooney buddy read book.
I did relish my negative review of McCarthy’s The Passenger. Of course you are right about book enthusiasts enjoying talking about books we love. We are all searching for our next great read not our next terrible read. I get emails from independent authors and publishers from time to time offering me free book to review, but they are almost all in genres I really don’t read.
Not seen the video, but from your discussion i have to say, i think with the big channels it may be true, they may have been paid to say nice things.
I tend to just get rid of books that i did not enjoy and actually do not think about talking about it and as i type you said my thoughts about the authors feelings.
Plus the fact i only talk about 10% of the books i read tbh, i must get better at that.
I stay away from hyped books and most of the time i am disappointed, learnt my lesson the hard way.
I have had some disappointing reads of hyped books this year. Some I read for prize reading and some I read because they were hyped. So I have had more negative things to say this year than most.
I do a book a week most of the time. Can't like them all and can't like everything about every book. Every once in awhile something might push a button and I might be jerkish about it. But otherwise it's just conversation.
I think we take a similar approach though I have noticed that I now have more negative reactions that I end up sharing . Could be an aging thing.
People want free books? I looked at many of those new, shiny books. I read their first paragraphs/page/chapter and want to put them ALL in a garbage bin. How could one want free new books? Nothing good is being published.
I think the taste of those wanting and getting the free books might be different than yours.
I think we forget also that people tend to choose books they think they are going to enjoy - not many people set out to find books they won't find engaging. Hence its much more likely that we will see positive reviews.
Having said that - people are also entitled to their opinion of Book tubers. If one thinks certain people are doing this just for profit, and for the wrong reasons - dont watch them! There are plenty of excellent content creators out there and it is also the responsibility of publishers and authors to make sure they are connecting to the appropriate ones.
Your first point is a great one. I think the ability of people to pick books they will like probably explains most of the positivity. And of course we should only watch channels that we like or feel are sincere. I’m do think there is some value in video creators reflecting on their own content and motivations.
@@BookishTexan Absolutely! And I think you did a great job here.
Interesting thoughts. I try very hard to avoid books I don’t think I’m going to like so my reviews are probably mainly positive because I choose to read books I’m going to enjoy. I don’t get free books other than ones fellow booktubers have sent me and they usually send them because they think I’d like them 😊
I too try to choose books that I think I’ll enjoy.
That is a great point and one I wish I had brought up in the video. We are probably all pretty good at picking books we are likely to enjoy which naturally means most of our reviews will be positive.
Thanks for your thoughts on this one!
Thank you for watching,
_First!_ I Want *Free* Books 😅 'Tubers send me a lot of things, and I love it 🎉 Ive read _James_ and _The Trees,_ so far. _Eraser_ next.
Ha! Free books might be nice!
Interesting discussion, y’all 🤔
Thanks
My philosophy regarding reviews on my channel is similar to yours... But with the big difference that the majority of standalone reviews I do are for ARCs I have gotten (almost always from NetGalley, which is to say books I actively request, not publishers/authors offering).
In almost every review I point out things in the book that didn't work for me for one reason or another. But if it isn't a book I can recommend by some metric then I just don't feel a strong need to make a video for it. I will mention it in my wrap-up videos, and I will leave a full length written (less than positive) review on Goodreads & The Storygraph, but I just don't feel especially compelled to exert effort to make a video to simply criticize something, unless there is what I see as an overall benefit. For example, my most recent video is for a debut author's queer gothic horror novel that uses Tibetan Buddhist ideas as the basis for the story's central complication... that review is longer than most of my reviews because while I enjoyed the writing and pacing and I appreciated a queer love story at the heart of this fantastical Gothic horror, there were depictions of Tibetan Buddhist ideas and culture that I found pretty problematic, and I thought that was useful to share.
I am not a paid critic, this isn't my job, I choose what I highlight via review on my channel. Just this month there are two books I had planned in my schedule that never got video reviews because I didn't feel like I could recommend them... and, maybe more importantly, there are more than enough books out there that I can recommend, so at this point I just find more fulfillment in focusing on those...
I think you are right that we do agree on most points. I have made a few negative stand alone review videos, but I don’t think I would if they hadn’t both been books by authors who couldn’t possibly be affected by my review. If I got ARCs I think I would follow your example and just not make review videos about them.
@@BookishTexan It is definitely a different thing to be reviewing a famous author's work, for sure. Nothing to do with ARC or not, just with the status of the author.
I think there are all sorts of valid reasons for critical reviews--it is just unusual for those valid reasons and my own reading habits to overlap. I am sure that won't be the case all of the time, but for now I just review books I think are worth sharing, and try to include honest critique as appropriate.
Yeah, because when I'm barmabared with the 100th video on why this flavor of the month romance novel is bad. My main thought is about how these people are being too positive.
"Why do people like The Forth Wing?"
Why do you keep asking? You don't want the awnser.
I haven’t read Fourth Wing. Have you? If so did you like it?
I agree with much of the sentiment below that KD seems to be watching different booktube than I/many others do. I think I am wise enough to realize when a reviewer is not authentic. And if he is talking more about Insta, TikTok, etc. then, yeah, um don't take your book advice from 30-second snippets from people you don't know!
But what I really wanted to say is that I found it interesting that this is happening on booktube right now. I also follow a lot of fragrance content, and, without going into too much detail, one of the OG (and real) reviewers did a video on all the newbies who are being sent free bottles to do reviews. Shockingly, these reviews are almost all positive and notably qualitatively vacuous (because they have often not actually used the fragrances they are "reviewing"). This caused huge stir in fragcom with all sorts of reaction videos, etc.
I suspect it's happening elsewhere too. Now that social media has become so big, anyone who wants to promote something can find a ready made audience with certain unethical reviewers who are willing to post positive reviews for free stuff.
Kieran included those other social media platforms so that could be right. Really interesting to learn that it’s not just book communities. I agree that almost all products could be hawked on social media and in the process corrupt social media creators.
Drop those channel recommendations
@@KDbooks sure thing. In Rough order of favorite (and besides Bookish, of course!):
Eric Karl Anderson/lonesomereader
Benreadsgood
Bobthebookerer
Rororeads
Russell/ink and Paper blog
Supposedlyfun
Readingismysociallife
@@DaveNYC I follow all of these 🤣
@@KDbooks and you think they’re all corrupt!?
I think KD must watch different channels than I do. The channels I watch do negative reviews when they need to. I review books negatively when I need to. That doesn't mean he hasn't found a problem. I've definitely run into the problem of people saying "Just let people enjoy what they like" when others try to discuss books critically in a positive or negative way. I don't know if you have to get arcs frequently to have a toxic positivity problem. That can come from someone's attitude to life and ooze into their Booktube channel.
I don’t think free books are the cause of toxic positivity, but I think they can tempt people into it.
Kieran probably does watch more widely across different platforms than I do.
Happy to get some channel recommendations 😊
@@KDbooks I sometimes watch history related channels. I don't know if you're interested in that. I'd point you to Revenant Reads, John David, and Read by Fred. They do fair reviews. Sorry to self promote, but I have a channel where I try to be fair but negative when I need to be.
I think a confusion is positive or negative reviews. I think a review should reflect the readers thoughts of the book, highlighting what they liked and didn't (if they didn't like things worth highlighting). I wonder if it is toxic positivity when people enjoy talking about the books they liked instead of those they didn't. The opposite would be the trend of rant reviews. Which I find much more problematic, reading books just for the sake of trashing them for views. Isn't that much more hurtful and toxic than just talking about what you love? Which I know was a concious decision many creators made in the past. Not in with the popular crowd these days, so who knows what motivates them.
I totally can't make up my mind on the free book getting danger. But that just might be me not enjoying gifts and free stuff in general.
I don’t know if it’s toxic positivity to decide to choose to discuss books you like more than books you don’t like. I don’t think it is, but since that is what I do I may not be the best judge. I think almost all the channels that I watch that get free books are honest in their reactions. And, I think that reading books just to trash them is far worse than reading books and bring positive.
Hello! I'm new to this TH-cam channel. What booktuber is safe on TH-cam?
What other booktubers should I subscribe to?
Defo Bookish
I don't want to subscribe to a booktuber that's a showman.
Try a bunch, and watch the ones you like.
Poor Zelda. How on earth did you get her to wear that thing?
I went back and watched a bit of his video. Now we're complaining about booktubers being too positive and getting free stuff?? This is TH-cam, basically an advertising platform. I think the term toxic positivity is kinda like velveta light- not really a thing except maybe in ones own mind. I am not swayed to like a book because someone else holds one up and loves it. Coming from an outsiders prospective, one of the most boring things a booktuber can do is talk about the negative aspect of other book tubers.
Get well soon Zelda!
Zelda is a wonderfully obedient dog so getting her to wear the collar is easy. She pouts and mopes but almost always does what we ask her to.
I suppose there is a desire among TH-cam video makers to call out change/trends that we don’t like and spend time thinking about BookTube as an entity that is boring. I think for many of us BookTube has become a big enough part of our lives that sometimes we forget that most people are just here for the books. I think I have a tendency to think that if most people I respect like a book I should like it too and that makes me more likely to look for reasons to like it.
Whoa, was I ever wrong about that boring part, according to the views and comments. I must be a party of one. Anyway, I always enjoy your post no matter the subject.
@@pennyg156 The algorithm is a mystery. I haven’t checked the analytics on this video but o feel like it’s one that people are clicking on and then only watching a few seconds of.
There's only one book tuber I'm subscribed to who seems to have been given a lot of stuff, not just books, I tend to skip through those parts of the video as I have some similar taste in books, otherwise I would be signed up to them at all.
I am sometimes surprised when I learn that a channel I subscribe to gets free stuff from publishers, but all of them handle it well I think.
Maybe someone should make a video about the internet’s toxic negativity problem. I’m more bothered by people referring to books and other things as trash or crap of whatever. If you don’t like something why would you give it your time?
But how would you know if you don’t like something unless you put the time in?
Maybe it’s the channels I follow, but I don’t see a lot of reviews trashing books.
@@KDbooks I guess I could be more clear. When I say “why would you give it your time,” I was not speaking of the time to read a book, I was speaking of the time to make a video about how much you hated the book.
@@BookishTexan To be honest, I’m conflating a lot of the internet into that comment, which I’ll admit is unfair. But oddly enough the two people at the front of my mind I tried after you mentioned them. I’m not salty about it. It cost me nothing to give them a try. They just weren’t my cup of tea for a few reasons. It could be that the strong negative opinions are not a regular occurrence of theirs. And to be completely fair, they weren’t without their virtues. This is why I’m hesitant to name them. I’m not interested in bad mouthing anyone. They do what they do and I applaud and encourage that.
I also want to make it clear that my original comment wasn’t meant as a criticism of you or the video or even the issue. It’s valid. I just struck me as odd that with so much negativity on the internet it’s positivity that is being seen as a problem.
I guess it's time for November of Negativity, all negative reviews/discussions in November? Peace!
That’s what I’m going to do!!😳
SPOILER! Since you mentioned the positive reviews of James, I need to inject a criticism. The end. I was so disappointed that James told Huck he saved him from the river because he was his father. In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain builds a story of a friendship that develops by getting to know someone - regardless of race. It irritated me that Percival Everett implies that the only motivation James has for befriending Huck is his paternity. Shifted the whole story for me. Quite a difference from Twain's lesson.
I have heard several people express their express their unhappiness with the ending of James. I liked it. I thought it fit Everett’s message which was much different than Twain’s. On the other hand I think the ending of Huckleberry Finn kind of ruins that book.
I appreciate your thoughts, as always, Brian! However, I am not a fan of the broad, vague accusation that BookTube has a toxic positivity problem. Unless specific channels are called out, it’s a baseless claim. I know of channels far bigger than mine who likely receive free items from publishers, but I don’t know of any channel creators who fake reading enjoyment. If that does happen, I think it’s far more likely the exception than the rule.
I don’t know of any who do that either. I certainly don’t think I watch any such channels. But I imagine that some exist because I think the temptation is too great for both the publisher and the channel creator.
That me!
Thanks for the inspiration.
I mean this simply feels like the take of a curmudgeon if we are being honest 😂
I’ve always wanted to be a curmudgeon😂😂
@@BookishTexanI didn’t mean you, sorry 😂😅 Was referring to the person who originally posed that BookTube is overly positive. I thought you made great points to the contrary
All of this negativity about positivity could become toxic.
/sarcasm
Ha!!
Hauls are my least favorite type of video
Mine too. I have only ever made one and I watch none.
@@BookishTexan Yes, I never watch them. They seem pointless to me
I hope the dog is on the mend….
Yeah, when I turn on your channel Brian and see that it’s _another book haul_ I just turn it off immediately!
Zelda only has to wear the collar for three more days and she is doing better.
I can’t believe you skip my book hauls!😂😂
Jesus, I'm 3 minutes and 37 seconds into this and I'm sayin' to myself ' Criminy, am I looking for a guiding light, only to ultimately only ending up in general hospital' Stop.... stop ... stop...........................
@@brianchappell4054 What can I say? I mean these are the days of our lives and you only have one life to live you so I say be free. Go….go…go……….
If you don’t like a book, don’t review it.
That is certainly an option.
Are you aware that a mix of negative and positive book reviews signals honesty and thoughtfulness? Only having positive reactions to books signals that you may not have read those books. If you did, you may not have thought about them very deeply. That may be fine with a few fun books. No one expects you to deeply analyze a beach read, but if it's a pattern, it could be a problem.
Why not?