Why I’m Not Interested in Watching BookTok

News articles have been celebrating the selling power of BookTok videos since at least early 2021, when The New York Times reported that short videos of people crying could make books go viral. Other effusive reports have followed. A quick search lead to me recent articles about BookTok “reshaping the book world” and “revitalizing the publishing industry.” Barnes and Noble now prominently displays a banner on their website, leading readers to the latest titles trending on BookTok. The ability for one video to make an instant bestseller–or even make a forgotten backlist title a new bestseller–has gotten publishers and booksellers very, very excited. Yet, I have to admit that I have not yet followed all the hype to join BookTok myself, for a variety of reasons.

The primary reason that I do not watch BookTok videos is that my preferred way to absorb information is through reading. I watch very little TV and very few movies. I do not visit YouTube. In my free time, I really just want to read! And in a way, watching a video review of something that is printed seems counterintuitive to me. That’s why book blogging is such a great fit for me. I read books and then I read reviews of the books! It’s perfect.

But I also was initially wary of the time limits BookTok set for videos. Though my understanding is that the maximum length for videos has increased to ten minutes, initially I think the maximum was a mere 60 seconds. And, often, on social media, it seems that the shorter a video is, the more views it gets. The early reports on BookTok made it sound like all people were doing in videos was holding up a book and then…making a crying face? For maybe a ten second video? Ten seconds or even 60 seconds does not seem like a lot of time to give a short summary along with an in-depth review discussing characterization, plot, pacing, prose, and all the other aspects of a book that make me want to pick up a book (or pass on it). I prefer longer reviews that have time to, well, say something. Watching someone cry for a few seconds only gives me one data point–that this one person found the book sad. That’s it. And that is really not enough for me to feel like I am making an informed decision on a book.

Finally, though my understanding is that BookTok has since expanded, the early articles about the platform made it seem like reviewers there were just discovering backlist titles that book bloggers have known about and promoted for years. Early reports also made it seem like BookTok reviewers had not yet committed to the same level of promoting and celebrating diversity that most book bloggers have. These critiques may or may not have been valid–I never went on BookTok to do an audit of what books were trending or going viral. But just the way people were talking about the platform made it sound like I was not going to find anything there I could not already find from reading book blogs. I felt that I did not need to watch a bunch of ten second videos to introduce me to backlist books I had probably already heard of or even already read.

I understand the excitement around BookTok. Anything that gets people talking about books and reading is a good thing! I think it’s cool that readers are finding new ways to celebrate their love of books and to share it with others. At the same time, I don’t think BookTok is for me. And that’s okay.

Do you watch BookTok? What do you think of the platform?