Bookish Musings - 01.05.24
Hello! It’s time again for another set of musings and I seem to have manage three consecutive weeks, and I am genuinely surprised. We have made it to the end of another week, which is always good news and the UK we have had glorious weather (for the UK at least) for the past week and we are about to embark on the first of two May Bank holiday weekends. A perfect opportunity to rest, relax and read! Happy Reading!
Finding My Bookish Place
My different book accounts. Left top: YouTube profile page. Right Top: Bluesky profile page. Left bottom: Pinterest profile page. Right bottom: TikTok profile page
As it is the start of the month, I think, time naturally lends itself to reflection and I thought this would be a good time to look back on my Bookish journey so far. I didn’t really intend to fall into the Bookish world as it has happened. I have always liked to read and in January - for reasons I can’t fully remember - I decided to start writing reviews and post them on a YouTube channel. Probably through osmosis. Bookstagram, BookTok and BookTube were on my mind but I never presumed (and still don’t) that I would be the type to commands huge followings, but I didn’t think that should be hinderance. I like to read books, I love to read Romance books in particular and I love to talk about all things Romance. So why not start to do that, and I enjoyed it, even if was mostly just for me. Sadly, for me at least, my YouTube channel did not (and still hasn’t) grown that much, but my interest in being part of the Bookish world did. So next came a Pinterest account, followed I think, not long after by a Bluesky account (and my introduction to BookSky). I really liked (and like) being part of the BookSky community, I can follow authors that I am interested in and follow other book bloggers who are interested in Romance as well as other genres. It was really revelatory for me and such a welcoming space for me. Although Pinterest and YouTube continue to be quiet for me, I definitely feel a small part of the BookSky community. I was really impressed by the depth and breadth of book blogs that saw and wondered to myself, why I couldn’t have a book blog? Then I realised I could and so I started one, and while I can only hope to reach the standard of the ones that have inspired me. It has been really nice to develop, maintain and expand into another area that I wasn’t previously familiar with. Similarly, I could never imagined when the year started that I would become an ARC reviewer and get that chance to connect with independent authors directly, join NetGalley and join individual influencer- publisher programmes. It is not too dramatic to state, that’s becoming Bookish has opened up a new world to me and that’s been life changing.
As much as I have enjoyed being on Booksky and BookTube, I have felt to some extent that I have been missing out on information and updates from Publishers and Authors who are not in these spaces, particular BookSky/Bluesky which is still quite niche. As an aside, for personal reasons I do not use X or Meta Products, which excludes for me X, Threads and Instagram/Bookstagram as places I could join. I really struggled with a decision as to whether I should join so that I could engage better and have more access or opportunities for ARCs. Ultimately, I have decided not to but I did allow myself to join TikTok/BookTok, which is something else that I had been dancing around. It has been a few days and I will say my experience is very different to any of the Bookish places so far. It is surprisingly different to BookTube and BookSky - considerably more dramatic for a start! I believe I have made the right decision to join TikToK (although I am not sure it will be a favourite) and I now have several bookish accounts across various places, something again I could not have foreseen when I started in January!
Finding myself a Bookish place, has had such a positive impact for me. I have not only been able to do something I love but I have developed new skills (and continue to develop them), found excellent recommendations for books and follow some fascinating accounts and met lovely people. I am interested to see where this goes next and as always, I am grateful for you choosing to come on this journey with me!
