I’ve been thinking about this recently, especially since Belle has some really great posts about the advantages of Book Blogs, which includes getting really great book recommendations. And you know, it works the same way for tea blogs as well. So I’ve been thinking: when I put a book or tea on my TBR/TBD list after reading about it, how many percent is because I am genuinely interested in the book, and how many percent is because I want to join in the hype and make my blog ~relevant~?
I like to think that most of the book and tea recommendations I act on are because I am genuinely interested in trying out that tea/book and not because I want to impress the people that I follow/that follow me. Or, you know, not because the book is popular right now and has a pretty cover that is perfect for Instagram.
It helps that I’ve genuinely enjoyed most of the books that I found via book blogs, and got some great tea recommendations from the tea community. I think what happened is that I unintentionally developed a filtering system. I’ll see a book of tea, put it on a list, and then not touch it until I feel like reading/buying the book/tea. I think that helps me get over my lemming instinct.
What about you, though? Do you find yourself succumbing to the book/tea/insert-your-hobby-here hype? Or are you pretty much an independent person who can participate in the community without being influenced?
I’m probably somewhere in the middle and probably overthinking things. After all, what harm can it be to be influenced as long as I’m enjoying what I read and drink, right?
Good post!
I kind of see it as passing on/sharing information that I first read about on other blogs.
Just off the top of my head I probably wouldn’t have happened across White2Tea, Yunnan Sourcing, What-cha, Farmer Leaf, Georgian teas, or Malawian teas had I not initially seen them on one of the many blogs I follow.
I like this view! I probably wouldn’t have heard of Infused if another blog hadn’t mentioned it, and I was encouraged to get the Malawi teas from your reviews!
I like to think that I add books to my TBR because I’m genuinely interested in them, but I know sometimes I do so because the hype got to me making me too curious not to add the book to my TBR/read it. Sometimes that works out for me and I like the book. Othertimes, it’s an epic fail and I end up not finishing it.
Can I ask which books lived up to the hype?
I definitely add books to the TBR list because a lot of people are talking about them! But my list is pretty big so when I get around to reading it is another matter :p
Sure, yeah 🙂
Here are a few I bought and read because of the hype and loved.
For comics, “Saga” by Brian K. Vaughan, illus. by Fiona Staples and “The Tea Dragon Society” by Katie O’Neill (illus.)
For novels, “Nevermoor” by Jessica Townsend and “Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi
Thanks, Zeezee! I’ll have to check it out!
Tea Dragon Society is a cute one that you might like. It’s a middle-grade fantasy about a society of people who grow tea leaves from the horns of dragons. Very cute read.
Oooh, I love tea! I’ll have to check it out!!
I do read books sometimes to be relevant, but I think that’s because I like being a part of the conversation. I also read books that are just for me, but if they aren’t as popular, I don’t really get as many comments. And the comments are more, “Oh, this is interesting!” and not really a conversation about the book. Because no one’s read it. So I think it’s okay to be trendy as long as it’s still fitting in with your goals. In this case, my goal is to talk books! 😀
Also, if something is trendy, I get hopeful that the hype is deserved and that it will be really good. So I think that’s just one way to try to distinguish among all the books out there vying for my attention.
Thanks for the thoughtful remarks! I like the point about reading to take part in a conversation – it’s true that books that aren’t as popular tend to get less comments!
I really liked this post, Eustea – and thank you for linking to my video! It’s interesting how hype is present and influences different online communities! I really like what someone mentioned in one of the previous comments about reading books to be part of the current conversation. I think that’s a major reason I would pick up a hyped book asides from its synopsis sounding interesting because I get curious as to what people are going on about haha. I guess in that way I am quite influenced by the community 😂. There isn’t too much harm in that for me personally, except when books I’ve realllly been trying to get to are continuously put on the back-burner for more presently hyped books 😬. It’s good that you’ve developed that filtering system 😂!
Thanks for such a thoughtful video, I really enjoyed it!! I think there’s nothing wrong being influenced by the community – I mean, that’s part of being a community, right? It’s just about getting the balance to maximise our reading enjoyment (:
Because my blog is pretty much just reviews of books as I read them, I don’t think I fall into this with my blog specifically. But for my booksta I’ll find myself wanting to include the popular books in photos because they get more likes, and I’ve been picking up hyped books too so I guess that kinda counts. It’s a difficult one!
Yes, I agree that the bookstagram hype is very real!! I started reading some books because of them and so far it worked out well, but I can imagine ending up with stuff I don’t like :p
Yeah I’ve definitely ended up with some crappy books haha
I like the discussion this post opens up! On one hand, I don’t think that I would have found books I want to read without being a part of the book/blogging community; on the other hand I have definitely fallen victim to hyped books and the mentality of reading something because I think I should or because it’s popular and not because I’m actually interested in it. But I like your filtering system and I’ve actually noticed myself doing the same thing, I think it really helps!
Thanks for commenting, Tori! Yes, the line between “have found great books through reviews” and “have been influenced to read hyped books” is super thin – glad you also have a similar filtering system!