Real Talk

Overview

So I've been laid off for a few months now. Well I've been off I've been exploring different things throughout the book world. I've started being more open to new authors, turns out to be an amazing thing. I discovered BookTube! Which I shouldn't have been so surprised to learn that there are YouTube channels that are centered around books. I've been watching a lot these YouTube channels and I've discovered so many different books and authors that I've really had no idea about! There are a few YouTubers that I've became pretty obsessed with! I started following people on GoodReads. I also learned about bookstagrams. I love them. I loved learning more about the world that I've always been so obsessed with. Since being laid off I've been pretty isolated from the 'real world.' I've been staying home more to save money, which I was never really the type that like to go out all of the time anyways. But being stuck in a house without having to go out to school or to work it's been really sucky. I've always read books, especially to escape reality. But being stuck in the house along with all of the downside of looking for a job it has been really fun looking into the book world. I've never really been a part of the fandom that would create pages on social media or post videos. It's been a lot of fun learning about these different sources throughout the book reading society. I've really started loving it.

Bookstagram

I myself haven't really started an Instagram about my books, but I have started taking more pictures. I love how people are really setting up their books with props, backgrounds, and so on and pretty much going all out doing photo shoots of their books. I really love it. I've been taking a few more pictures of my books and setting up a few things. I really like doing it. But I've been more of an admirer of the people I follow on Instagram more than a participant. Hopefully soon this dynamic will change soon. I like showing off the TBR piles or the Book Haul of the day.

Facebook Book Groups

I love the book communities on Facebook. I think this is something I've always been sorta involved in. I've always been really comfortable with Facebook, it is something I've always been using. I think I pretty much went to Facebook straight from MySpace. I have accounts on other social media like Twitter, Instagram, and even Tumblr. But I haven't really used these formats as much as I've used Facebook. I'm pretty involved with BookAholic Cafe on Facebook. I think I'm definitely the most involved within this group, such as posting on the group's wall, commenting on posts, and just over all more use out of this group. This isn't the only book group that I'm involved with and I enjoy them just as much as I enjoy this group, I just think I'm more involved with it because it is United States based, it has a lot of involvement throughout the group, and it is just something that I make sure to always check on when I'm on Facebook. Through this one page I've learned a lot about the book world as a whole. It was this group that I learned about BookTube, Bookstagram, and new books. It's a lot of fun talking to other bookworms about books I've enjoyed. There are even posts about books that I didn't enjoy, but listening to other's perspectives about these same books I've gotten a different perspective of them. This Facebook group has been super eye opening to me. Another thing about this group is that people don't really argue in this group. If their opinions clash about a book or an author instead of having a huge debate over it they just say okay that is your opinion this is my opinion and that's it. People might discuss their opinions but their isn't really much arguing in this group, which I've highly appreciated it. It seems that there is nothing but hate and arguing going on especially on social media so it is nice to have something that is different from the norm.

BookTube

This is definitely the newest thing in the book universe to me, and by new I mean I've heard people talk about it here and there on Facebook but never really had the time to actually dive into this. So yesterday there was a post on Facebook asking about different people that people like to follow on YouTube, and I literally spent pretty much the whole entire day watching different people on YouTube. I've highly addicted. Since this new discovery I've found quite a few different people on YouTube to follow, and I'll admit I went total crazy by following them on YouTube as well as Goodreads. I'm always looking for new people on Good Reads, I mean pretty much all readers love using Goodreads to keep up with their books, find new books, and also helps keep you motivated. I love their book challenges, I think it helps motivate me to keep reading. But anyways like I mentioned the whole YouTube thing is still completely new to me. I'm still learning about it. It is probably something I'll never do other than follow, I hate my voice on recorders so I'd definitely not be on the other side of the camera.

New Authors

Pretty much all of the social media news for me brought me to new authors. This is something that is hard for me to do, especially now because I hate looking for books because I don't like to spend money on something that I could potentially not like in the end. But I've started branching out more. Learning other opinions about these books before I start branching out. It is still a hit and miss sometimes, but I've definitely gotten braver about these situations. Another thing that has been helping me with this is book box subscriptions. I currently have Book of the Month which I love it. I love being able to have a selection of books and have to branch out of the books I know I would like versus trying a new book. I also have Audible. However, I've been cutting back on the subscriptions in order to save money. For right now I don't have these subscriptions. I hope to get them back once I have a job, which I hope is really soon. I feel like I'm becoming that crazy dog mom by being stuck at home so much.