Book / Reading Influencers using AI to make it seem like they are reading books they aren't?

[pengwig]

I like to read and while I don't spend a ton of time on social media when I do a lot of the content I get served up is book related, which is good!

However I was ill over Christmas and spent a little longer than normal watching some booktube content and it just felt like things weren't adding up. The content was often very consumption orientated especially with people talking about expensive fragrances and bags to pair with classic literature. I also noticed that several of them hold a book up with not even a slight crease in the spine and no indication it has ever been opened. There synopsis and thoughts on the book were either non existent or scripted in a very impersonal way. Sounded almost like chatgpt?

Then there is stuff like one day they are reading one massive tomb and the next they are pictured with something else and its all very aesthetic and carefully photographed but it doesn't really mirror how most people read.

Clarice Lispector in particular is very much fetishized by this group of book influencers when her writing couldn't be more antithetical to what they do.

Its all very strange, anyone else noticed this?

How odd. I wouldn't give that sort of nonsense the time of day, let alone sit and watch any of it. Just stop following these influencers entirely, they are crackers.

@RescueMeFromThisSilliness I agree but I still find it to be an interesting phenomenon. I think there is a current renewed interest in reading "hard books" as a sort of antidote to screen culture and shortened attention spans, so the impulse comes from a genuine place. However even that gets some how assimilated into the screen as form of conspicuous consumption, grifting and AI slop as if somehow the signifying having read the book or ownership of the book is enough to satisfy that urge.

I agree, but I still wouldn't pay any heed to influencers of that sort.

Perhaps someone else will come along soon who has noticed the same as you and will have their own insights.🙂

Travel influencers are the same. Difference is you can spot them out and about. Doing carefully curated visual versions of the real things while never actually doing the real thing.

I know it’ s a job for some. But the absence of all joy and learning while pretending to experience it is weird.

However, DD and me love to spot them. And frankly, laugh at them.

I watch a fair bit of booktube and I've never seen anything like the pairing expensive items with books thing.
My books all look brand new despite me having most definitely read them, I don't crease spines so I don't think that's odd.
I did raise my eyebrows at the 31 in 31 challenge last August with quite a few people claiming to have read absolute doorstops in one day though!

I quite enjoy following book influencers on Booktok and Instagram. One of the things I've noticed, especially about those who read and promote a lot of fantasy and romantacy (a nice portmaneau word for two very popular genres) is how many of them seem to have huge, dedicated library spaces, full of shelves, crammed with gorgeous, expensive special editions. It's consumerism on legs - literate, intelligent, but consumerism, nonetheless.

As with so much about the internet, not everything is necessarily as it seems. One influencer, (I can't remember which one unfortunately, because I like her more for it) said that the huge pile of packages in her video were freebies from publishers, netgalley, etc. Not everything she acquires comes out of her own pocket. Others seem to have huge spaces, but some are probably specially curated corners of a general living room, which have to be cleaned, de-cluttered and divested of untidy-looking family members before the camera goes on. Only the cutest children, partners and pets get to hang about!

Certain titles and series come up time and again. This could be because these books are genuinely very popular and book influencers are bound to be among their readers. Or it could be because influencers keep an eye on each others' material. Either way, the same books and authors are found on different channels, promoted by various influencers. It's good fun, but you might have to look for a while before you see your personal favourite.

I started a thread on Booktubers last month. I like listening to them and sometimes get ideas for other books.

There were lots of good recommendations on there for real Booktubers-what you describe sounds awful. Masses of books, hyped titles and nothing of any worth said just aren't for me.

I tend to stick to the more literary ones that give time to each book and aren't reading unbelievable amounts. Favourites for me are, Diary of a Provincial Lady, Books From My Bookshelf and Miranda Mills.

I do like Miranda Mills although most of the books she reads aren't exactly to my taste, there is some overlap. She does seem to buy or be sent a lot of things that are expensive or luxury items. I do think she at least has a professional background in publishing and does editing jobs and she doesn't come across as a fraud in anyway. I'm not aware of the other two they might have popped up on my feed, I'll take a look. I'm not really in to romantasy or fantasy to be honest so I tend to avoid booktubers who talk about those kinds of books.

I was thinking more of someone like Caitlyn Richardson or Malissa (Post Office Girl) on youtube. In many ways their taste in books is more in line with what I tend to read myself a mix of classics, translations and contemporary literary fiction so I do click on their videos but this is also where I'm picking up some discrepancies.

@pengwig

I cannot abide, Fantasy, Romantasy, Young Adult or most sc-fi so I would avoid any channel like this. When did Young Adult become a thing anyway? Surely it's just a marketing device.I think once you put away, children's books, it's time to start reading anything from Agatha Christie to Charles Dickens.

Yes, I agree with you about Miranda Mills-she has sort of morphed into a cosy rural lifestyle and it's true that she does favour a lot of vintage books. I think she does the social media for Girls Gone By but she does seem to be a genuine book lover and a genuine reader.

You might like the other two I've mentioned: they deal with exactly the genres you like, which I like too! They are both genuine readers-don't get caught up with hyped books, read a great variety and also have something useful to say about what they have read.

I'll check out your recommendations.

@BookAndPiano Caitlyn Richardson or Malissa do talk about the kind of books I enjoy but they also lean into heavy consumerism of luxury goods like perfume and the like and Caitlyn Richardson appears to use chatgpt to summarise her reading as opposed to talking more genuinely about her reading. Still I have read some books both have spoken about and enjoyed them so there is at least that.

I think fantasy, romantasy YA and genre fiction in general is fine and lots of young people, kids enjoy it, but its really not my cup of tea but channels about this do seem to be the most prevalent online.

Just an update as I think I have got to the bottom of the booktubers I mentioned. Apparently it is from tiktok and called "thought daughters" its a tiktok trend such as "that girl" "clean girl" "cottage core" but this one is girls who are deep, introverted, sensitive, high minded, who read a lot of classics and literary fiction and spend hours journaling. The perfume feature is both about cultivating an identity and elitism ditto the other luxury goods, self care is also a reason as these girls are made sad and anxious by their deep thoughts and sensitivity. The books are essentially a prop to the whole vibe although I am sure some are reading these books but for some its more an aesthetic hence the reliance on chatgpt.

Perhaps not really about books then but interesting tangentially. Perhaps it will have a positive effect on people reading more which would be good.

That’s really interesting. I have noticed this too and some people claiming to read ridiculous numbers of books, I saw one of these people who claimed to read 500 books last year which is clearly nonsense!

@OneOfEachPlease Yeah its an interesting phenomena for sure. I think it really is just the concept of reading as marketable content getting assimilated by the machine of social media for profit. Essentially as always, take what you see online with a large pinch of salt!