The contentification of literature
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- #booktok #booktube
Discussing booktok and social media in general's effect on literature, art, and media.
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D you saying that "artists are pressured to feed the content beast" is so real. I'm a photographer and the way I can't just focus on photography I have to focus on content creation now or I will not be pushed on algorithm actually makes me want to stop.
@@SofieMystique I feel that as a crochet artist. My stuff never makes it on the algorithm. I tried to get into a pattern test and I didn't make it in because I wouldn't give the person the attention they wanted. 😮💨
I make edits/music videos and totally feel this as well. I try to focus on quality over quantity, which unfortunately means my channel gets booted off the algorithm because I don't churn mid videos out fast enough. I'm not making videos for the views, but with the amount of time I put in some acknowledgement would be nice. I hate feeling like I have to conform to trends to be a proper content creator
@@SofieMystique that pressure kills creativity and it fuckin sucks I’m sorry.
As a writer I can confirm: when people ask me when the next book 's coming, I should get flattered, but instead I get stressed. I can't write any faster, please! I have a life to live as well!
I try to not think of it as "my readers are stressing me", but... My readers are stressing me.
Yeah I’m sure it’s tough cause people are excited about your work, which is great. AND also: the pressure can be stressful.
This is definitely helping me understand how Onyx Storm is 'breaking records'. Go back five years, put 10 book in front of me, ask me to read them and then ask me which one stirred up a fervour not seen since the final Harry Potter books... Onyx Storm, regardless of the other 10 books, would not have been my pick. I've seen the whole journey and I'm still baffled. Reading the books (actually, watching in depth reviews, I can't absorb anything from the books) I sort of see the moments the author was hoping would translate well into short form content by fans. As a fantasy reader who got excited about the concept of romantasy and is now just mopey, the fantasy falls short, the romance falls short but the tropes are pretty text-book.
I don't mind tropes but they aren't for heavy lifting!
This why I get really excited when I hear an author is still working on a book, and it's not going to be out for a while. It's always exciting to think I'm going to get something really great. The two I can think of off the top of my head are Tracy Deonn and Tamsyn Muir, but you're correct that you have to be a big name to get away with taking your time
Tamsyn Muir is one of my favorite authors and I will wait until the end of time if I have to to read Alecto the Ninth. I'd much rather have her take her time and write something that I'll love and cherish and re-read again and again like the first three books than her to be rushed and release something that won't be as satisfying
Art Insta used to talk about this a lot, especially in 2020, because new art was expected daily and not just progress on a piece but new fully finished detailed pieces. If an artist reposted things to have that daily post there would always be "what this is a recycled post!" angry comments. The expectation of creators to create on demand is wild.
That’s WILD. New art EVERYDAY??
I love hearing your take and I agree! I feel like Tik Tok has served to catapult genre fiction like romantasy (inherently trope ridden books which serve their purpose to be familiar territory for readers, with varying quality of writing) into the mainstream due to the profit-driven motivations of the publishing industry. There is a sort of cyclical relationship between authors who now often have to rely on a social media following to have their work deemed profitable enough to be published, the algorithm feeding off of the more contentious or extreme responses to a published or even unpublished book, and the industry realizing realizing how much money they can make by exploiting those two things.
I do think this has led to a decrease in the quality of juggernaut top-selling books in terms of content, writing and editing and an anachronistic increase in the demand of them. You mentioned the bright side of social media platforms for artists, and I think this holds true for most other media types more so than for books. For instance, it seems Tik Tok has had a somewhat more positive impact on music than books. Instead of causing a flood of interchangeable artists creating some version of the same exact story, it seems almost any up and coming artist or even older artist or song can become a huge sensation on social media and bring to public attention someone who would typically be overlooked. You could argue that charting pop music at least has become more varied and interesting this way than it has been at least in the last decade or so, regardless of the persistent problems with the music industry in general.
All this is to say it's complex and I don't think it impacts every media industry equally. I just wish that more talented indie authors with passion projects could benefit from this process. I know people say these Goodreads top pick books got them to fall in love with reading again or for the first time and I can't help but want to champion and celebrate that. However I wonder if it traps those readers into putting up with way worse standards than they might have before BookTok, and rewards the publishing industry for valuing their profit above all else.
I'm pleased to hear these discussions being had. My happy place is slipping into "the zone" when writing, but that's super hard in this world of content & the general disintegration of (flails wildly) everything, & family, & work. Hence ... my current main WIP turned 10 last October. It's the 3rd in a trilogy. There is only so much content one can make to stir interest in an incomplete trilogy over 15 years ... Sigh. My hope is that some people will enjoy book 1 enough to go on & see how I've grown through the next 2 books. It'd be nice if they'd one day pay for their own covers & editing, anyway. I don't know. It's a constant juggle between living the creative life I dream of vs living in the reality we have.
Ha. I finally got around to listening to Bloodywood's song "Tadka" today ... A metal song about food. But, my goodness, did they put their hearts & souls into a passionate celebration. Deep. Light-hearted. It's all good. It's all about the passion, huh?
Found you from the Onyx Storm review. Hahaha. One of my friends calls movies today “fast food movies.” Similarly to how you described the books right now, they’re missing the depth. I agree that it feels like an editing step (or 5) is being skipped in favor of churning things out as fast as possible. And I hope for so much more and better for all of those that are picking up books because of TikTok.
This is a really interesting topic and I think you make some great points! To add on to what you're saying, I think this kind of contentification has been a long time coming. To paraphrase Elrond, I was there in the days of yore when The Hunger Games took off. Nobody expected it to do as well as it did, and the industry was quick to try and capitalise on what they thought made the series so successful (there were so, so many knockoffs but I only really remember Divergent because it fumbled the bag so badly). But it still felt kinda slow because there wasn't anything like TikTok to really keep pushing and pushing what was selling; they still had to react in real-time, if that makes sense? Whereas now, the content beast moves so fast you almost have to predict what the next zeitgeist will be in order to capitalise on it. (Vampires got dropped so quickly there were quite a few series that should have been at least moderately successful that completely failed to launch because they were still coming at as the subject fell out of favour.)
For the longterm, it's going to be interesting seeing how this fast-paced contentification shapes the publishing industry, but I don't envy the authors trying to get published within it
I don't find anything wrong with reading as escapism (although being able to do so is a privilege), and sometimes we just want to turn off our brains for a little bit. The problem is when you take entertainment (like books) that are inherently political and ignore that value outside of the escape.
Yes , and i know thats not all but it should be escapatism toward something too, not being empty. Like fantasy ideally uses that to use escapatism to talk about specific stuff, whatever. Or have intent to talk stil about something memorable enough. And yeah memorable always said, something. Something that interests people irl too?!
Like the reason why one piece is still that liked definitly isnt the escapatism, its that while very much still showing that topics,
One piece woulsnt be as liked if it hadnt that heavy themes in too. and its own thesis and hope. Most media that still stuck around is liked was pretty much political in one way, but also good art that is engaging
show the familiar in a removed enough context.
@marocat4749 exactly. And One Piece is a fantastic example, especially as it has grown with the creator over time. It's goofy and funny, and it's my escape, but its poignant and very real world themes are what make it so meaningful to me. I truly envy people who can just turn off their brain when they read, but it makes me wonder how they interact with the world outside of it if they refuse to acknowledge how the world bleeds into the fiction they escape to.
Me 🤝 D
Refusing to read Sanderson
🤝
MORGAN.....
@ yes? 😇
OMG, I feel this in my soul. I had two traditional historical romances published last year and I specifically went with a publisher rather than do it myself because I am really not great with marketing myself, but I feel constantly pressured to do so if I want to make even a small dent in my numbers (which just takes time away from doing the one thing I want to be doing, which is writing). I have a Bluesky account that I force myself to post on after leaving Twitter and a FB page (which I'm told is necessary for authors even though I wouldn't bother using it otherwise). You MUST market yourself nowadays - my publisher even asked what my online presence was. I know a lot of authors who feel like this pressure takes the joy out of creating cause it's always in the back of your mind - is this genre selling? Does it have popular tropes? How can I market this? 😤
If you thought a cookbook review would be enjoyable, it's check it out! There are so many options like just wanting to learn about a certain regions food, cause the book is super weird, or like to highlight that you can check them out at the library. It reminds me of the series Willie Muse periodically does, "improving my life through content", that's just picking anything he feels like he should consider and trying it for a month.
This is such a great discussion to have and a fantastic video imo. I was in a class this last semester that essentially revolved around this exact idea and now I really wanna send this video to my professor lol
I do agree that it’s mostly content now regardless of substance. We got swallowed by a system that hustles to churn out content just for the sake of tickling the algorithm. But we’re also on the right track that we are finally becoming more aware of this soul-smothering system. Somewhere down the line, hopefully there’d be more of a demand for quality so the system can course-correct. But really, it’s something a majority has to be on board with. Consumers and creators vs the greedy publishing houses. 😌
I think I said it on threads, but I’ll say it here again: short form content (including Instagram grids) is the antithesis of book reading. I noticed that shift way back when pretty book grids became a thing. We’ve always loved pretty covers and the artists absolutely deserve respect, don’t get me wrong. Part of the blame I think falls on the mega sellers like Amazon and BN. The publishing houses were competing with each other, essentially, to move inventory. So many books I picked up as a teen and into the early twenties were based on the cover alone. Didn’t even read the dust jacket. Even if it was something that I would never have picked if I’d read the summary, the quality of the writing was on par with books that I liked. Now? The quality of writing is atrocious, sank into gorgeous covers and they’re all “comp title” meets “comp title” in this groundbreaking new “insert genre here” because they’re not good enough to stand alone. These books have to be filled with mostly fodder so that the fans can blast through them and move on to the next.
TLDR: trad publishing pushing terribly written, cookie cutter books is a symptom of late-stage capitalism and anti-intellectualism.
I feel like you’d appreciate the books “how to do nothing” and “(not) getting paid to do what you love”. It’d be cool to hear your thoughts on them!
All the content I follow takes time. If I have a bad mental day I can't expect others not to. Peace man
That cookbook bar had me yelling in my car just now
I work in publishing and I can confirm that all publishing cares about these days is to turn a quick buck, and no one wants to publish anything but spice and shadow daddies to get the “next fourth wing”. The damage that book has done to the industry cannot be overstated. Same with readers who read only romantasy and feed the special edition monster. Yes, that side of book took has ruined publishing. We’re not going to see another Brandon Sanderson or R.F.Kuang for ages, because those types of books from debut authors are now deemed financial risks.
I'm probably going to have the Smart Guy theme running through my head all day.
You’re welcome ☺️
4:01 YES!!! I want to know WHY the characters are fake dating! Give me a reason! Don’t just give me a horribly half-baked plot and throw tropes in there!
Like a world full of small talk & very few deeper conversations ...
I would watch you cook. But, you know, I'm a super fan or something.
11:34 I fully supported all the food pictures and couldn't understand when people decided it was so corny and fake. I love food. Let me live vicariously through you. Also, what happened between you and Gavin?! j/k (unless it's very interesting and you want to share)
I will confirm that a lot of the ideas behind platform marketing are lies (or at least exaggerated). Two years ago, I set out to prove that I could independently publish without ANY social media promotion. My books sell well. I even got two media deals without posting about my books a single time on any social platform.
I was tempted to follow the trend. Start a YT channel about how to write like 99% of indie authors. Build an audience THEN sell them my books. I'm so, so glad I didn't do that.
The tension between “art” and “product” has existed as long as capitalism and it’s perpetually exhausting. The more profit has a chokehold on every decision made the worse it gets, and, well. I saw a commercial the other day about how Amazon is now doing “healthcare” so that sums up where we are.
Also. When people want books churned out regardless of quality. The human element starts to be removed. Do you see where I’m going. We do not benefit from “more, faster,” nor do artists. The only people who do are publishers and studios.
Should protagonists be tabula rasas? Should we project onto them? Or should they have their own agendas, desires, and personalities? Personally, I like a protagonist with a proper arc, whether negative or positive, their own personality, and their own agenda. I don't want to project into them, I want to see what they are doing in whatever world they are occupying.
I think of many authors who likely wouldn't have made it big in the current climate--George RR Martin, for instance, is anything but a content machine.
I wanted to write my book but there doesn’t seem to be a point.
Will I have time to watch this today or watch it tomorrow? We shall find out soon!
if there's one thing I can depend on you for is a smart guy reference
@awkwardpotato27 when they finally bring it back it’ll be because of me and you all owe me a thoughtful gift
@@dfretter I'll get you into disneyland
Why not a cook book, there ar pretty interesting cook books.
Like did you know there is a one piece sanji cook book that even got good ratings by a cookbok reviewer. (if you have to season yourself according your needs)
There have to be fun enough or solid cook books. or really useful.
23:15 isn't this... illegal? Like they took images from Google but don't they belong to someone? Isn't there an original artist? (Unless it'sAI, that doesn'tget copyright)
Unless maybe they licensed stock images. Not sure what the story is.
@dfretter it just seems weird that an artist would be okay with something like that.
Using a drawing as a profile picture might be okay with them but a publishing company using it to make money? Doesn't sound right. I hope they at least gave credit to the artists but since they couldn't even bother to get exclusive art I doubt they even did the bare minimum
@ yeah it’s pretty sus. That publisher cuts corners like crazy. Shady business.
You could always review media-themed cookbooks if you want to be really on the nose
The cintent beast has ruined movies. Sick of Disney remakes, F/F franchise and a thousand batman and spiderman movies 😅😢
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MOOSE ARENT REAL? WAS THIS A PLOY TO GET ME TO ENGAGE? WHAT?
god, the temptation to find something weird to write an essay about in your comments right now lmfaoooo 🤣
AYO
I do hate watch you but in the sense that I love watching you just hate on some books. Our taste in books we like may not always be the same. But we do agree on the books we don't like.
NO AND IF YOU BELIEVE THIS THEN you need to get offline
🫡