Something that really doesn't sit right with me about Jenna Bush Hager choosing Toni Morrison is that she just released a book three months ago celebrating her war criminal grandpa who escalated the war on black communities and started the anti-Arab wars. Toni Morrison absolutely would not approve of this at all.
About the author who commented on the reader who didn't like their book - one of my friends on Bookstagram posted about a book she didn't like (and didn't tag the author either), and the author commented something along the lines of "well thanks for giving it a try", and even though it was a nice enough comment it still made my friend feel really guilty and uncomfortable. So even if its a comment not made from bitterness or ill will, it can make us reviewers feel wary about what we say in case that happens to us, which is so NOT the point of being a book reviewer. Reviews aren't for authors, they're for readers.
I wrote a review on instagram about a book I didn't like and the author clicked like on my post (no mention of his account either idk how he found my post), he didn't leave any comment but it still makes me uncomfortable like I was guilty of something
In my home country(north america) I cannot afford my rent, utilities and food regularly I'm lucky I work as a cook and can eat most of my weekly calories there. Yes there are many countries suffering. But even in North America I'm iron deficient, broke and cannot keep up with my bills. Speeches about helping other people just makes me feel bad. If I could I would. Fight for the rich paying their fair share rather than giving the general public guilt.
Toni Morrison, may she rest in peace, REMAINS the only Black female(of only a handful of females ever) in the World to receive the Nobel Prize for literature. I meet her for a table talk in the early 1990s, as a guest of my lit prof in college who received her PH.d under Morrison. I KNOW Ms. Morrison would have choice words to say about this "book club".
I am tired of the hypocrisy of some of these US booktubers that were calling out people in the community for not supporting and boosting the US issues. I remember them saying that there was no excuse for not talking about it and now that it's the global south that needed boosting is CRICKETS!!! Jumping into conversations without context then trying to backtrack when they see they made a fool out of themselves and YET not apologizing for not doing anything
Some people can't afford to buy full priced books, and where I live there isn't many places that have stores that are low priced. It's a privilege to be able to afford pull priced $20-30 books, but that being said it would be best if people actually tried looking for other options that are affordable. (esp. the big booktubers who have 100's of books, I'm sure they can afford full priced books but just want a cheaper option from a racist company).
Yeah I totally understand that BookOutlet is one of the most affordable ways to get books and wish there were more options for people. I've definitely been tempted by their selection, but I've also taken this as an opportunity to curve my purchasing of books as a whole, paying full price for books I definitely know I will keep long term, and catching up on the books I own but haven't read yet.
I’m hoping they bring back bookcon and book expo in a more accessible in person AND online format ... more virtual panels, etc. the event has always been a bit exclusionary so I’m hoping this revamping of it is focused on rectifying that!
God the Nora Roberts thing is truly one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life. I cannot recommend ENOUGH that y’all go read the entire thread. There were actual tears in my eyes!
For so long I have felt that the booktube community has always had this holier than though attitude, which really turned me away from a lot of creators. However, the honesty and transparency that you have with your platform is so refreshing that I am starting to get back into booktube.
Obviously I can't say for certain because I'm not her but I believe Courtney Milan was not aware of the Sasha Alsberg situation when she tweeted. She simply saw someone saying it was illegal to sell arcs and felt the need to correct them because she's a lawyer
Thank you so much for doing these videos! I am not on Book Twitter but I still want to be an informed consumer and member of this community. These videos are so so so helpful in that regard. THANK YOU!
I too am tired of the consumerism conversation. It just feels like it’s going around, and not really moving toward solutions that satisfy most everyone involved in the discussion.
Is it though? ARCs aren't a gift sent to people, it's not a favor. They send these ARCs because they know the marketing value of such a move. Basically, they make money ultimately. They aren't loans. Once you receive an ARC, it's yours. So honestly, if someone receives an ARC, then talk about this book, leading to others buying the book... why is it such an issue if they decide to resell it? I think there's always been a gross overreaction over this. "It's so disrespectful to the author", we all have jobs. And in my job, sometimes we get taken a bit advantage of by clients but we know that ultimately it leads to a strengthened relationship, they know they can count on us. There is no such thing as a 'i worked for this so I should get 100% profit out of it' relationship in any type of job. It's just how life works.
@@snakeplissken1752 i have a few ARCs and it says on it that you are not aloud to sell it. The same way you are not suposed ti resell music shows, resell copied CD/DVD.
@@mayareads708 As it was pointed out in this video, it's not illegal, no. But here we're talking about the ethical aspects. I don't have a problem with it personally. Unless the book hasn't been released yet of course. What's really funny to me is that second-hand buying / selling is getting a lot of traction right now because it's better for the environment. But not the book community. Nope. Nuh-huh. Let's demonise those who don't have enough money to buy brand new books and tell them they are killing the authors. Sure.
@@snakeplissken1752 well the booktubers I watch almost all buy from second hand store so it's not my reality at all. Depends who you follow I guess. And for the ethics of reselling ARCs i guess its not a debate its an opinion. I find it weird to make money on a book I receive for free when the author doesnt get a cut anywhere in the process. Which is not the case for second hand books or library books. Idk. I just... its like booktube is trying to make up drama 🙃
bii leto Yes! Jess does so much work and it looks exhausting because book drama never stops, and Jess deserves all the applause and support for being incredible
I just like to say how important it is to know about all the drama that happened and will be happening even though it’s considered drama. It’s still important to be informed and to hold people accountable and spread awareness. So keep up the hard work
I want to add a thought about representation. There are never ending discussions about African-American representation; I wish it were the same with the Asian community and Latinos. So let me speak for my own representation. I am almost blind and while I sure wish that there was representation of disabilities in literature, I want to be sure that that my concerns are pointed out in a stronger delivery and avoid the constant talk about my issue. I have brought up the subject about my disability a few times to close friends and they appreciate how I don't bring this up a majority of the time but when I'm really feeling low or need to make a strong point. This group had informed me that if I did this all the time, it would just be "noise" and would not be heard or felt in the same way. I can't read physical books; I only can read on a Kindle. imagine being afraid to have a booktube channel because I can share no physical books! How would that look? These are issues that I go through but don't voice very often. However, I am now voicing here and I hope my comments will be a "case in point" of picking the right time to give voice to an issue that needs to be heard. Not one booktuber has mentioned the necessity of publishers making enlarged print for their books. Not one. I only can use a phone or a tablet; not a laptop or computer. The reason is the screen is too far for me to view. It's just some "food for thought".
I’m sorry you can’t vent often to your friends. I can imagine it’s difficult to only be able to read Kindle. I didn’t think about the need for large print books in publishing.
Knowing nothing about any of this: I wonder if Epic Reads only nominated creators that they have a working relationship with, in which case where are the brand deals, etc with POC?
Nominations are actually an open form, but without intervention the same "most popular" nominees keep showing up year after year. I would love to see some intervention to make sure new creators and a wider range of creators get nominated.
the jenna’s book club sticker thing is really yikes upon reflecting how MANY publishing house employees (who were probably all or mostly white) had to okay that rebranding before it happened ...
The reader/writer boundary is hard. I'm glad Connie was a grown-up about it with her apology. This video series is so important. I keep telling every bookish person I know about it. These issues are so important for readers to be aware of! The best apology is changed behavior.
I think it's especially hard because authors are also expected to be so publicly available nowadays. Like there is a lot of pressure to maintain social media engagement, and I get how that makes boundaries more difficult to manage.
If you're ever having trouble getting a sticker off, freezing it should help. It's not guaranteed for every adhesive/substrate combo but the adhesion strength will drop in lower temps. This is my PSA on PSAs (pressure sensitive adhesives)
I know I’ve probably missed out on certain books because I won’t buy a book club book. My jaded view of being sold things like shampoo etc by celebrities that you know damn well aren’t using the products in their real lives has made me feel like all these celebrities putting their names on books feels like I’m being sold a book just because a celebrities name on it. I’m sure I could look into the book clubs and if these people are actually reading the books and discussing it but idk it has always bugged me. Also the stickers drive me crazy, especially the permanent ones.
From what I saw, Jesse said they didn't know the Philippines thing was happening, and just thought it was the consumerism thing again, though that doesn't really explain why they didn't just read the thread it was in. But yeah, apparently that's why they said what they said, because they didn't know. Also, Libro FM doesn't work unless you have an US/Canada credit/debit card (I tried to make an account, didn't work) so for the more international people. Try Scribd, which is a monthly subscription, or Libby, which is free, but you need a library card from they library in their system. (For Norwegian people, you need a library card that works in Oslo, just get one of those that work all over the country and it activated in an Oslo library, and you should be good to go).
Libro.fm it depends on the book. I have a US credit card and sometimes get the message that the book isn't available due to the country. But the US/Canada selection is much bigger. And there are probably lots of countries with 0 selection.
the thing about jesse is when thyy did find out, rather than being genuinely sorry for sticking their foot in their mouth and being incredibly insensitve, they came off as a sulky brat. coming from someone who is a big fan of them. i hope they actually educated themselves on the topic, i would assume so, after being called out like that. but since then jesse has put up a vid and didn't mention at all 😬 raising awareness aside, jesse's comment is incredibly harmful in the role the booktube communities plays in perpetutating toxic consumerist habits and the impact on the environment. on top jesse not apologising for blindly jumping into a convo and making ignorant comments about something they knew nothing about. ultimately, making an ass of themselves imo. i've seen sincerer apologies from people who also unknowingly hopped into the convo and instead of using their own words they measly retweeted someone else's apology and links for donations. zero effort. jesse made a wholeass apology video for the last time they fucked up but couldn't even type a 280 character tweet for this time.
I always think about how much work these videos must be for you and how emotionally draining they are to do. Thanks for doing them! They are fantastic.
Re Book hauls thing: Like i get people want exposure on their issues, but the world is so huge and there is so many issues going on with it how is it a booktuber’s fault for not keeping up with all the issues that is happening around the world. Buying books might be an escape thing for a lot of people. And yes As Americans in the USA we are selfish when it comes to our own issues, but it’s not our fault because most of them are directly effecting us. Same with people around the world. Everyone is selfish to their own degree. And i like your view on this too. Because it’s also very taxing via mental health wise.
Also yeah I knew selling ARCs wasn’t illegal but it’s disrespectful to the author and you’d think someone who IS an author (🥴) would understand and respect that
I think CM was talking about the legal standpoint, she has a law degree. Something can be legal, but still be considered unethical, immoral etc., but people seemed to be confused in this case.
I'm torn about "The Bluest Eye" business. I see why sticking a "Jenna Bush Bookclub" sticker on the book and selling it is bad form, but on the whole, I think her choosing this book for her book club is really powerful. Jenna Bush Hagar appeals to a wide audience, especially white women. If she's reading and talking about Black literature, she's modeling that to other white, potentially conservative women. I also don't have a problem with her choosing a backlist book, because readers don't HAVE to buy a new copy with her sticker. You can find The Bluest Eye at any used bookstore in America. From what I can tell, the book club mostly consists of her choosing the book and talking about the selection on The Today Show, and then they publish articles on the website related to the selection each month. I hope she uses this as an opportunity to lift up Black voices and bringing them in to discuss the significance of Toni Morrison and The Bluest Eye. So far, I've been impressed with Jenna's book club picks since she's launched it. This year especially, she's chosen quite a few novels from authors of color.
Yeah, it’s definitely a positive thing that she did. I’m happy that she’s exposing a new audience to Toni Morrison’s work. I just HAAAATE stickers and I think it’s wrong to reprint that work with the sticker on it
@@bippityboppitybitch6938 In the video she expresses that people are upset because the author was trying to avoid the white gaze and white approval. She also go into details that the book didn’t need much popularity, since it was published in the past.
@@bippityboppitybitch6938 In others opinions, they saw it as a way to just put your name on a book, instead of trying to help POC writers get their books published.
Thank you for making this series! I just discovered your channel yesterday and have been binging your videos! I've never been a huge twitter user so I really appreciate being able to stay up to date with bookish news through your videos (and also admire the amount of work that goes into making them too)
I like the mild tea at the beginning and the scalding tea at the end, keeps up the suspense! ❤️ this series btw, I’m always so confused by all the subtweeting, I need an explanation! Thanks for everything you do!
I'm super late to this comment but feel this deeply from my chair across the room from my bed because my human children declared my bed for themselves. 😂
Re: meeting bookish friends at book events - that's exactly what BookNet Fest is for, and it is my favourite event of the year (in years when the pandemic isn't happening).
“It’s not illegal”- yeah, neither are a lot of things, such as bullying. Doesn’t mean it’s not morally wrong. I’m not here to “cancel Sasha” or have anyone go after her. Just to recognize this bad thing she did and uphold accountability for this action. It was wrong. Doesn’t mean she should be condemned for it, doesn’t mean she should get harassed or permanently judged for it. People make mistakes. But said mistakes should be recognized and owned up to.
Ohhhh, that context for the book hauls makes a lot of sense. I guess this is the danger of twitter with all the subtweets and bubbles, sometimes people don't realise that two things are connected and this leaves those who are aware of it rightfully frustrated. Thank you for adding this to the discussion!
@@JessOwens it's the Frankfurt Book Fair (in German: Frankfurter Buchmesse)! I went a few times and while it is really overwhelming I never regretted going. It is mostly the YA section that is the fullest, but there are also always halls (like for nonfiction or foreign publishers) that are empty and still really interesting. What I think I super cool that there is always a "guest country" where one hall is basically dedicated to literature from a different country each year, sometimes there are even art installations from that country or something.
@@beingandtreeing But do they have English books? Because the Germans are known for dubbing everything, like trying to see a movie in English is almost impossible in smaller towns. 😂😂
So many people don’t share global issues in their descriptions because they’re “not relevant” to their topic. We all line on the same planet. Thank you so much for spreading awareness in this simple way!
Jess, they should've nominated you for an Epics Read award. The way you approach these videos is so good. You're really responsible and try to explore all sides of an issue (when there are sides to explore), and I admire the way you acknowledged that you also sometimes scroll past a tweet or something. You definitely made me consider my own position, which is definitely very America-centric re: the issues that I'm most quick to talk about and support, and as a community, that support doesn't always cut both ways. (I'm thinking of how we're always so quick to discourage people from buying on Amazon because Amazon is terrible, but we forget sometimes that Amazon is sometimes the only affordable book supplier to readers in other countries.)
Me: * after a shower about to pass out in bed * Me also: "Wait! Gotta moisturize and stay hydrated and make Jess proud!" ALSO YOU HIT 5K ?!? AMAZING, you deserve it and more!
The reason Courtney made the ARC comment was that she thought people were coming for Romancing the Runoff. Some of the items that were up for auction were rare arcs. She hadn't seen the thing with Sasha (sp?)
yes, I wasn't even surprise that some people would stop shopping with bookoutlet/BOTM ..... few months later.... don't get me wrong getting books is hard and not everyone have the money to always go to these book store with high price. My thing don't make statement like that if your going to go right back in a few weeks
Some extra stuff about Toni Morrison: there's an article that took data about how many Black authors were published while she was an editor at random house vs how many were published after she left (just TWO in six years). I know that some book clubs get stickers on old books (I have a copy of Anna Karenina with Oprah's sticker on it). But I agree that it just comes across as different with Jenna's sticker, especially considering who her dad is. Here's a tweet that has some of the details twitter.com/alyssaharad/status/1337424414007320579?s=19
But should she be judged by who her dad is? I don't know anything about her, so she might be just like her dad, but if she isn't then she shouldn't be judged by who her father is. Thats like judging a mass murders kid for what the mass murderer did. 🤷♀️
There's always YALLFest in Charleston! Not a lot of ARCs given out or anything but it's tons of fun, I volunteered there in high school and the first couple years of college and it's a blast.
I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for all the work you do putting this content together! I know it has to take a ton of time and effort and I appreciate it. Thank you, Jess!
Love this BookTea series. Your commentary is always thoughtful and you bring issues to the forefront that we might not hear about. Thanks for all the work you do! You're almost at 5k, congrats!
I'm so glad I'm not alone in feeling how I do about stickers. I was complaining about Reese's stickers to my bookclub the other day lol! I know book of the month does a special design on the spine and on the back of the book in a non intrusive way. Why can't these book clubs stick to that protocol? Smh. Ashley from the bookish realm is absolutely right. Enough with just saying the words; time to back it up with action! Also the end when all Nigel wanted was to kiss your hands. The adoration in his eyes! 😩🥺
They do the same if the book has won an award or something or has become a movie and sometimes they even change the book cover to fit the movie poster and its just wrong. I also had a sticker on a copy of Animal Farm, removable, but that didn't matter considering the cover was a paper cover, and did not have that smooth effect that most paperbacks had, so taking of that fucking sticker ripped my book cover... 🤦♀️🤦♀️
Girl you have recruited me into your army. I’m subscribed and binge watching your videos. I love that you also have PositiviTEA (did I get that right?) to counteract the tomfoolery with some uplifting news cause there is enough messiness in this world.
I only trust Jess to keep me up to date with the book community drama, which I did not know existed before watching. I miss seeing Curtis, but your Christmas tree is gorgeous!
With that Connie Schultz thing, the author has over 200k followers on Twitter, so when she responded to that negative review, all of her readers saw it on her timeline and went after the reviewer. So not only was it bad that the author engaged, her responded spurred her 200k followers to do the same...
I’m having a rough day, so this absolutely helped with that. I’m low on spoons, so I’m not gonna add anything to the discussion, but I appreciate you and Nigel a ton. 🥰
I try to steer clear of all the crazy fighting in the 'social' book world. Actually just popped over here to tell you that you have a really beautiful Christmas tree :)
I watched all the book twitter mess happening in real time and it left me just wishing people knew how to apologize, delete anything that has been called out, and post their clarifying tweet that wraps up what we've all learned. I get that not everyone is up to date on world events, but news of the typhoons and donation pages were linked by various large booktubers, and also it's pretty passive aggressive and deflect-y to say oh well I just didn't know anything, when your energy could be put into apologizing and then posting some retweets--which is all people wanted. I get the urge to be defensive--I'm a fire sign. But I think it's more productive to just apologize and start looking into your actions. Are you following enough global south creators? Are you keeping up to date on news outside of the Western world? We have to have the same energy and care that we ask of others (I think, here, of people getting upset over creators not knowing about Juneteenth and how, perhaps, we're using the same excuses in this case that were used then). I dunno. I hope this makes sense. I just think folks need to get better at saying sorry I fucked up, here's how I'll do better.
I also have personal issues with Jesse's original tweet, as the way it is worded is not in any way indicative of the clarification they posted. It's incredibly alienating to those who cannot afford books, who do not have access to books or libraries, etc, and to reduce the joy of reading to consumerism is...off putting.
People don’t know how to apologize and it’s baffling. I don’t understand how bookish people didn’t know because it’s been all over my Twitter feed. And I know we can’t know everything that happens everywhere but ... I feel like the typhoons was big news.
Just found your channel today Coz I wanted the book community tea. Then you went out and are trying to help us in the Philippines after the two huge storms and the massive floods that affected 3 regions. Thank you so much for the tea and the visibility you are giving.
Regarding ARCs, I feel like the conversation is driven by economical considerations. An ARC is one less copy sold for the publisher. I worked for a newspaper and there culture beat got a quite a few unsolicited ARCs. Some even came with the stipulation that it is for review purposes only and not to pass it on. Which means, technically we weren't even supposed to donate the books to the library or gift it to other people in the newsroom. We still did that, because otherwise you just have a huge pile of books sitting around and no one wanted to throw them in the bin, which I guess what the publishers would have preferred. Selling for monetary gain when you are already well-off is a bit different, but still, for me, not a big issue.
The thing about the author commenting on a reader's status tweet just reminds me of that incident a while back with Yvonthia Meredith Leland claiming someone who gave her a bad review on Goodreads was trolling her (or something of the sort) and caused a big scene about it. She ended up arguing with the reviewer about the book and, I think, left Goodreads altogether.
I actually put a book back at the store the other day because it had a Read with Jenna sticker on it... I can't remember which one but it was a book I wanted to read. 🙅♀️
Sorry just found you/this video! I really enjoyed (?) this video - it gave me lots to think about about the booktube community/ people in general. I don’t really do Twitter so I am glad there are people like you who can filter it into important topics. However Don’t burn yourself out! This looks like it could be a hard Video series to continue haha. And your puppy is the cutest! He has such a personality 🥰
Its great that Jenna Bush chose Toni Morrison as her book club pick, but I do agree the sticker needs removed and definitely people of color need to be on her team to lead the discussion. Also, I 100% always heard selling ARCs *was* illegal.... but yea it still sucks.
I think it can potentially be a breach of contract, depending on how you got the ARC. But if you are a booktuber and the ARC was unsolicited there wouldn't be an issue. If there was no agreement with the publisher or distributor there is nothing they could do to stop it or recoup anything.
thank you for not erasing the origin of the consumerism debacle! that was the main issue, that people are able to make book hauls but somehow unable to retweet a single donation link?
This is just speculation but I'm pretty sure Jesse is reading gurugossip which is why they keep bringing this up because gurugossip really hasn't stopped the conversation yet and has it even more often than book twitter does
Glad I can finally catch up on the tea! I feel like in the initial round of voting in the Epic Reads Book Shimmy awards, you can write in your choices. I was irritated by the same choices as the last few years, and I’m pretty sure I wrote in a name. It was early in the year 😬 not sure if I remember correctly.
A couple of years ago I read a book for one of my library’s book clubs and I hated it. I did a short video review of it I think on my Instagram and the author totally trolled me. He basically was like well your opinion is dumb or doesn’t matter. I was like well damn I didn’t ask you and I didn’t tag you for your opinion. It was hella rude. I haven’t read anything by him since then. 👋🏼 bye Felicia 👋🏼 lol
Oh yeah and honestly I watched my video yesterday and honestly I just said it was disappointing and boring. I wasn’t even mean lol 😂 but again I never tagged him just hashtagged his name. Like I do for every book review.
Being chosen for an award (or a job, opportunity, etc) because I was actively sought out by the staff (or whoever) for being black (or a woman) would absolutely suck. Does suck. It always makes me doubt my skill or contribution 😢 But that’s just me.
Quite a few years ago, I had a LiveJournal account where I posted book reviews (and photos of trips). I had read a Bones book, the first in a series of spin-offs. Now the book had not been out for very long, but the series itself had been out for a few years. I enjoyed the book, but noted the differences between the series and the book, not unreasonable to my bookish mind. The author, an established one with the initials MC (not naming him so he doesn't come at me here) who had written lots of mysteries and TV/film tie-in books, found it and fussed at me. He explained that the book had been written before the series first aired, that he was working off a script(s), etc., etc. It wasn't done in a *nice* tone. I replied that I merely posted what I had read and observed. Very cringy. Sorry to say that this turned me away from this author's books.
On the Jesse situation I also wanted to comment that according to them they made that tweet being unware of the larger conversation going on and tweeted it because of something completely unrelated. Yet once she had explained and apoligized I still saw A LOT of comments saying that Jesse should have known better and that she should do more research before tweeting and that she should check her privilige ... On the SAME day I also saw another (white) booktuber tweet about how she doesn't get the hate towards book hauls. She also completely tweeted this not knowing the bigger conversation and later also explained and apologised. However, her comments were flooded with people agreeing with her initial tweet and not getting why she needed to explain herself because 'book hauls have been getting hate for so long, way before all of this was going on, and it's completely understandable that you could feel the need to tweet something like this and it being completely unrelated to the bigger conversation'. I wonder why these two people got so different of reactions to almost the exact same post ...
Epic Reads and their Book Nerd award is kind of ironic and super annoying given the Book Outlet vlogger family thing from a few months ago. And I just don't get how these big companies, especially in 2020, can still say "we will do better" like they haven't been seeing and hearing other big companies say the same damn thing because of the same damn issues. At least Book of the Month, at least I think it was them, actually showed their action plan and from what I have seen they have been more inclusive and have a more diverse selection.
I have also heard recently that Courtney Milan tweeted that without the context of the Sasha Alsberg thing, and after someone let her know about what the discussion was about, she apologized! (I don't have the screenshot myself, unfortunately!) but I do think the overall response (or lack thereof) to this situation compared to previous discussions of selling ARCs is disappointing. As you said, you can't have it both ways :/ That EpicReads nonapology!! thought they were already "striving to do better"? 😒 it feels like with a lot of companies/organizations they're doing a "we're doing better, starting now! .......actually, starting now......okay just kidding, we REALLY mean it this time!!" and it's not a good look Also love that you shout out Marines and Ashley so much, I love them!
I've always dreamt on attending BookCon in NYC! Though they definitely need to revise it as I personally felt it wasn't super accessible to all book lovers (as well as authors). The only thing I will not miss is hearing the drama that happens with some booktubers at these events.
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![Book CommuniTEA Part 1: Tis The Season To Act A Fool: Jess Cluess' Racists Rants & more [CC]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qUhqzr_qjxI/mqdefault.jpg)
![Book CommuniTEA Tuesday: Why Should We Read Diversely? Bye-bye #OwnVoices? [CC]](/img/1.gif)
Imagine all of the bookish tea we were unaware of before this video series started!!
And what do you mean you’re not a well versed person, that was beautiful!
I was always so lost on twitter 🤣😭
I know, I honestly think to myself now, “What are people talking about? Oh, I can just wait for Jess to cover it.”
We just had to wait and hope someone on Twitter explained what was happening 😂😂
Cannot agree more about authors interacting with negative reviews of their books. It’s so uncomfortable 🙈
((Excuse me while I scream because you watched my video 😮😮😮😮😮)) ok, yes so agree ! It’s awkward and weird
Something that really doesn't sit right with me about Jenna Bush Hager choosing Toni Morrison is that she just released a book three months ago celebrating her war criminal grandpa who escalated the war on black communities and started the anti-Arab wars. Toni Morrison absolutely would not approve of this at all.
🥴🥴🥴 oh no, Ms Morrison would not approve
About the author who commented on the reader who didn't like their book - one of my friends on Bookstagram posted about a book she didn't like (and didn't tag the author either), and the author commented something along the lines of "well thanks for giving it a try", and even though it was a nice enough comment it still made my friend feel really guilty and uncomfortable. So even if its a comment not made from bitterness or ill will, it can make us reviewers feel wary about what we say in case that happens to us, which is so NOT the point of being a book reviewer. Reviews aren't for authors, they're for readers.
🥴🥴 that is so uncomfortable
I agree, I personally had an author get angry at me for not liking their book. The whole point of us reviewing a book is to share our honest feelings.
I wrote a review on instagram about a book I didn't like and the author clicked like on my post (no mention of his account either idk how he found my post), he didn't leave any comment but it still makes me uncomfortable like I was guilty of something
I almost never know anything going on in the book community. Then Jess does one of these videos & I’m like oh so that’s what people were talking about
😂😂😂 I do what I can
In my home country(north america) I cannot afford my rent, utilities and food regularly
I'm lucky I work as a cook and can eat most of my weekly calories there. Yes there are many countries suffering. But even in North America I'm iron deficient, broke and cannot keep up with my bills. Speeches about helping other people just makes me feel bad. If I could I would. Fight for the rich paying their fair share rather than giving the general public guilt.
Toni Morrison, may she rest in peace, REMAINS the only Black female(of only a handful of females ever) in the World to receive the Nobel Prize for literature. I meet her for a table talk in the early 1990s, as a guest of my lit prof in college who received her PH.d under Morrison. I KNOW Ms. Morrison would have choice words to say about this "book club".
Omg, you met her 😮. And yes she would have an opinion on this book club for sure
A bit of a side note, but I laughed so hard when Nigel decided he wanted the whole chair lmaooo.
He is SO RUDE 🤣🤣
I am tired of the hypocrisy of some of these US booktubers that were calling out people in the community for not supporting and boosting the US issues. I remember them saying that there was no excuse for not talking about it and now that it's the global south that needed boosting is CRICKETS!!! Jumping into conversations without context then trying to backtrack when they see they made a fool out of themselves and YET not apologizing for not doing anything
I still see sooo many book outlet hauls, and I'm here thinking "do you not know about them?"
Some people can't afford to buy full priced books, and where I live there isn't many places that have stores that are low priced. It's a privilege to be able to afford pull priced $20-30 books, but that being said it would be best if people actually tried looking for other options that are affordable. (esp. the big booktubers who have 100's of books, I'm sure they can afford full priced books but just want a cheaper option from a racist company).
BooksToAshes I totally agree with that but they don’t need to do any advertising for them.
Yeah I totally understand that BookOutlet is one of the most affordable ways to get books and wish there were more options for people. I've definitely been tempted by their selection, but I've also taken this as an opportunity to curve my purchasing of books as a whole, paying full price for books I definitely know I will keep long term, and catching up on the books I own but haven't read yet.
@@booksoverbreakfast Yeah they could just have a book haul and not say where the books came from, if they must do hauls.
Yeah 😬😬
I've been binge watching this series and learned a lot about the bookish community! keep it up these are entertaining!
Yaaaay! Thanks for watching
I’m hoping they bring back bookcon and book expo in a more accessible in person AND online format ... more virtual panels, etc. the event has always been a bit exclusionary so I’m hoping this revamping of it is focused on rectifying that!
Yesss ! It would be cool even if they had it in person, that they offered more virtual events too!
God the Nora Roberts thing is truly one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life. I cannot recommend ENOUGH that y’all go read the entire thread. There were actual tears in my eyes!
I CACKLED. Debra had the nerve 🤣🤣🤣
For so long I have felt that the booktube community has always had this holier than though attitude, which really turned me away from a lot of creators. However, the honesty and transparency that you have with your platform is so refreshing that I am starting to get back into booktube.
Oh thank you !! There are many creators who are very open and down to earth
Obviously I can't say for certain because I'm not her but I believe Courtney Milan was not aware of the Sasha Alsberg situation when she tweeted. She simply saw someone saying it was illegal to sell arcs and felt the need to correct them because she's a lawyer
Yeah Marines talked about this in her live, Courtney didn’t know why people were talking about ARCS and was confused. I believe she apologized.
Oh ok.
Thank you so much for doing these videos! I am not on Book Twitter but I still want to be an informed consumer and member of this community. These videos are so so so helpful in that regard. THANK YOU!
🥳🥳 you’re welcome !! My pleasure 😌
I too am tired of the consumerism conversation. It just feels like it’s going around, and not really moving toward solutions that satisfy most everyone involved in the discussion.
It’s a never ending conversation. I’m over it
Excellent points! The Bluest Eye is a classic..doesn't need JB's 'seal of approval'!!!
Exactly !
"it's not illegal" okay and? It's still inappropriate
Very !
Is it though?
ARCs aren't a gift sent to people, it's not a favor. They send these ARCs because they know the marketing value of such a move. Basically, they make money ultimately.
They aren't loans. Once you receive an ARC, it's yours. So honestly, if someone receives an ARC, then talk about this book, leading to others buying the book... why is it such an issue if they decide to resell it?
I think there's always been a gross overreaction over this. "It's so disrespectful to the author", we all have jobs. And in my job, sometimes we get taken a bit advantage of by clients but we know that ultimately it leads to a strengthened relationship, they know they can count on us. There is no such thing as a 'i worked for this so I should get 100% profit out of it' relationship in any type of job. It's just how life works.
@@snakeplissken1752 i have a few ARCs and it says on it that you are not aloud to sell it. The same way you are not suposed ti resell music shows, resell copied CD/DVD.
@@mayareads708 As it was pointed out in this video, it's not illegal, no.
But here we're talking about the ethical aspects. I don't have a problem with it personally. Unless the book hasn't been released yet of course.
What's really funny to me is that second-hand buying / selling is getting a lot of traction right now because it's better for the environment.
But not the book community. Nope. Nuh-huh. Let's demonise those who don't have enough money to buy brand new books and tell them they are killing the authors. Sure.
@@snakeplissken1752 well the booktubers I watch almost all buy from second hand store so it's not my reality at all. Depends who you follow I guess.
And for the ethics of reselling ARCs i guess its not a debate its an opinion. I find it weird to make money on a book I receive for free when the author doesnt get a cut anywhere in the process. Which is not the case for second hand books or library books.
Idk. I just... its like booktube is trying to make up drama 🙃
I know you feel like you don't do enough, but you've been doing your best and honestly more than most people I've seen. You're very appreciated ♥️
Seconding this so hard.
@@BrokenDarkFire Jess Defense Squad 😁
bii leto Yes! Jess does so much work and it looks exhausting because book drama never stops, and Jess deserves all the applause and support for being incredible
Thank you 🥺🥺😭😭😭
@@BrokenDarkFire 🥰😘 thank you !
If I have to hear "we can do better" one more time - just do it!
I’m so tired of that phrase
@@JessOwens 100%.
I just like to say how important it is to know about all the drama that happened and will be happening even though it’s considered drama. It’s still important to be informed and to hold people accountable and spread awareness. So keep up the hard work
Very true ! Sometimes it’s petty and funny and sometimes it’s an important chance to learn something. Thank you 💜
I want to add a thought about representation. There are never ending discussions about African-American representation; I wish it were the same with the Asian community and Latinos.
So let me speak for my own representation. I am almost blind and while I sure wish that there was representation of disabilities in literature, I want to be sure that that my concerns are pointed out in a stronger delivery and avoid the constant talk about my issue.
I have brought up the subject about my disability a few times to close friends and they appreciate how I don't bring this up a majority of the time but when I'm really feeling low or need to make a strong point. This group had informed me that if I did this all the time, it would just be "noise" and would not be heard or felt in the same way.
I can't read physical books; I only can read on a Kindle. imagine being afraid to have a booktube channel because I can share no physical books! How would that look? These are issues that I go through but don't voice very often. However, I am now voicing here and I hope my comments will be a "case in point" of picking the right time to give voice to an issue that needs to be heard.
Not one booktuber has mentioned the necessity of publishers making enlarged print for their books. Not one.
I only can use a phone or a tablet; not a laptop or computer. The reason is the screen is too far for me to view.
It's just some "food for thought".
I’m sorry you can’t vent often to your friends. I can imagine it’s difficult to only be able to read Kindle. I didn’t think about the need for large print books in publishing.
Kindles are the best
Knowing nothing about any of this: I wonder if Epic Reads only nominated creators that they have a working relationship with, in which case where are the brand deals, etc with POC?
Ooh, good point. I know the first round is community nominated for the books but I’m not sure about the creator award in particular.
Nominations are actually an open form, but without intervention the same "most popular" nominees keep showing up year after year. I would love to see some intervention to make sure new creators and a wider range of creators get nominated.
Apparently the initial round is write in but seems to be same people time and time again
That jumper's colour looks so good on you, especially with the braid - love it! ♥️
Thank you ☺️
the jenna’s book club sticker thing is really yikes upon reflecting how MANY publishing house employees (who were probably all or mostly white) had to okay that rebranding before it happened ...
It's just like that idiotic idea by B&N to rebrand classic kid lit with POC characters 😵
It’s so unnecessary !!
The reader/writer boundary is hard. I'm glad Connie was a grown-up about it with her apology. This video series is so important. I keep telling every bookish person I know about it. These issues are so important for readers to be aware of! The best apology is changed behavior.
I think it's especially hard because authors are also expected to be so publicly available nowadays. Like there is a lot of pressure to maintain social media engagement, and I get how that makes boundaries more difficult to manage.
@@MRuby-qb9bd Yes, that's a great point.
If you're ever having trouble getting a sticker off, freezing it should help. It's not guaranteed for every adhesive/substrate combo but the adhesion strength will drop in lower temps. This is my PSA on PSAs (pressure sensitive adhesives)
I know I’ve probably missed out on certain books because I won’t buy a book club book. My jaded view of being sold things like shampoo etc by celebrities that you know damn well aren’t using the products in their real lives has made me feel like all these celebrities putting their names on books feels like I’m being sold a book just because a celebrities name on it. I’m sure I could look into the book clubs and if these people are actually reading the books and discussing it but idk it has always bugged me. Also the stickers drive me crazy, especially the permanent ones.
I know this was completely off topic sorry about that.
From what I saw, Jesse said they didn't know the Philippines thing was happening, and just thought it was the consumerism thing again, though that doesn't really explain why they didn't just read the thread it was in. But yeah, apparently that's why they said what they said, because they didn't know.
Also, Libro FM doesn't work unless you have an US/Canada credit/debit card (I tried to make an account, didn't work) so for the more international people. Try Scribd, which is a monthly subscription, or Libby, which is free, but you need a library card from they library in their system. (For Norwegian people, you need a library card that works in Oslo, just get one of those that work all over the country and it activated in an Oslo library, and you should be good to go).
Libro.fm it depends on the book. I have a US credit card and sometimes get the message that the book isn't available due to the country. But the US/Canada selection is much bigger. And there are probably lots of countries with 0 selection.
@@MRuby-qb9bd its more that you can't make an account without a US/Canada card. So you can't use it at all
Ohhh I didn’t know that about Libro FM, I’m sorry !
the thing about jesse is when thyy did find out, rather than being genuinely sorry for sticking their foot in their mouth and being incredibly insensitve, they came off as a sulky brat. coming from someone who is a big fan of them.
i hope they actually educated themselves on the topic, i would assume so, after being called out like that. but since then jesse has put up a vid and didn't mention at all 😬
raising awareness aside, jesse's comment is incredibly harmful in the role the booktube communities plays in perpetutating toxic consumerist habits and the impact on the environment.
on top jesse not apologising for blindly jumping into a convo and making ignorant comments about something they knew nothing about. ultimately, making an ass of themselves imo.
i've seen sincerer apologies from people who also unknowingly hopped into the convo and instead of using their own words they measly retweeted someone else's apology and links for donations. zero effort. jesse made a wholeass apology video for the last time they fucked up but couldn't even type a 280 character tweet for this time.
I always think about how much work these videos must be for you and how emotionally draining they are to do. Thanks for doing them! They are fantastic.
It can be a lot but they’re worth it. Thank you !!
Re Book hauls thing: Like i get people want exposure on their issues, but the world is so huge and there is so many issues going on with it how is it a booktuber’s fault for not keeping up with all the issues that is happening around the world. Buying books might be an escape thing for a lot of people. And yes As Americans in the USA we are selfish when it comes to our own issues, but it’s not our fault because most of them are directly effecting us. Same with people around the world. Everyone is selfish to their own degree. And i like your view on this too. Because it’s also very taxing via mental health wise.
Also yeah I knew selling ARCs wasn’t illegal but it’s disrespectful to the author and you’d think someone who IS an author (🥴) would understand and respect that
You would THINK but apparently not 🙃
I think CM was talking about the legal standpoint, she has a law degree. Something can be legal, but still be considered unethical, immoral etc., but people seemed to be confused in this case.
I'm torn about "The Bluest Eye" business. I see why sticking a "Jenna Bush Bookclub" sticker on the book and selling it is bad form, but on the whole, I think her choosing this book for her book club is really powerful. Jenna Bush Hagar appeals to a wide audience, especially white women. If she's reading and talking about Black literature, she's modeling that to other white, potentially conservative women. I also don't have a problem with her choosing a backlist book, because readers don't HAVE to buy a new copy with her sticker. You can find The Bluest Eye at any used bookstore in America.
From what I can tell, the book club mostly consists of her choosing the book and talking about the selection on The Today Show, and then they publish articles on the website related to the selection each month. I hope she uses this as an opportunity to lift up Black voices and bringing them in to discuss the significance of Toni Morrison and The Bluest Eye.
So far, I've been impressed with Jenna's book club picks since she's launched it. This year especially, she's chosen quite a few novels from authors of color.
Yeah, it’s definitely a positive thing that she did. I’m happy that she’s exposing a new audience to Toni Morrison’s work. I just HAAAATE stickers and I think it’s wrong to reprint that work with the sticker on it
@@JessOwens I don't even think about these issues because I almost never buy books, I just use the public library.
@@JessOwens so you're just mad that they placed a sticker on the book? ....ok
@@bippityboppitybitch6938 In the video she expresses that people are upset because the author was trying to avoid the white gaze and white approval. She also go into details that the book didn’t need much popularity, since it was published in the past.
@@bippityboppitybitch6938 In others opinions, they saw it as a way to just put your name on a book, instead of trying to help POC writers get their books published.
Thank you for making this series! I just discovered your channel yesterday and have been binging your videos! I've never been a huge twitter user so I really appreciate being able to stay up to date with bookish news through your videos (and also admire the amount of work that goes into making them too)
Yay! Welcome to my hot mess express 😂
The second half is here!! I'm so excited for this
💜💜
I like the mild tea at the beginning and the scalding tea at the end, keeps up the suspense! ❤️ this series btw, I’m always so confused by all the subtweeting, I need an explanation! Thanks for everything you do!
😉😉
You and Nigel competing for chair space is 100% me and my human children competing for bed space😂😂
🤣🤣🤣
I'm super late to this comment but feel this deeply from my chair across the room from my bed because my human children declared my bed for themselves. 😂
Re: meeting bookish friends at book events - that's exactly what BookNet Fest is for, and it is my favourite event of the year (in years when the pandemic isn't happening).
“It’s not illegal”- yeah, neither are a lot of things, such as bullying. Doesn’t mean it’s not morally wrong.
I’m not here to “cancel Sasha” or have anyone go after her. Just to recognize this bad thing she did and uphold accountability for this action. It was wrong. Doesn’t mean she should be condemned for it, doesn’t mean she should get harassed or permanently judged for it. People make mistakes. But said mistakes should be recognized and owned up to.
Ohhhh, that context for the book hauls makes a lot of sense. I guess this is the danger of twitter with all the subtweets and bubbles, sometimes people don't realise that two things are connected and this leaves those who are aware of it rightfully frustrated. Thank you for adding this to the discussion!
I hate subtweeting so much 😹
Apparently, the biggest book convention in the world is in Frankfurt, Germany. So that’s closer 😉
Really ??? What’s it called ?
@@JessOwens it's the Frankfurt Book Fair (in German: Frankfurter Buchmesse)! I went a few times and while it is really overwhelming I never regretted going. It is mostly the YA section that is the fullest, but there are also always halls (like for nonfiction or foreign publishers) that are empty and still really interesting. What I think I super cool that there is always a "guest country" where one hall is basically dedicated to literature from a different country each year, sometimes there are even art installations from that country or something.
@@beingandtreeing But do they have English books? Because the Germans are known for dubbing everything, like trying to see a movie in English is almost impossible in smaller towns. 😂😂
YES! Your series has helped me to know which authors to no longer support by buying their books and the EDUCATION! Just Yes. Thank you
👏🏾👏🏾
I am devastated by the loss of BookCon 😭😭😭
That Michael Jordan PSA really applies to all of the book drama. Thanks for the tea, the skincare reminder and of course, sweet baby Nigel.
Truly. I think of that PSA often 😆
So many people don’t share global issues in their descriptions because they’re “not relevant” to their topic. We all line on the same planet. Thank you so much for spreading awareness in this simple way!
Yes exactly, we’re a global community💜
Hahaha when you walked away and said stay for some reason i thought you were talking to us and I was like okay ill stay
LMAO!!
Jess, they should've nominated you for an Epics Read award. The way you approach these videos is so good. You're really responsible and try to explore all sides of an issue (when there are sides to explore), and I admire the way you acknowledged that you also sometimes scroll past a tweet or something. You definitely made me consider my own position, which is definitely very America-centric re: the issues that I'm most quick to talk about and support, and as a community, that support doesn't always cut both ways. (I'm thinking of how we're always so quick to discourage people from buying on Amazon because Amazon is terrible, but we forget sometimes that Amazon is sometimes the only affordable book supplier to readers in other countries.)
😭😭😭😭 wow thank you 💜
Me: * after a shower about to pass out in bed *
Me also: "Wait! Gotta moisturize and stay hydrated and make Jess proud!"
ALSO YOU HIT 5K ?!? AMAZING, you deserve it and more!
Thank you !! So proud of you staying moisturized !!
The reason Courtney made the ARC comment was that she thought people were coming for Romancing the Runoff. Some of the items that were up for auction were rare arcs. She hadn't seen the thing with Sasha (sp?)
Hmmmm, ok that’s fair.
yes, I wasn't even surprise that some people would stop shopping with bookoutlet/BOTM ..... few months later.... don't get me wrong getting books is hard and not everyone have the money to always go to these book store with high price. My thing don't make statement like that if your going to go right back in a few weeks
I just hope bookcon means for the time being. It is one of the most fun events I’ve attended. I’d hate to see it never happen again.
Some extra stuff about Toni Morrison: there's an article that took data about how many Black authors were published while she was an editor at random house vs how many were published after she left (just TWO in six years).
I know that some book clubs get stickers on old books (I have a copy of Anna Karenina with Oprah's sticker on it). But I agree that it just comes across as different with Jenna's sticker, especially considering who her dad is. Here's a tweet that has some of the details twitter.com/alyssaharad/status/1337424414007320579?s=19
I recently read that article and UGH. It’s ridiculous how few Black authors are published
But should she be judged by who her dad is? I don't know anything about her, so she might be just like her dad, but if she isn't then she shouldn't be judged by who her father is. Thats like judging a mass murders kid for what the mass murderer did. 🤷♀️
I’ve... binged watched five of these episodes the last 24 hours 😳
(I just found your channel, so hiiiii, new sub!)
YAASSSS helllllo☺️☺️
There's always YALLFest in Charleston! Not a lot of ARCs given out or anything but it's tons of fun, I volunteered there in high school and the first couple years of college and it's a blast.
I have always wanted to go!
I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for all the work you do putting this content together! I know it has to take a ton of time and effort and I appreciate it. Thank you, Jess!
Thank you so much! And I appreciate you for watching 💜💜
Love this BookTea series. Your commentary is always thoughtful and you bring issues to the forefront that we might not hear about. Thanks for all the work you do! You're almost at 5k, congrats!
Thank you !
Yes please. "Tell me the action steps!" is always the best response. Thanks for this! I didn't know about Epic Reads.
I'm so glad I'm not alone in feeling how I do about stickers. I was complaining about Reese's stickers to my bookclub the other day lol! I know book of the month does a special design on the spine and on the back of the book in a non intrusive way. Why can't these book clubs stick to that protocol? Smh. Ashley from the bookish realm is absolutely right. Enough with just saying the words; time to back it up with action! Also the end when all Nigel wanted was to kiss your hands. The adoration in his eyes! 😩🥺
Stickers are the devil!! Nigel is the sweetest boy 🥺
They do the same if the book has won an award or something or has become a movie and sometimes they even change the book cover to fit the movie poster and its just wrong.
I also had a sticker on a copy of Animal Farm, removable, but that didn't matter considering the cover was a paper cover, and did not have that smooth effect that most paperbacks had, so taking of that fucking sticker ripped my book cover... 🤦♀️🤦♀️
Girl you have recruited me into your army. I’m subscribed and binge watching your videos. I love that you also have PositiviTEA (did I get that right?) to counteract the tomfoolery with some uplifting news cause there is enough messiness in this world.
Wooo, welcome 🎉😂
I only trust Jess to keep me up to date with the book community drama, which I did not know existed before watching. I miss seeing Curtis, but your Christmas tree is gorgeous!
Thank you ! There will be more Curtis !
With that Connie Schultz thing, the author has over 200k followers on Twitter, so when she responded to that negative review, all of her readers saw it on her timeline and went after the reviewer. So not only was it bad that the author engaged, her responded spurred her 200k followers to do the same...
Oh, yikes. That’s no good
I've been binge-watching the CommuniTEA series waiting for part 2, thank you for awesome content😊
💜💜
I’m having a rough day, so this absolutely helped with that. I’m low on spoons, so I’m not gonna add anything to the discussion, but I appreciate you and Nigel a ton. 🥰
😘😘😘 I’m happy Nigel and I can help
You are the real MVP of booktube!
😭😭 thank you
I went to bookcon and it was so fun.
What good timing! I am on my lunch break at work and this just popped up!
🙌🏾🙌🏾
I try to steer clear of all the crazy fighting in the 'social' book world. Actually just popped over here to tell you that you have a really beautiful Christmas tree :)
Thank you ! 🎄💚
I love starting my morning with these videos ☺ also the intro LOL but now I want to try that sunscreen!
It’s a good one !
can foolery take a break for a week, please? we need a mental health break
Honestly. I may take a break next week since it’s Christmas 🤣
I watched all the book twitter mess happening in real time and it left me just wishing people knew how to apologize, delete anything that has been called out, and post their clarifying tweet that wraps up what we've all learned. I get that not everyone is up to date on world events, but news of the typhoons and donation pages were linked by various large booktubers, and also it's pretty passive aggressive and deflect-y to say oh well I just didn't know anything, when your energy could be put into apologizing and then posting some retweets--which is all people wanted. I get the urge to be defensive--I'm a fire sign. But I think it's more productive to just apologize and start looking into your actions. Are you following enough global south creators? Are you keeping up to date on news outside of the Western world? We have to have the same energy and care that we ask of others (I think, here, of people getting upset over creators not knowing about Juneteenth and how, perhaps, we're using the same excuses in this case that were used then). I dunno. I hope this makes sense. I just think folks need to get better at saying sorry I fucked up, here's how I'll do better.
I also have personal issues with Jesse's original tweet, as the way it is worded is not in any way indicative of the clarification they posted. It's incredibly alienating to those who cannot afford books, who do not have access to books or libraries, etc, and to reduce the joy of reading to consumerism is...off putting.
People don’t know how to apologize and it’s baffling. I don’t understand how bookish people didn’t know because it’s been all over my Twitter feed. And I know we can’t know everything that happens everywhere but ... I feel like the typhoons was big news.
@@JessOwens right?! Like we can all be adults here. And yeah it was all over mine, as well.
This ep of the Nigel Show was a stunner!
But seriously...another good ep. I'm hooked on these updaTEAs.
Just found your channel today Coz I wanted the book community tea. Then you went out and are trying to help us in the Philippines after the two huge storms and the massive floods that affected 3 regions. Thank you so much for the tea and the visibility you are giving.
Thanks for watching ! I’m glad to help anyway I can 💙
Regarding ARCs, I feel like the conversation is driven by economical considerations. An ARC is one less copy sold for the publisher. I worked for a newspaper and there culture beat got a quite a few unsolicited ARCs. Some even came with the stipulation that it is for review purposes only and not to pass it on. Which means, technically we weren't even supposed to donate the books to the library or gift it to other people in the newsroom. We still did that, because otherwise you just have a huge pile of books sitting around and no one wanted to throw them in the bin, which I guess what the publishers would have preferred. Selling for monetary gain when you are already well-off is a bit different, but still, for me, not a big issue.
The thing about the author commenting on a reader's status tweet just reminds me of that incident a while back with Yvonthia Meredith Leland claiming someone who gave her a bad review on Goodreads was trolling her (or something of the sort) and caused a big scene about it. She ended up arguing with the reviewer about the book and, I think, left Goodreads altogether.
😂 your insert of Michael Jordan PSA took me back. Feeling old over here 😂 I hope you get some time for yourself to recharge and relax 😊🖤
😂😂😂 that PSA pops into my head often
Honestly, your videos are getting me through this damned year.
Glad I can help out 😘😂
Drinking my coffee, hearing the tea. ♥️🎄☕️
Part 2 may not be as juicy as Part 1, but it went heavy on the tea! *Sips tea while watching*
☕️
Oh that pup is precious though
The boom community gives you so much material, I’m loving these videos!
They keep me busy 😂
I actually put a book back at the store the other day because it had a Read with Jenna sticker on it... I can't remember which one but it was a book I wanted to read. 🙅♀️
Sorry just found you/this video! I really enjoyed (?) this video - it gave me lots to think about about the booktube community/ people in general. I don’t really do Twitter so I am glad there are people like you who can filter it into important topics. However Don’t burn yourself out! This looks like it could be a hard Video series to continue haha. And your puppy is the cutest! He has such a personality 🥰
Thank you ! Nigel is so adorable, I’m obsessed. And yes this series is exhausting. I think this week I’m taking a break
Its great that Jenna Bush chose Toni Morrison as her book club pick, but I do agree the sticker needs removed and definitely people of color need to be on her team to lead the discussion. Also, I 100% always heard selling ARCs *was* illegal.... but yea it still sucks.
I think it can potentially be a breach of contract, depending on how you got the ARC. But if you are a booktuber and the ARC was unsolicited there wouldn't be an issue. If there was no agreement with the publisher or distributor there is nothing they could do to stop it or recoup anything.
I think Nigel was trying to save you from the foolishness 😂
He was and I didn’t listen 😂
thank you for not erasing the origin of the consumerism debacle! that was the main issue, that people are able to make book hauls but somehow unable to retweet a single donation link?
It makes no sense. So easy to spread awareness
The news was still juicy in this part. You put me on to so much I was unaware of and I definitely wanted to know all the deets about.
🙌🏾
lol that end clip with Nigel was so funny!
This is just speculation but I'm pretty sure Jesse is reading gurugossip which is why they keep bringing this up because gurugossip really hasn't stopped the conversation yet and has it even more often than book twitter does
Interesting🧐. That place sounds a mess😆😆
@@JessOwens it really is
Glad I can finally catch up on the tea! I feel like in the initial round of voting in the Epic Reads Book Shimmy awards, you can write in your choices. I was irritated by the same choices as the last few years, and I’m pretty sure I wrote in a name. It was early in the year 😬 not sure if I remember correctly.
Awh ugh, so weird it’s always the same people
A couple of years ago I read a book for one of my library’s book clubs and I hated it. I did a short video review of it I think on my Instagram and the author totally trolled me. He basically was like well your opinion is dumb or doesn’t matter. I was like well damn I didn’t ask you and I didn’t tag you for your opinion. It was hella rude. I haven’t read anything by him since then. 👋🏼 bye Felicia 👋🏼 lol
Who was the author?
Chris Bohjalian
@@ktxx22 ugh no, I have The Water Witches on my TBR 🙄 white males are so fragiles
Oh yeah and honestly I watched my video yesterday and honestly I just said it was disappointing and boring. I wasn’t even mean lol 😂 but again I never tagged him just hashtagged his name. Like I do for every book review.
WHAT!? How fucking rude and unprofessional. Ew
Limit of caffeine for me is apparently 2 large iced coffees from Dunkin’ cause Friday I about had a heart attack.
Omg 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 don’t die plz
Being chosen for an award (or a job, opportunity, etc) because I was actively sought out by the staff (or whoever) for being black (or a woman) would absolutely suck. Does suck. It always makes me doubt my skill or contribution 😢
But that’s just me.
Quite a few years ago, I had a LiveJournal account where I posted book reviews (and photos of trips). I had read a Bones book, the first in a series of spin-offs. Now the book had not been out for very long, but the series itself had been out for a few years. I enjoyed the book, but noted the differences between the series and the book, not unreasonable to my bookish mind. The author, an established one with the initials MC (not naming him so he doesn't come at me here) who had written lots of mysteries and TV/film tie-in books, found it and fussed at me. He explained that the book had been written before the series first aired, that he was working off a script(s), etc., etc. It wasn't done in a *nice* tone. I replied that I merely posted what I had read and observed. Very cringy. Sorry to say that this turned me away from this author's books.
That’s awful and so unprofessional
On the Jesse situation I also wanted to comment that according to them they made that tweet being unware of the larger conversation going on and tweeted it because of something completely unrelated. Yet once she had explained and apoligized I still saw A LOT of comments saying that Jesse should have known better and that she should do more research before tweeting and that she should check her privilige ... On the SAME day I also saw another (white) booktuber tweet about how she doesn't get the hate towards book hauls. She also completely tweeted this not knowing the bigger conversation and later also explained and apologised. However, her comments were flooded with people agreeing with her initial tweet and not getting why she needed to explain herself because 'book hauls have been getting hate for so long, way before all of this was going on, and it's completely understandable that you could feel the need to tweet something like this and it being completely unrelated to the bigger conversation'. I wonder why these two people got so different of reactions to almost the exact same post ...
Nigel is just killing me. The dog mom content just sends me
Epic Reads and their Book Nerd award is kind of ironic and super annoying given the Book Outlet vlogger family thing from a few months ago. And I just don't get how these big companies, especially in 2020, can still say "we will do better" like they haven't been seeing and hearing other big companies say the same damn thing because of the same damn issues. At least Book of the Month, at least I think it was them, actually showed their action plan and from what I have seen they have been more inclusive and have a more diverse selection.
I have also heard recently that Courtney Milan tweeted that without the context of the Sasha Alsberg thing, and after someone let her know about what the discussion was about, she apologized! (I don't have the screenshot myself, unfortunately!) but I do think the overall response (or lack thereof) to this situation compared to previous discussions of selling ARCs is disappointing. As you said, you can't have it both ways :/
That EpicReads nonapology!! thought they were already "striving to do better"? 😒 it feels like with a lot of companies/organizations they're doing a "we're doing better, starting now! .......actually, starting now......okay just kidding, we REALLY mean it this time!!" and it's not a good look
Also love that you shout out Marines and Ashley so much, I love them!
I am so glad I discovered your channel
☺️☺️
I've always dreamt on attending BookCon in NYC! Though they definitely need to revise it as I personally felt it wasn't super accessible to all book lovers (as well as authors).
The only thing I will not miss is hearing the drama that happens with some booktubers at these events.
Me too. But there’s other book conventions !