Bookish Thoughts | Protecting my Space and Social Media

For the past few weeks, I’ve been taking a much-needed break from posting on my various social media platforms, especially Instagram. And since the beginning of the year, it felt there was always some sort of thing happening in the book community, most of it not so great.

Since most of last year, I changed my approach with everything from books I read, who to support, etc. Staying in spaces that are like-minded to mine. Conserving energy has always been one of my main focuses and I just didn’t want to spend more time on something than necessary. And maybe this sounds bad, but there are just some things that I’ve stopped caring or worrying about when it comes to the book community.

With all of that being said, I did some social media spring cleaning this past weekend and it was refreshing.

Removing myself from some author spaces.

There are still several I’ve been a fan of since I started blogging back in 2013 and there are a couple that I’ve quickly become friends with.

Previously, I would tag authors (in 5-star reviews only), but have then decided to not tag them at all. But promo posts on Instagram, I’ll still tag away. I think one of the things that make me cringe the most is people coming into the comment section and stating they didn’t love the book. Everyone’s absolutely entitled to their opinions, but when it’s on my page where the author is tagged, it’s a big no for me. And trying to manage that was becoming a little bit too much for me.

This hasn’t happened to me personally, but I’ve seen it time and time again. All my reviews are not positive and there are plenty of books that just aren’t for me. I haven’t bashed a book before, but am pretty honest about my feelings toward books that were unfavorable. And yes, there’s absolutely a way to write a negative review without being horrible about it.

The one behavior that’s a huge turn-off for me is when an author will come into your reviewing space especially when a review is less than glowing. I don’t even want a “Thank you for reading, I’m sorry you didn’t like my book.” It’s a pretty uncomfortable feeling and it makes me not so eager to try another book of theirs. Reviews are for readers and I’m very firm on that.

I’m Team No Second Chances

Not everyone’s take and maybe not a great stand for many, but it’s mine. The bookstagram community is very quick to call out not-so-great behavior and it’s been a learning process for me. Since the pandemic, a lot of walls came down and true colors were coming out very quickly. Some of it was pretty appalling. Knowing the fact that there are soooooo many authors to discover and start reading from, I was very ok with letting go of ones I’ve supported for several years. Yes, I’m sure people have changed and I hoped they learned from it, but I’m okay with moving on. I think one thing that is hard for me to do is separate the art from the artist. Some can do it, but not me. I’m just going to keep moving forward.

I’m all about vague posting.

I’ve been doing this a lot in my stories (Instagram), normally just my personal opinions on something that I’ve seen (mostly from BookTok). In my opinion, BookTok is one of the most toxic book communities out there, and no it doesn’t mean everyone on there … but it’s definitely a space I’ve been actively trying to keep off of my FYP. I’ll definitely save this discussion for another day, maybe.

Everyone’s got an opinion, do you have to share it? No. But people will, anyways. There’s a group I’m a part of that has been one of my favorite spaces to be in, and they’re definitely ones I’d reach out to open any sort of discussion. I recommend EVERYONE find your group because a lot of energy would have been saved if you had a private discussion with someone. I’ve definitely had a couple of conversations in the DMs, which prevented me from posting a hot take. RECEIPTS ARE EVERYTHING and deleting something does absolutely nothing.

This definitely all sounds like rambling, but this is where I’ve been at. Just trying to keep my stress low and being in a space that’s fit for me. I’ve cut down on a ton of commitments, lessening my ARC load and letting my mood lead the way for my reading.

If you made this is far in my word vomit of a post, thank you! Hopefully, I’ll be back actively posting on the bookstagram soon, but probably not going to happen soon.

Have you changed any of your approaches when it comes to social media? Any big NOs for you within the book community?