The first few years of YouTube’s existence on this site were mostly videos about funny cats and various amateur clips. Then it was time for more serious information.
On the platform, training videos, music and life hacks began to appear. Some video blogs are now far more popular than TV shows. The most famous of them have several million subscribers. Other YouTube features are still not given enough attention. BookTube is one such niche for bloggers.
What it is?
Probably, many readers have guessed that BukTube is something related to books. And indeed it is. BukTube is a service dedicated to literature. Here, the authors of the videos share their impressions of what they read.
They talk about what they liked and what not. Also from these clips you can find a summary of book novelties. Book-bookers share with subscribers and their findings in the world of modern literature: they discover unknown writers and their works for them.
Features
Book readers discuss books of almost all famous genres. However, fantasy and adventure literature for teenagers are much more popular than anything else. This is because the YouTube audience is mainly millennials (born in the early 2000s) and teens. Christine Roccio, known for her blog polandbananasBOOKS, is the most successful bookmaker in the world (about 400 thousand subscribers).
As in other blogs, in BukTube, the attention of the largest number of users is attracted by quizzes (on knowledge of literature) and discussion of the worst examples of something (in this case, books).
Popularity
Interestingly, the English-language BukTube loses in popularity to the Latin American.
Often the same work is discussed by users of many blogs that speak different languages. The release of a new book is sometimes no less popular than sports events and news from politics and show business.
Creators
All book-bookers have different backgrounds. Many of them do not have diplomas of philological faculties.
Although among them there are many qualified specialists in this field. Some bookwriters are professional writers, while others just like to read and share their opinions about books. They turned this hobby into their permanent job.
The secret to success is simple: the more emotional the story of a literary novelty, the better. Video bloggers are doing their best to infect the audience with their mood. They joyfully demonstrate to the audience new books received in the mail, lift them up, wave them. If these videos are watched by their former teachers of literature, then they are surely proud.
BukTube is a territory of communication for those whose friends do not share their love for the printed word.
In addition to book novelties, many other issues are discussed here. For example, the authors of commercials raise such topics: “What can be considered high-quality literature?”, “According to what scheme is it better to analyze a literary work?” and so on. Therefore, BukTube can be considered a community that is constantly working on its own development, striving to become better.
Authors regularly share opinions on current issues in their videos. In one of these blogs, a girl from Canada named Ariel Bissett talks about "Can BookTube be considered an educational resource?"
This material resembles a scientific study. Ariel interviews other bookstubers and cites literature on the subject. Ariel Bissett’s commercials are highly intelligent.
And that is not all
BukTube is not only endless debate over new novels and novels and 24-hour readings of popular works.
Here the revival of the oral narrative genre took place. It appeared long before people learned to write and print books. Thus, humanity passed on to new generations knowledge about the world around it.
The first tales, legends and myths arose precisely in the oral tradition. Homer is considered the author of the Iliad and Odyssey. However, there is a hypothesis that this ancient Greek poet and philosopher is not one person, but several. Moreover, no biographical facts are known about him. And even if Homer existed, then he only processed and recorded plots that already existed before him. They were passed down from generation to generation in the form of oral stories.
Book-bookers are modern followers of the traditions of the colloquial genre.
Other video blogs also perform this function, but in BukTube, the monologue of one person is often an answer to another's speech. Therefore, each individual story here is part of something more. Speaking of their favorite books, bookstubers highlight the main ideas of the works.
But without the support of society, these ideas cannot live on and develop. The great poems of Homer would not have survived to this day, if the ideals mentioned in them were not close to people. It turns out that literature and society help another friend move forward. After all, if a book is popular, then the influence of the ideas expressed in it increases.
Even the greatest literary works would be forgotten without the support of the audience. So, readers are the force that allows the new book to stand on a par with the classic examples of world literature. But bookstores are an intermediate link, intermediaries between authors and an audience.
In Russia, this format of literary criticism has also recently become quite popular.
Leading bookstores
The Ulielie channel is one of the most famous Russian-language video blogging about books. Its author is the girl Ulyana from St. Petersburg. Her channel consists of several playlists. One of them, “About Books,” is a selection of videos about works of various genres and themes. The “Book Breakfast” section is a conversation with the audience about literature, where the author answers questions of interest to subscribers.
The Book Dossier is a conversation with a guest about his favorite literary works.
Polinabrz
Polina’s channel is not just about books. But its literary part is the most popular among subscribers. Unlike many other booktybers, Polina speaks not only about modern literature, but also about classical.
There are other bloggers whose videos are dedicated to literature. Therefore, it is possible that very soon the Internet will be considered not only a means of introducing clip consciousness, but also a platform for intellectual conversations.