Thursday Thoughts || Book Hype

Hello, hello, hello! I hope you're ready for yet another edition of Thursday Thoughts! This is an original, interactive, weekly meme here on my blog. Everyone with an opinion is invited to make a post, link up and join the conversation! I love hearing from you guys and without all of you, Thursday Thoughts wouldn't be nearly as much fun! Speaking of how awesome all of you lovely participants are, I just wanted to quickly reach out and mention that I would love some more ideas for future topics. Sometimes it's hard to keep coming up with ideas on my own! So, if you have any great ideas for Thursday Thoughts conversation topics, I would love if you could comment them down below or tweet them to me @okletsread. It would be SUPER appreciated. Thanks!

Now, let's get into the fun stuff. This week's topic is Book Hype. Within the bookish community-- whether it be through blogs, BookTube or otherwise-- book hype is a MAJOR factor. I think everyone in this community has at some point experienced the effects of book hype in one way or another. Over-hyped books can get annoying, there's no denying that. It's like that song you hear all the time on the radio. The first time you heard it, you thought "Wow, this song is so catchy! I love it." But, now they play it so often that you're just thinking "SOMEONE TURN IT OFF!" That's sort of how I look at book hype, or more specifically over-hyped books. Something even worse is when it's a book that hasn't even come out yet! Especially on BookTube, you'll often see a trend where a whole bunch of people get sent the same ARC. I'm sure it's a great book, but when I see tons and tons of people raving about it just has a tendency to get a little irritating (Especially if it's not out yet and I have to wait a few weeks to even to to read it for myself.) That's not to mention the fact that after hearing four-hundred different people give a synopsis, I feel like I've already read said book. But, that's not to say that all book hype is bad by any means.

Book Hype is essential to this type of network. Our job as book bloggers and vloggers is to entertain and share our bookish opinions, yes. But, often times we are used as and advertising tool to get the word out about new release books. And, that's not a bad thing. I, personally, haven't even been a part of the bookish world for more than 4 months and I can't even tell you how many times I've bought a book the day it came out just based on the reviews and hype surrounding it. The main downfall to this is that, just like a song on the radio, everyone else might think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread but that doesn't necessarily mean you'll love it as well. I think every case of book hype is unique and different, but for the most part I'm someone who will fall victim to the hype. I'm the kind of reader and observer who will want to buy the book on the day of release just because everyone's been talking about it. However, I'm not a mindless drone. For example, recently the book The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski was extremely hyped up. I'm sure it's a fantastic book, but I chose NOT to buy it. At least, I haven't yet. The reason for that is simple. I don't think I'd like it as much as everyone else as it deals with historical fiction (I think)-- something I don't love all that much.

The moral of the story is this; Be mindful of the hype. That is to say, don't go into things blindly because everyone is talking about it. Don't buy books like lemmings off a cliff, but don't think the cliff is dangerous just because everyone's jumping off of it either. Thanks for joining us for another week of Thursday Thoughts! If you have opinions on Book Hype, let me know down below! And, don't forget to join us next week when we discuss Monthy TBR Lists. See ya then!