Are Books The New Fast Fashion?

I'm not ashamed to say that I believe one of the best things to come from the world of social media in the past few years is the growing aesthetic of being a "book girly."

This person has no specific hair color, body size, or income level. They don't have to have luxurious libraries when a humble pile of books is celebrated just as much. 

But the downside of this rising community is when you start trying to keep up with the current trends and when you notice that books are being seen more like accessories than stories meant to be cherished.

This unfortunate situation is bad for both readers and writers alike. 

Readers because the once leisurely activity of reading a book in their spare time has become an almost frenzied obsession. They need to read the next thing that's shiny and new on the market because if they take their time to read it then they'll either fall behind and miss the next big release. They also begin falling victim to "hype books" that may be of poor quality just because they were pushed through publication at neck-breaking speeds to ensure they were out on the shelves before the trend moved on to the next shiny thing. 

As for writers, the idea that they have to fit their writing into some little box to fit into the current market trends not only can damage their creativity but by the time they finish writing their novel and attempting to see the sales that those other books had or just trying to get a publisher to accept their book - they're going to be told that the market is over-saturated with that type of book and that publishers are looking for something new. 

And so the writer is forced to go back to the drawing board and the cycle continues. 

While I have not allowed this trending market to influence my writing, I have allowed it to influence my book buying and just the other day - for the first time in my entire life - I returned a book. 

Normally if I read a book I will put it on my shelf as if it were a trophy, or if it wasn't exactly my cup of tea I will donate it to a little free library or my local library near me. 

However, this book that I had bought due to seeing it advertised for months on TikTok - was so terrible I went back to the store and returned it for my money back not even willing to donate it and give someone else the misfortune of reading it. 

They hadn't even given their character a name… 

I understand that trends will always be a thing in the publishing world - I lived through the Twilight era where it seemed there wasn't a single book on the shelf that didn't feature a vampire, shapeshifter, or some other hybrid species falling in love with a human, but the difference between then and now is that I feel like the industry is no longer holding newer books to the same standard as the books I once cherished. The books that are being released on the shelves today - are too busy chasing the hype and the trends while they're still relevant instead of looking for quality writing and stories. 

I am worried about what this trend-chasing could mean for the publishing industry going forward from here. 

But that's all just my opinion.

How do you feel about books and their new hype in the social media world?

Let me know! 

With love,

B.K. xo xo

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