#Bookstagram is an online community of passionate readers who share a love for all kinds of literature and seek to expand the community through sharing creatively edited reels recommending their favourite books, showing off book collections and seasonal hauls, sharing their own writing, cosplays of popular characters or simply videos of them having a relaxing picnic read on a Saturday afternoon. Raking in billions of views, the hashtag seems to have risen from quarantine boredom and has had quite the impact on the book industry.
#Bookstagram has taken retailers, publishers and authors by surprise, who report that sales have never been higher, with many popular bookstores setting up Instagram influenced book displays with popular recommendations from #Bookstagram. This spike in sales can also be attributed to the fact that reading has emerged as a popular “aesthetic” among adolescents. The simple, genuine passion and emotion behind book reviews on #Bookstagram has sparked the traction and enthusiasm that publishers and marketers have been long trying to achieve.
But #Bookstagram isn’t merely an economic phenomenon that benefited the book industry, it is also a boon to readers in many ways. From enabling BIPOC and LGBTQ+ readers to find literature where they feel represented and heard, to creating a platform for deserving authors and literature to be discovered, #Bookstagram has united readers from all across the globe. The platform is inclusive and welcoming of all types of reader, and has recommendations for everyone – whether you’ve been an avid reader for as long as you can remember, or if you’ve just picked up reading as a quarantine hobby, or even if you’re looking to bounce back from a reading block.
#Bookstagram offers book recommendations from all kinds of genres. Currently, Fantasy seems to be taking the forefront in terms of popularity, with books like “A Court of Thorns and Roses”, “The Cruel Prince”, “Six of Crows” and “The Folk of the Air” being recommended time and time again. Romance also gains a lot of traction, with fan favourites from the genre being books like “It Ends with Us”, “They Both Die in the End” and “The Song of Achilles” – all books that benefitted tremendously in sales due to #Bookstagram.
On a social media platform that more often than not finds itself full of controversial content, the #Bookstagram tag shines as a wholesome place with dramatically titled recommendation reels and healthy debates, reinstating faith in the internet.
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