A room full of books, with Ikea shelves (Billy model) and some dolls between the shelves. From that intimate space, in which he has spent so many hours reading, he records a video telling just that: what he has read, what he thinks of 1984 , of Harry Potter , of Ready Player One ... And the room becomes a public showcase.
It's not about video games or fashion: it's about literature and it's called Booktube, the youtubers community specialized in books, with thousands of teenagers and young followers. Almost as a virtual reading club - interaction with users is very important - in which the booktuber becomes the literary prescriber. They flee from the critical concept. They simply recommend what they liked, as if they were talking to a friend. And the publishers have signed them for their promotional campaigns.
In recent years, the phenomenon of booktubers has consolidated. And the audience they are targeting - who was 12 to 24 years old - is growing, like them. And them. Because women predominate in this world: 78.8% of girls aged 14 to 24 read regularly, while with boys the percentage falls more than 10 points (65%), according to the latest Habit Barometer of Reading and buying books in Spain. A barometer that, despite the positive news that readers grew to 67.2% of the population, left an alarming fact: 38.2% of Spaniards never read.
Something that new generations can change: they are the segment of the population that reads the most and each year the numbers are increasing. Young people aged 14 to 24 approach literature through new channels, from Booktube to Bookstagram (Instagram accounts in which photographs of books are uploaded).
«The publishing sector has taken a turn in recent years and publishers have had to face changes in production, consumption and format. New technologies and social networks have opened a world of formats. The boom of booktubers was mainly with children's and youth literature, but it has been evolving and growing. The prescription through the audiovisual has been a success and the publishers have taken advantage of it ”, considers Nicole Etchevers , doctor in Audiovisual Communication, expert in new technologies and professor of the Master of Digital Edition of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), where it is analyzed The phenomenon of booktubers.
The way of communicating explains their success: «They are young people who speak to their peers, in their own language, with shared references and codes, in a casual and very natural way. In their videos they demonstrate an exacerbation of creativity through editing, postproduction, music, overprinted words or emoticons ... They take great care of the scenery: the dolls and the merchandising behind them also communicate. And the public feels identified with them, ”explains Etchevers.
«When we make a campaign to launch a new title we always think about how to spread it through the networks. Booktube is a new way of communicating and has already been integrated into the commercial strategy of publishers focused on children and young people, ”says Núria Martínez , head of Communication and Marketing at Minotauro.
Beyond the audiovisual review or unboxing (it is a genre in itself: booktubers open the gift boxes of publishers, with a striking packaging or special edition, and comment on some of the book), at the last Madrid Book Fair , Minotaur signed several booktubers to make a quest (a search-gymnastic) in the Retiro Park and promote the Shadow Shadows trilogy of Victoria E. Schwab, a hit of American youth science fiction. "It has helped a lot to make the trilogy visible," says Martínez. Although there are no official figures on sales growth due to booktubers , an analysis by Amazon estimates that after the promotion in Booktube the book is triggered by 20%.
And how are booktubers ? Almost everyone, young wounded . «Since childhood I love reading, but at school there were no classmates with whom I could share that passion. I discovered Booktube by chance. I thought that everything on YouTube was video games, fashion, sports and makeup ... It was 2014 and after spending a day watching videos I created my channel. I wish it had existed when I was 12: psychologically it would have helped me a lot, I would have felt less alone, ”says Andrea Izquierdo, who at the age of 24 has already published five books.
On the networks is Andreo Rowling , one of the most popular booktubers with more than 150,000 followers. «I have not studied anything related to professional literary criticism. I consider myself a recommendation ”, he points out (he studied Law and Business Administration and Management while his channel did not stop growing). Evidently, Andreo Rowling is a Harry Potter fan. He even rewrote the end of the saga because he didn't like JK Rowling's. "Mine is more dramatic," he confesses.
Although their channels try to encourage reading, booktubers are sometimes accused of being at the service of publishers, such as influencers when promoting a brand. «When collaborating with publishers, I am very clear that my channel is not a free showcase without any criteria. If I participate in a paid campaign I put the hashtag #ad [of advertising, advertising] », says Andrea Izquierdo.
Many booktubers have made the leap to writing, such as Josu Diamond (with 193,000 followers, has expanded its channel to other themes: trips, series ...) or Vanessa R. Migliore (aka Iris de Asomo), winner of the Novel Prize Oz with The Awakening of the Witches . Degree in Audiovisual Communication in her native Caracas, Vanessa R. Migliore came to Madrid to study Marketing. He worked in a communication agency and faced "a very negative work environment" that caused him to fall into a depression. "I had a blog writing, but I wanted to do something else, share my taste for reading with other people and I decided that it would be a good idea to mix the literary with the audiovisual, two elements that complement each other perfectly," he says.
Since then, its channel has been consolidated with an eminently female audience (around 80%). «I have created a common space for women who enjoy reading. Almost all the booktubers I know and follow are girls, ”he says. The profile of its audience has evolved with it: they are no longer teenagers but women between 25 and 40 years old. «I am not 24 years old, that was the age at which I started the channel and I think what I have done is evolve. I have matured with books and that has meant an important change in my content, ”says Migliore, who also stands out as a bookstagrammer.
It's the new fashion platform on Instagram: books star in still lifes or idyllic travel photos. "I can adapt literary content to photography," he says. Reading is also aesthetic.
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