Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Book Nook Bits has hosted since April 2022, with Dini at Dini Panda Reads as co-host from February 2025.
I’ve been struggling to fit in blog posts between…everything else recently. Life has kind of taken over, and I hit a period of being really, really busy, so just able to pick a bit up here and there. I think things are evening out a little now (a little…), so as I missed this prompt in September and don’t have a whole lot to say on this week’s actual prompt, I thought I’d revisit this one.
Let’s Talk Bookish 26th September 24th October:
Are Published Books Losing Quality? The Impact of Social Media Platforms and Trope-Based Marketing
Prompts: Reading has become increasingly more “popular” due to platforms like booktok and bookstagram, which tend to promote certain types of books. It has also given rise to the “trope only” marketing trend. Do you think the hype that’s been created on these platforms has impacted the quality of books that are published these days? Do you think it’s impacting only certain genres or do you notice it across all genres? How do you think this will impact book quality and publishing in the years to come (i.e. is it just a phase or will it continue)?
Let’s be clear – ‘tropes’ have always been used in literature, and always been a marketing tool, even if we haven’t fully realised it. The kind of tropes people tend to talk about now in such a negative way are ones which were often used in fanfic, and now predominately in romance, and it’s interesting there’s been such negativity alongside the rise of romance. I do think social media platforms have had a negative impact on books, but I don’t think it’s related to tropes – I think it’s more complicated than that, and comes hand in hand with the way the platforms promote largely cis het white authors.
I think tropes can be useful tools, and I think it’s fair if readers want to read particular tropes, but these should be complimenting other aspects of the books. Enemies to lovers doesn’t work if the effort isn’t put in to show why the couple should be together – one bed doesn’t work if it comes out of nowhere and there’s no good reason why the couple are travelling together in the first place. But I don’t think most of the issues with the quality in publishing are down to the authors. I think they’re down to what happens after the manuscript is handed in.
My understanding of the industry over the last few years (probably dating to shortly before the pandemic, but getting increasingly worse during 2020 and the following years) is that there has been an increase in people overworked and underpaid. And I think it shows in the books. Either high quality editors aren’t being put to work on the books coming out, or editors are in such a time crunch they’re not able to dedicate as much time to individual books as they should be able to. I feel like I’m noticing it more and more in trad publishing, especially with romance, and more so with margenalised authors – books are being under-edited. There are issues which should be picked up during edits, which don’t seem to be.
It’s especially frustrating as it’s clear when books do have this time and effort put into them, and when you realise it’s…typically the authors they feel will be promoted heavily on Booktok or Bookstagram – as mentioned above, largely cis het and white authors. It’s a cycle, and it’s frustrating to see these books picked up during certain periods, because it’s the fashionable thing to do, and it’s a disservice to the authors when the books aren’t put out in as good a shape as they should be.
I don’t know if this is a phase. I hope not. I don’t think it’s worth, sometimes, casting judgement over certain books readers like or tend to hype up, either (too much, anyway – there’s being critical, and there’s judgement). Authors don’t always get to choose their cover, or how much editing is done, or the way a book is marketed, or even the title, so I don’t think a whole lot of these issues lie at their feet, either – and I wonder sometimes how many of these books we’re currently seeing did start out as something else, something fresh and different, only for the author to be told to age characters down so it fits in YA, or ramp up the romance/spice so it will get picked up on social media, etc.
There is some responsibility on the author too, of course – I think more and more people rush the process, or jump into writing something they want published without learning about the craft first. And many miss the fact it is a craft. Not all of these will get picked up – hopefully many don’t! – but it does feel like some writers are getting picked up because they’re good at marketing, rather than being good at the craft. They build up an audience on whatever platform is the current publishing darling, and suddenly…they have a book out. Reading doesn’t make you a writer. Knowing what’s good when you read doesn’t make you a good writer, and unfortunately…well, the more low quality books that are put out there, the more authors will look at their own drafts, think they’re better (even if only slightly), and it’s a constant cycle.
So – it’s complicated! And more complicated than I can cover in a blog post. It’s cycles, and it can’t all be traced back to tropes, but yes, some books rely on them a little too much but honestly, I think the issues lie in the lack of editing, rather than what books are being promoted, but there’s issues there too and that’s on people on the platform as well as publishers. It’s…a mess. Some publishers are still putting out quality books, but the issues are impacting the majority of genres I’ve seen. Hopefully one day we’ll have more dedicated resources (including editing AND proper marketing, rather than relying solely on people doing this for free, or influencers) for all authors, especially margenalised authors, and we’ll see some changes. Won’t come soon enough.
Unwrapping Words 