#which is why killing maiming everyone saying Shakespeare was actually a rich guy btw

[mishkakagehishka]

Idc anymore i think i'm a good enough writer that i can say that when i noticed the pattern in what exactly makes a book "good" on booktok (and, bc of that, what makes it popular and top bestseller lists), it feels almost demeaning and denigrating to the entire craft. Idk if i should blame the way tiktok-esque social media has utterly rotted everyone's ability to concentrate and read more than three sentences, but literally none of those books are objectively good.

(Yes, yes, art is subjective. HOWEVER. Art is subjective when you look at style, at themes, at motifs, at plots and characters. Art is still a craft, it still requires skill. I've seen beyond the tiktok quotes of these books. Not even their editors are good given the amount of typos/spelling mistakes. That is not something that you should find in a traditionally published book.)

You look at these books, and you know the only reason for their existence is to make money. I cannot and will not accept that as art.

(I'm on Tumblr, of course I have to explain every point. Artists who make money off their art =/= people who only create art meant to be profitable. There is a difference between an artist who hopes to monetise doing what they love, who creates what they wish to see more of and who happens to then create something that other people wish to see more of, and a person who looks at what's trending and decides that making an unholy frankenstein's monster of a book that mashes all those trending tropes and motifs together would get them rich quick. The fact that a lot of these booktok books become popular because of nepotism is just the cherry on top. It's soulless.)

And to finally say what I wanted to say, it's because none of these books have any deeper message or even artistic value to them. You will find a few out of context quotes or paragraphs, ones written specifically so they'd look deep and beautiful when taken out of context, so that people would post them, so that people would buy the books. Entire books written just so those few lines could become viral and make cash. It cannot even be compared to a hook line writers would post to get people interested in their works, because in booktok's case, those are the only lines of quality and in the context itself, they are often out of place and forced.

I just hate booktok, i hate what modern social media has done to art. It's all created to be quickly consumed, for the few ☆aesthetic☆ glances, and then discarded. Just to make more money for those who are already nepo babies. As if artists needed more obstacles to jump over.

#of course historically it's always been the same #people with free time to create (rich powerful) created #very rarely did you see someone from a humble bg make it as an artist #which is why killing maiming everyone saying Shakespeare was actually a rich guy btw #but like it makes me angry personally #before you call me just jealous - i don't have any wish to monetise my art #my career ambitions lie in a different field (tho adjacent i suppose since i'm a linguist) #i'm saying it makes me angry for other writers who want to make money doing what they love most #it's always been hard. you've always had to have connections or fight tooth and nail for a chance at being published #why? because of how SUBJECTIVE it is #but at least if your skills distinct you and if you bring a truly unique concept you'd have better chances #then modern social media rolled around and no longer can we just publish and disappear no no #WE have to market our works. on twitter on instagram on podcasts on the radio and tv it's up to the authors #i already found that demeaning enough as an introvert #but now it's not even that. publishers no longer look for unique and distinct #they found out booktok is the real cash cow. they look for colleen hoovers who publish fifty books a year #all of poor quality but with enough aesthetic lines that they can easily be marketed thru #the youth who uses AO3 tags and ''omg it's so girlboss!'' and ''it has representation! (not really it's always piss poor rep)'' to market #it to others. who take the same line over and over and go ''omg... this is so deep'' but the lines never look good in context