Happy Monday everyone! Today, I want to talk about something that’s both been bugging me for a while and something I’m sort of nervous to talk about. I want to approach Bookstagram with its pros and cons and my general feelings about it. Bookstagram really has taken off in recent years and I jumped on the train last year to see how it was going to go. Let’s just say that I wasn’t exactly prepared for it…
1. Bookstagram in general

Basically, bookstagram is the book community on Instagram. People really can go all out with creating elaborate book pictures and use all kinds of filters and photo editing techniques. The picture above is one of my own examples. People use props like flowers, statues, fabrics, candles, fairy lights and even photo shopped flare for pictures. Publishers have even started moving to bookstagram accounts to use for book tours and accounts with large following to send ARCs to them.
2. Pros of Bookstagram
I will say there are plenty of pros when it comes to the bookish Instagram platform!
- I have met some great people there and even one of my real life friends started doing it too. When you peruse bookstagram and reach out, everyone is nice and welcoming. Some of the friends I’ve met do root for you and help build you up whenever you need it.
- You can also be inspired by other people’s posts! Many bookstagram accounts post monthly challenges, with everyday being a different prompt. No matter what genre you read, there’s always something that you like there on bookstagram. When I was new to the scene, those challenge prompts were good for me to think outside the box a bit and try to use books I owned in a different way.
- People are very willing to share advice with you. I tagged some people in my stories with asking questions and some of them reached out! Whether it was about ARCs, filters or even thinking about using photo editing software, the knowledge is there if you ask for it. Never be nervous to reach out to those who have been around for a while.
- This is another platform that uses visual creativity. While bloggers think of various posts to talk about books, bookstagram can challenge people to use visual creativity to highlight a book. You can be as elaborate or as simple as you wish. The possibilities are out there.
3. Cons & My Honest Thoughts
I’ll be completely honest with this platform now and I don’t want to come off as negative or salty. I do appreciate the good things about bookstagram and I do love my friends on there that are there for me. But now with being on bookstagram for the last year, it’s hard to not only break out into the platform, I also feel like I’ve maybe grown out of it?
- There are a few reasons why I say this. The first one is basically lack of genuine interactions. While I do have a few friends, I notice that people really don’t seem to want a lot of interactions with people. People will follow you for liking one picture but quickly unfollow you soon afterwards if you’re not active or just because. I have only noticed that many interactions I try to build are quickly left in the dust. I appreciate the friends I do have, but when you try to build more interactions with people and they’re not received, then…it kinda sucks.
- The other thing that bothers me is that I don’t want to spend a lot of money on photo editing software! Why does every single picture have to be photo shopped to get all the attention, when the cover is pretty enough or you have great nature scenery around you that you can use? I can respect a well crafted picture for bookstagram, but it’s sad that more simplistic pictures don’t get the love that they should. I think the simple Instagram filters are enough to help you bring better color balance, a better shade or even fixing little things to make it better.
- And I don’t know if this is me, but I keep seeing the SAME books/series on the big bookstagram accounts and that gets all the attention. I keep seeing the same books on bookstagram, just with different props and other books are left in the dust. I get that people love many authors and series, but where is the love for other debuts or other books that they love as well? I find it a bit irksome that only certain books are boosted so much, when others are left in the dust. I like seeing a variety of books with all social media and boosting all kinds books you read shows me as a consumer what you like instead of the same series over and over.
- Where are the review type posts? Is it just me or do people only talk about the ARCs they get in the mail, library books or just TBR books in general? If you’re really excited about a book, where are your final thoughts?! It makes me think “Don’t leave me hangin bro!” every single time when people talk about an ARC they’re reading or ones they get that they’re excited about. I get that we’re all stoked for books (it’s why we’re in the book community), but the lack of follow up is strange to me.
- The final thing that’s a real bummer for me that I’ve noticed is that I feel like you’re punished if you aren’t active on Instagram all the time. As we get older, our responsibilities change as well as our priorities. We don’t always have time to be on social media platforms and stay active. We shouldn’t be punished if we go dark for a while due to being busy or not just feeling inspired. It frustrates me that people will unfollow you if you’re not active like I mentioned earlier. But I know that personally I don’t want to be constantly on social media as I’m getting older. I have a job, a family to take care of and many other things. When it comes to bookstagram, I have decided to post when I want to and do the pictures that I want to. The algorithim can suck it (I’m not alone in this) and I just hope to keep the honest friends I have here and on my other platforms.
What are your thoughts on bookstagram? Do you agree with my thoughts? Am I alone in this? Let me know in the comments!
I don’t keep up with bookstagram, but it sounds like a lot of work. It’s unfortunate that you can’t really take off from it without people unfollowing you. The nice thing about blogging is that people are pretty forgiving about hiatuses.
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Thank you! Yes, blogging has been much better and I’m grateful for the community here 🙂 it is nice to follow authors that are mainly active on Instagram but it’s starting to become the only reason
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About the lack of reviews, I think that Instagram for many is just not the right place for in-depth reviews as it focuses more on visuals than on long texts. If I take myself as an example, I often post shorter reviews on IG, like my thoughts of the book I’m currently reading or have just finished, but for actual longer reviews, I usually turn to my blog – it’s better for writing longer posts and I can still link it on my Instagram.
That there are some books that seem to be the only ones posted about is true, but there are so many bookstagram accounts and you can definitely find ones talking about a wider variety of books.
When people unfollow you because you have been inactive is really annoying, and I don’t get it. Why would I unfollow a person whose content I enjoy just because they haven’t been posting? It’s not like it costs me anything to follow them and they won’t even show up in my feed if they don’t post, if it’s not one of my absolute favourite accounts I usually don’t even realize that they have been inactive, but maybe that’s just me.
As for picture editing, there are a lot of great free editing apps, so you don’t neccesarily have to pay for them, but I can also understand if you don’t want to use them.
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I just got into bookstagram last month and what I can say so far is that it is exhausting! I’ve made a few friends on there already which is nice, but I do find most of my other interactions on there fake. I can feel the community draining the love I had for reading and book pictures. One of the big accounts that I was following decided to quit bookstagram because the community had evolved towards the negative in the last few years. It’s all about getting likes and follows. And trying desperately to get bigger accounts to shout you out on their stories. I found that I was spending way too much time on there and not enjoying it very much. The only parts of my account that I like are getting to share pictures of my books and getting to interact with other writers on Instagram!
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Yep I agree! It’s sad that sometimes people just seem to follow you back but then unfollow you if you’re not active which is missing the point. Yeah I just feel like the bigger accounts are huge because they’re just hubs for ads/giveaway posts and that’s it and they get all the chances for the book tours on Instagram
Yeah I like following authors and interacting with them too. It’s one of the main reasons why I keep mine
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I agree with your thoughts! I use to enjoy it and I made a few friends there but recently I’ve taken a break from Bookstagram and I feel so much better. For me Bookstagram just took too much time and effort.
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Thank you! I completely agree! With how elaborate some pictures can be, I can respect the effort that goes into them, but I just feel like I don’t have the time nor the resources
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I like bookstagram for looking at all the pretty pictures, but am terrible at keeping up with posting regularly. I also find it bizarre how people follow/unfollow so quickly!
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The algorithm is absolute crap. If you don’t post everyday your pictures don’t get attention, it’s as simple as that. I don’t use fancy filters or a fancy camera, I just use my phone and play with the instagram filter. I basically do flat lays of most of the physical books that I own and they don’t get a ton of attention. If I load a whole bunch of books into one photo then it gets all the attention that my pretty flat lay doesn’t… It kinda sucks.
I also feel like it isn’t as genuine as book blogging is, yet there are a lot of the same people doing both. Book bloggers genuinely comment and are interested in your content, where it seems like on Instagram everyone is just trying to get you to look at their photos and like their stuff, but won’t look at yours. Maybe I’m too new to the bookstagram thing, but I haven’t found the bookstagram community as friendly as the book blogging community.
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Me too! I use my phone’s camera since it’s a really good one. I know some friends in real life who use a digital camera and more power to them for sure. Yeah I’m not sure why the genuine interactions don’t seem to be there but it’s not
thank you so much for your comments! It makes me feel better knowing I’m not alone
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You totally aren’t! It’s hard to get your bookstagram going!
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I’m glad I’m not lol. I’ve decided that I’m going to post when I want to and just leave it at that lol. Social media has been really draining lately
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I know what you mean. I have been trying to get mine up and it’s just not happening! I really don’t understand why either. Probably because I do flatlays rather than stacks of books? I don’t really get it.
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A lot of the points you’ve made about bookstagram exactly echo my thoughts about nature photography insta, too. Most of the comments are generic things like “WOW SO PRETTY” or just heart eyes, fire emojis, or 100s. The only photos I post that get likes and views are the ones where I use the hashtags I know are most popular in Ohio, which means my out-of-state pictures don’t get nearly the same attention. I briefly tried to break into the bookstagram world when I got fed up with the nature photography community, but I ran into the same problems almost immediately. Plus, I don’t read YA which seems to be 99% of the popular content you mentioned in your post.
Book blogging has been a much more favorable experience for me, probably due in large part to the comments section. The format of blogs makes me feel like I need to say something more thoughtful than I otherwise might on Instagram, hence this wall of text lol. And, like you said, people don’t seem to leave actual reviews on Instagram like they do on book blogs. I’m here for the full thing – show me your ARCs, but then also show me what you thought of them. A pretty cover might occasionally be enough to make us buy a book, but what we’re really here for are your concrete thoughts. That makes it easier to form friendships in my opinion, since you’re getting to know a person through their words instead of just their aesthetic.
Basically what I’m trying to say is, thank you for your candor. You are not alone!
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Thank you for your comments! I’m glad I’m not alone 🙂 Blogging has been much more interactive like you said; I feel like comments are more opened and you can form more connections through blogging 🙂
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I feel all of this A LOT, but especially what you said about being punished if you aren’t posting constantly. I hate that stupid algorithm, and it sucks that so many people will even unfollow you as soon as you haven’t posted in a few days (though I’ve personally found this issue to be WAY less prevalent than it was when I started bookstagram 2 years ago – not sure if the community is kinder or if I’m just being followed by better people now lol). But I’m bad about not posting for a while at a time and I always feel it when I come back. I tried to come back earlier this month but my work schedule doesn’t allow me to take pictures on the weekdays at all, and it has rained all weekend the last 2 weekends, so I’m out of pictures haha!
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Yeah I’ve been a bit more inconsistent for some of the some of the cons I mentioned. While I know there’s free photo editing software out there and I’m still considering them…I don’t like the thought of doing a ton of editing lol. So glad I’m not alone!
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Oh yes! There are definitely both good and bad things about Bookstagram. I love seeing people’s pretty pictures, but it takes so much time and effort to create a feed that cohesive. So we post every other day or so instead of daily like it’s recommended, and it definitely makes it more difficult to get interaction! I think for now I appreciate the positive more than the negatives, but I’m definitely aware that not everything is perfect or easy on Bookstagram! Great post!
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Thank you! It does! I don’t want to use the same backgrounds or the same books, but I don’t like spending a lot of money on props I’ll rarely use which I don’t want to do lol.
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I’ve been toying with the idea of using Instagram but your experience has made me decode this is. It for me. I don’t have time to go find props and play with filters especially if the audience is so fickle. I would rather spend the time on my blog or just reading (now there’s a thought)
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Yeah I’ve just been letting myself do Instagram stuff when I feel motivated instead of forcing it and I feel so much better because of that. Thank you so much for your comments 🙂
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That’s a very healthy attitude. I think we get to feel so pressured now about what we should be doing, just because ‘everyone’ else is doing it…..
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Really great discussion! Even though I don’t use instagram, I very much agree that unfortunately a lot of social media punishes people for not being on there 24/7. It’s a shame about the lack of genuine interaction and I think the lack of follow up would annoy me.
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Yeah there’s mostly been a lack of genuine communication. I still have a few stable friends which is good, but the rest of the stuff I mentioned makes it hard to stay motivated…
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I really enjoyed your post. I started blogging around 3 months ago and then started bookstagramming (that has to be a word at this point!) as well as I enjoyed the visual aspect of it. I’ve found frustrations with both but have decided to keep plodding on. Many of the things you mention relating to IG are so true – it’s fairly vicious considering we’re all supposed to just be talking about the books we love! I’ve stopped looking at numbers with both of them as they make me doubt myself but as I enjoy both types of media I’m not ready to let one – or both! – go.
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Yeah I’ve decided that: to post whenever I want lol. Thank you so much for your thoughts!
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I really enjoyed this blog
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Much appreciated!
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