why you keep buying books you don’t read
Answer in Progress・2 minutes read
The speaker reflects on their book-buying habits influenced by BookTok recommendations and traditional publishing processes, highlighting the efficiency of BookTok in finding books aligned with their interests. Despite the economic factors in publishing and the risks involved, the industry's acceptance of costs and risks allows for diverse stories and new authors to thrive, encouraging exploration and support for unique content.
Insights
- The speaker uses custom bookmarks to track reading patterns, preferring physical over digital tools, highlighting a personalized approach to managing book consumption and maintaining a connection to the reading experience.
- BookTok recommendations, focusing on emotions rather than summaries, have a higher success rate in prompting the speaker to read books compared to random choices, showcasing the impact of personalized, feeling-based suggestions on book selection and engagement.
Get key ideas from YouTube videos. It’s free
Recent questions
How many books has the speaker read?
31
What method does the speaker use to track reading patterns?
Custom bookmarks
How does the speaker discover new books?
BookTok recommendations
What is the speaker's preference for tracking reading progress?
Physical bookmarks
How does the speaker balance book recommendations and personal exploration?
Enjoys browsing in bookstores
Related videos
Brandon Sanderson
Opportunity Cost—How Do I Decide What to Write Next? (No Readings)
TEDx Talks
Blockchain: The Future of Intellectual Property Protection | Kary Oberbrunner | TEDxOshkosh
A Clockwork Reader
the "a clockwork reader required reading list” 📚 (my favorite books of all time)
TED
Are we in control of our decisions? | Dan Ariely
Operators Podcast
E054: TikTok and Cool Brands
Summary
00:00
Bookworm tracks reading with physical bookmarks
- The speaker owns 111 books and has read 31 of them, which is 28%.
- The speaker is concerned about buying books but not reading them, leading to a lack of shelf space.
- The speaker reflects on their past love for reading and the identity associated with being a bookworm.
- To address the issue, the speaker starts tracking their reading patterns using custom bookmarks.
- The speaker prefers physical bookmarks over digital apps like Goodreads or StoryGraph.
- The speaker attributes their book buying habits to BookTok recommendations, which focus on feelings rather than plot summaries.
- BookTok recommendations have a higher success rate in terms of books read compared to randomly chosen books.
- Traditional publishing processes rely on sales comps and historical data, potentially leading to underrepresentation of certain authors.
- BookTok helps the speaker discover books that align with their interests more effectively than traditional methods.
- Despite the efficiency of BookTok recommendations, the speaker still enjoys browsing in bookstores for the experience and the allure of discovering new titles.
12:46
"Costs, Risks, and Rewards in Publishing"
- Publishers print many books, sometimes leading to excess unsold copies due to market flooding or forecasting errors, necessitating justification for costs like printing, shipping, and storage.
- Economies of scale play a crucial role in book printing, where initial setup costs are high but decrease per book cost significantly, benefiting logistics and overall production expenses.
- Despite the economic focus in publishing, the industry's acceptance of costs and risks allows for diverse stories and new authors to thrive, offering opportunities for unconventional and niche content.
- Embracing risks in creative endeavors, like publishing, can lead to fulfilling outcomes, where the chance to see one's ideas resonate with others outweighs the fear of failure, encouraging exploration and support for unique stories and authors.
