This decade has been truly revolutionary for the book world. From opening up literature to the masses via the internet, to delving deeper into your favorite books with podcasts and apps, reading and writing has never been easier. Here are the best things to happen to the book world in the last ten years.
1. Bookstagram
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A pie-fect look back at 2019… Here’s to a new TBR pile for 2020! ?#RBCregram @pieladybooks
With the rise of Instagram has come bookstagram: social media users who photograph and talk about books and authors online. From beautifully aesthetic, creative blogs like @lifebyesther and the @chroniclebooks feed, to genre-specific accounts like the fantasy-focussed @thisgirlhasn0name. Celebrity bookclubs like Reese Witherspoon’s @reesesbookclub continue to post beautiful and inspiring content daily! Which brings me to my next point…
2. Celebrity Book Clubs
The internet has connected people like never before, and now with just a click of a button or a few taps of a keyboard, you can get in touch with other readers all around the world. This has meant that celebrities with a passion for reading are able to share this passion with their followers, and bookclubs headed by famous personalities have been springing up left, right and center. Perhaps the OG celeb bookclub is Oprah’s Book Club, a career maker for any author chosen. Emma Roberts’ Belletrist, Emma Watson’s Our Shared Shelf, and Reese Witherspoon’s Reese’s Book Club are all making waves too, with Witherspoon choosing to adapt, produce and sometimes star in adaptations of many of the books she selects for her followers. Don’t miss her alongside Kerry Washington in the Hulu miniseries of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, coming to your screens in March 2020.
3. Podcasts
Podcasts are definitely one of my personal highlights from the last ten years. I just can’t get enough! And as a lover of a good yarn, there have been several that have really stood out for me. True crime podcast Serial, written and hosted by journalist Sarah Koenig would top any podcast enthusiasts Best of the Decade list. An intricately woven and brilliantly wrought tale of a botched murder inquiry, an unfair trial and a fight for justice, Serial documents the real-life case of the murder of Hae Min Lee and Adnan Syed’s conviction. Fictional podcast series have also been huge successes, with series such as Welcome to Nightvale and Limetown topping the charts. If you’ve just finished a book and are dying to get into some deeper discussions, all you need to do is search on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and you’ll find countless episodes of podcasts reviewing and chatting about it!
4. Facebook Live
We love a good Facebook Live interview here at Bookstr, and here’s why. Facebook Live is a unique way for authors to connect with their fans and gain new ones, while interacting with them in real time. Fans can type questions in the comments and the host will ask the author whatever it is you want to know! We’ve had some brilliant Facebook Lives on Bookstr over the last few years, including Jeanette Wall, Daniel Handler, Meg Wolitzer, Lee Child, Peter James, and LIGHTS. Be sure to check them out!
5. Book con
So comic book fans have been going to Comic Con since it started in in 1970, but Book Con kicked off in 2014, giving readers of all genres a chance to cosplay their favorite characters, connect with other passionate readers, and meet their beloved authors. Since then, Book Con has been held annually at the Javits Center in New York, and has seen the likes of John and Hank Green, Jodi Picoult, Mindi Kaling, Julianne Moore, Khloe Kardashian, Bill Nye, Meg Cabot, Margaret Atwood, Krysten Ritter, Angie Thomas, Holly Black and more!
6. Apps
Apps have made many things in our lives a whole lot easier, from tracking our steps, to listening to music, to getting the bus, paying for dinner, chatting with friends, and searching information. Apps have been especially beneficial to the reading and writing community, with apps like WattPad allowing authors to write for the masses while on the move, Kindle allowing us to read without having to lug around heavy tomes, and apps The Brainstormer, Mindnode, and StoryTracker making it easier than ever to keep track of your next big ideas!
7. Fandoms
Books have always had large followings. Fans used to go wild for the next installment of Charles Dickens’ serialized stories in the newspaper! But the rise of the internet has allowed these followings to grow and gain momentum and become… fandoms. Urban Dictionary defines a fandom as ‘A group of people who willingly have their souls devoured by an obsession.’ A little extreme, perhaps!
From Tumblr blogs to video blogs, fanfiction to Facebook groups, fandoms have run rampant in the last decade, and have provided safety, community and a sense of home for diehard fans the world over.
8. Book merch
Online shopping has pretty much taken over the entire world (thanks Amazon…) but with that, has provided a space for creative book fans to make and sell book related merch. From beautiful bookmarks like Book Art Bookmarks, to Etsy sellers creating beautiful fan art, jewelry and collectibles, to companies like Dynamite Books and Out of Print clothing, readers are spoiled for choice, and never have trouble filling out their Santa lists!
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