To start off, this is a very long title. What I mean to do here is try to get more insight into what is more appealing for most readers:
Single Book Review
Reading vlogs
Plain recommendation videos by topic or specific troupe, etc
Multiple book reviews, best of, or wrap-ups.
Let's see, I'm sure there are plenty of factors that influence the preferred format be it in a blog, Booktok, or Booktube for each type.
Let's start with Single or individual, dedicated reviews. These are the ones I would find more useful personally. We get a quick idea of what the story makes you feel, and if it might contain the troupes or topics you want to either look for or avoid.
The best scenario is when the reviewer includes the positive and negative aspects- in depth so the person reading can make their own opinion. Sometimes a negative thing can be an actual buzzword or troupe someone else really enjoys. So in the end the dedicated review helps people make informed decisions about the book, if it will or not be a good fit for their taste. Of course, it's all subjective but the more descriptive the better for them.
If it includes a spoiler section and is well labeled - so people don't get unfortunate spoilers before they even read it, even better. Once the book is read you can search back for the review and read/watch the spoiler section and compare notes. No harm done. Seeing people have a different perspective might actually be enjoyable.
To start off, many people would assume that a single book review can attract fewer people, and it might initially be because they need to be interested in that particular book and be doing their research beforehand or they already read it and need to compare their opinion and see what others thought about it.
The downside: for the viewers- it does not provide too many options for recommendations. So if that's what you are mainly looking for, then it will not serve that purpose. As for the content creator- in the immediate future, you might not see the single book post get tons of traction because it's a very specific one. So making a huge following from single book reviews will probably be slow, if that discourages you, then it might be not the way to go.
Multiple reviews are the most popular at least in the hit platforms like YouTube and TikTok. The advantages: they are faster to generate, for several reasons:
You do not need a deep dive into the plot, characters, or writing style- as time is against you, the reviewer will focus on impressions and can avoid a deep discussion.
So if you have to come up with only 2-3 minutes worth of time for each book then it's easier to just get through it. You can skip scripting or go back to the book to verify or reference. So it's faster to create, edit/proofread and post. That means you are able to get more content out there as you spend less time to have it ready to go.
For the audience- provides a variety of recommendations. You can fit multiple genres, troupes, and styles and compare them between them so the chance of getting a hit with one of them with the audience increases. The more options you have the more likely is that someone will get a good recommendation simply because they have more choices to pick from.
It might be more engaging- especially in our era when people have such small attention spans. Changing from one book to the next helps to keep the attention on the medium they are consuming.
Some formats work best with Short reviews - Like Titok and YouTube. In the same aspect, the short review can be integrated in different ways such as:
Weekly, and weekend vlogs
Reviews for specific reading challenges
Books with the same troupe, buzzword on title, series, standalone, etc
Grouping books based on genres, rating stats, etc.
Weekly, biweekly or monthly, quarterly, or annual wrap-up.
If you want more options just jump into a search engine the ways to group books are almost endless.
As a content creator, the sense of accomplishment that comes from sharing thoughts about a group of books might feel more fulfilling than just talking about a single thing. The reason is simple- talk about 5 different books and you feel proud not only of having completed the amount but also having your thoughts out there, it feels like a bigger milestone saying I review 5 books already this week than I review one book. Again producing one per book is daunting and you will be more likely to scrap them off and just not mention them because you get discouraged by the amount of extra work to get it done.
Downside:
Trying to keep consistency in the review for each book included. The amount of time for each book, and the topics discussed for them, it's best if the review style is the same for all of them. Also saying "i loved it" even for the time-saving effort might not be the best. The point of reviews is to help other people decide if the book you're talking about is a good fit for them or not.
Trying to include data for others to make up their own mind should not be forgotten.
Also trying to look back on one specific book, to see/hear once more the opinion on it is going to be difficult. The search function is not going to be very precise when the audience is looking for it as it was talked in the middle of the content or not mentioned in the title.
Reading vlogs it depends on how people do them. What I see the most is that- they provide us not only the perspective of how the reading experience but the life of the creator. They might share little details about their home, trips, vacations, thoughts, and aspirations, or book shopping excursions- they are more immersive. It helps you discover more with the person on the other side of the screen and maybe connect in other common ground (tastes, hobbies, creating a more emotional connection with the person).
The downside:
For the audience, they might not appeal to everyone. You need to be interested in seeing them in a different setting, and it might shift in focus not so much on the book. So if your only interest is on book opinions, then it might not work for you.
for the content creator: time-consuming, also the amount or type of information you are about to send into the world is worth checking out before embarking on it.
So in the end, I'm still in the same boat. I am not sure what is more appealing- it really depends on what you want for yourself and not everyone is going to be pleased regardless of what content you create but it's a conundrum for which I still do not have an answer.
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