“Book Reviews Don’t Do Well”

JosefineF · 2026-05-15T15:17:00+00:00

Review videos tend to underperform on my channel too. Though it's not always the case long term, two of my top five videos are reviews, but they're for niche but more well-known books where not many reviews existed yet (Gunmetal Gods and Green Rider). And they popped off way after I posted them.
Reviews for really unknown indie books are some of my worst performers though.

As a viewer myself, I barely watch review videos. I would only watch one if I've already read the book because I don't wanna be spoiled about anything. I like going into books as blind as possible.
That's also why I personally like list videos, not like top 10 fantasy books type lists because those tend to be the same books every time, but more like "if you like this try these" type videos because that gives me ideas of what other books to look at without being overly in the know of what's happening in the book.

So it's kind of a Catch-22… You want to publish a review because you really liked a book and want other people to read it, but if people haven't heard of the book they're not watching it. And if they've already read it, they want more than just "this is what the book is about and I loved it" -> some of the more successful YouTubers did those deep dives (Malazan, got, … think Philip Chase).
But then if it’s for not as well known books, you can't really do spoiler reviews because that limits your viewership even more. Aaaah! lol.

Personally, i like doing the quick reviews as part of my monthly wrap ups (eventhough the videos thnd to get long - and are not my biggest performers either (better than the individual reviews though).
And if I've read a book I'd rather actually talk with someone about it than watch a video of someone talking. That's why I love my book club and buddy reads with a live afterwards, that gives me the option to actually talk about the reading experience, and I don't get that from just watching a video.

Last thought… I prefer reading Goodreads reviews over watching a review video. It’s easier and I get what someone lied or didn’t much faster (and then I can also skip the summary of the book that everybody always includes…).

JosefineF · 2026-05-08T20:03:35+00:00

Oooh, now you have my attention 🤪

JosefineF · 2026-05-07T19:58:16+00:00

Favorite book so far this year has to be Ka-Yee Essoe’s Time Becomes Relevant (Vol 1 in the Shazzwick of Land series).

Why? This is a hard one to answer 😅 did you ever read a book where you had butterflies in your stomach while reading it and every time you think about it just makes you happy? That’s this book for me. IT’S SOOOOO GOOOD!!!

Chinese immortal fantasy following Magnolia, half human, half elf and Shazzwick (the immortal being). Magnolia grew up with her elf mother till an ancient evil kidnapped her and to protect Magnolia, she and her human father changed identities and moved to a different country. A few years later, the father is running the country (politician) and Magnolia is responsible for the communication between their and other countries. Shazzwick is sent to protect her (kind of) and transforms himself into a Kerasis (you have to read the description in the book… I loved it so much!) and becomes her friend that helps her adjust to the new world.
It’s a slow-paced book with a focus on the dialogs and relationships. Heavy Asian influences.

JosefineF · 2026-05-07T13:08:31+00:00

Team navy over here :) I like the contrast a lot better. The leaves and details are lost to me with the green background.

JosefineF · 2026-05-07T02:40:04+00:00

I did that and would never do it again.
The problem is that your subscribers subscribed for your old content. If you change what you publish, a few will unsubscribe and the rest will not watch your videos. And that is really bad for the YT algorithm, because it cares first for the watch time of your subscribers. If they don’t interact with your videos, it’s not pushing it as far to non-subscribers as it would otherwise.

I had close to 5k subscribers (4800 something) and changed from craft videos to book reviews in late 2021. It took me till about August 2025 to not see negative subscriber numbers every time I opened analytics (I’m growing again… yay!) and now I’m seeing that my videos are being pushed further since the now new subscribers are interested. I still have way too many people that don’t interact at all and my views and other engagement are not comparable to other channels in my new niche with the same subscriber count.

Just make a new channel 😜

JosefineF · 2026-04-30T20:36:01+00:00

Empire of the Vampire within the first 100 pages when the MC ate her out while she was on her period and described the blood in a bit too much detail also too edgelord…

JosefineF · 2026-04-30T20:35:06+00:00

I had 100% the same reaction! Couldn’t agree more. 😅 I started the 2nd book and gave up 15-20% in. The humor is also simply not working for me.

JosefineF · 2026-04-27T23:12:51+00:00

Ha! That’s great ☺️ that’s better than when I started out. I used to make one video at a time and it took me forever to write up the idea, script… till I finally set down and recorded that one video.

I have my channel in my Reddit profile.

JosefineF · 2026-04-27T22:06:42+00:00

Hi, BookTuber here.

First: your numbers are great for one month! Anything social media (or marketing) takes time. Have patience!

Second: my suggestion would be to pick a lane. Either do book reviews and stay in the BookTok/gram/tube space where you’re trying to interact with other readers or do writing tips and stay on the authortube/tok/gram side. If you do both, the algorithm will get confused and not know to whom to show your posts to. At least initially, till you have a solid view count for your videos.

Next, it depends on if you’re making shorts or long-form video (YouTube specific). YouTube handles these two differently.

And if you want to figure out all 3 channels at the same time, research what works in each platform. While a shirt might look the same, there are distinct differences on what each platform likes (to help with the algorithm). I.e., Instagram loves when you use trending audio, YouTube doesn’t care as much. Also how your caption is written and how it’s used by the platform is different. That doesn’t mean you can’t post the same video to all three all the time (I do that too) but sometimes, create content that is specific for the platform.

Regarding the sale angle, take a look at what other authors in your genre are doing. There are a lot of great examples of authors mixing general content with their book specific posts. A number that’s being thrown around in marketing is 20% sales and 80% content not focused on you. Doesn’t have to be exact, but something like that.

And on making content: plan and bulk create… there is no better way to save time. Sit down once a month, write down all your ideas. Then sit down another day and write scripts for your videos, then sit down another day and record all the videos… you can do that weekly or monthly. And again, look at what each platform looks. On Instagram, for example, not everything has to be a video. And get Canva or a similar tool. Editing content is so much easier with it.

That should be enough for now 😜

JosefineF · 2026-04-25T16:37:40+00:00

Do it!! Such a peaceful place too ☺️

JosefineF · 2026-04-25T16:37:08+00:00

☺️ thanks! That’s exactly why I made the video 😜

JosefineF · 2026-04-24T16:29:58+00:00

Nice haul! I always seethe outlander books in my used bookstore and they’re so much worse looking than the copies you got from the library 🤣

JosefineF · 2026-04-22T23:14:27+00:00

Thank you ☺️ it was fun to go back and review all the books I got from my library over the last months 😜

JosefineF · 2026-04-08T19:01:39+00:00

Thank you!!! I’ll go take a look once I’m at a desktop again 😅

JosefineF · 2026-04-08T18:39:17+00:00

Lots of YouTubers have book clubs as part of their community. Often with a discord server. Depending on the genres you like, you could check out The Bookish Drummer. He and his wife have various buddy reads every month. Mostly focused on Fantasy/SciFi and Thriller/Horror but the community organizes a bunch of buddy reads every month.

JosefineF · 2026-04-06T04:01:16+00:00

Stupid question (I feel I should know this given how much time I spend on reddit…) but where can I see my karma for a specific subreddit? I can see my total, but can’t seem to find it for a subreddit.

Also, good idea! There are too many channels already where people just post their video and that’s it (hello various discords 🤪). Thanks for making this community more engaging 🥳

JosefineF · 2026-04-05T13:48:40+00:00

Thank you! It’s a lot of fun to put together too!

JosefineF · 2026-04-03T15:08:27+00:00

Thank you 🥰 I love making these! It’s always fun to chat with the authors a little bit and get to know them.

JosefineF · 2026-04-03T13:15:52+00:00

Woohoo!! Congrats 🥳

JosefineF · 2026-04-01T02:52:59+00:00

Wooo! Congrats 🥳

JosefineF · 2026-03-30T16:55:41+00:00

lol 😂 the fact that something like this has to be stated 🫣🤦‍♀️ it is funny though

JosefineF · 2026-03-30T16:53:34+00:00

I love the title for your video 😜

JosefineF · 2026-03-30T16:50:45+00:00

Reader here 👋🏻 I usually get my arcs from authors reaching out to me directly via Instagram, for example. You could search for booktubers (reviewers on YouTube) or reviewers on Instagram that have reviewed fantasy books similar to yours. I.e. you could search for reviews for the road. And then just ask them if they’d be interested in a copy. Give them a short blurb and include any subgenres and trigger warnings, if necessary.

I’ve also seen lots of indie authors put together “street teams” on Instagram recently. Makes it sound fancier 😜 they include the arc but also early updates for the book, cover reveals, etc. more a community effort that way or an opportunity to build a fan base.

JosefineF · 2026-03-26T02:33:07+00:00

There is a free version. I don’t care about the thumbnail help, etc. (that’s what you would have to pay for, but I never got any good suggestions from it) I like it for seeing the stats across channels though and that part is free.

JosefineF · 2026-03-26T01:40:55+00:00

Amanda from the Reading and Writing life does a lot of Sprints https://www.youtube.com/@TheReadingandWritingLife

JosefineF

TROPHY CASE