My Perspective
I read a lot of fantasy, science fiction, and books with supernatural elements. In short unrealistic books. On the other hand, I barely read contemporary. I might read a few now and then, but they usually aren’t big on my radar. Maybe that’s why when people think a contemporary is really popular, a lot of times I’ll have no idea what book they are talking about – because they aren’t really my thing. That being said, that’s probably also the reason why I think a lot of fantasy and science fiction books are popular when they aren’t in the eyes of other people. Also I follow more blogs focused on YA books that really have no chance of happening in real life than I do with blogs more focused on YA books that could actually happen…
The Influence of the Blogosphere
The blogosphere is always filled with good and “popular” books. After all, it is kind of a marketing tool for authors and publishers. There will be book that almost all the major book blogs I follow will review and praise. The blogosphere will be continuously talking about those books. It might even sort of be trending on Twitter. The only problem is, once I’m out of the blogosphere, I don’t often hear about those books. It seems like the books are only trending there, and not in real life. Although that isn’t always a bad thing…
I’m in the Future, My Classmates are in the Past
Popularity wise, books will always be popular in the blogosphere first before they become popular in real life. Take Divergent for example. Only people learned that there was going to be a movie and the last book came out, it sort of blew up in my school. People started to read and talk about it more. Me? I was like “Seriously? That was so two years ago.” Because I had read it two years ago when it first came out – before it was considered “popular”. When people asked for book recommendations I would go “Divergent!” And they would be like “I never heard of it, are you sure it’s good?” And now people are going to me saying “Have you read Divergent yet? It’s awesome!” No, I haven’t read it yet. I WAS THE ONE WHO TOLD YOU ABOUT IT! *Face palm* The same can be said for The Hunger Games. And the Maze Runner. And The Fault in Our Stars. You get my point, I hope.
That’s the same with me! I study creative writing at uni now though so I can talk to more people about books without them being all, “is there a movie version?”
http://theunironicnerd.blogspot.com.au/
I know! It’s so sad that to ordinary people, books are only popular enough to read if a movie adaption is going to be made.
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
My classmates are the same way! It’s even better when they ask if I’ve read something like Divergent or The Fault in Our Stars, and I respond in the typical blogger response with analysis, differing opinions, movie news, and facts about the author. I try to keep it in–I really do– but it’s not always easy. I think a lot of popularity outside of the blogosphere also has to do with the fact that most people only read a couple of books a year, whereas bloggers read about 60-100+ books each year. If you’re going to read so few books, you’d probably only pick up one of the super popular books because those are the ones you’re exposed to.