July 19, 2022 • 23 mins
Has your TikTok Algorithm ever handpicked a video about a spicy romance novel? If so, you may have found yourself in the corner of the internet called…BookTok! It's a phenomenon that is sweeping the literary world, and this week we are exploring it from all angles, starting with the lovely BookTok-er, Sami! She explains how she got into creating book content, and the ways she’s advocating for more diverse authors and stories through the nonprofit, BookTalk. Plus, Sami tells us how a video about her bookshelf falling over went mega-viral!
Get your daily happily ever after on LoveStruck Daily, with new love stories every Monday-Friday. In the meantime, follow @LoveStruckDaily on Instagram and Twitter for extra content.
If you have a love story to share, or any questions for the team, email lovestruckdaily@frolic.media.
View episode transcript here: https://otter.ai/u/DQqQ3FHXgG-NbAXVMeLn0Nh9fhA
And for goodness sakes...just kiss already!!!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's a phenomenon that is sweeping the world, at least
the literary world. And if you haven't jumped on the
book talk bandwagon, well now is your chance to learn more.
This week, we are exploring book talk from all the angles.
We're going to hear from authors, we're going to hear
from book talkers, and it's going to be amazing. Let's
do this. I'm Sarah Wendell, I'm Alicia Rai. Welcome to
(00:22):
Love Struck Daily, where we bring you love every single day.
I'm in love with that love. I'm in love with you.
(00:46):
So I think in these three episodes, we are going
to take a deep dive into all of the things
that make book talk unique and interesting. And there's so
much to talk about for anyone who hasn't learned or
heard about this. Alicia, what is book talk? And for
that matter, once TikTok So TikTok is a video social
(01:10):
media app. And it started initially as like you know,
they call it like the kids dancing app. Right, It
was initially for music and audio and dancing and like
lip singing, and then it turned into something I think
bigger than itself when it turned into TikTok. And now
it is everybody under the sun, billions of users from
(01:31):
all these countries everywhere, all over the world, singing, dancing, skits, talking,
connecting community. Uh. And there's all these little different subsets
of TikTok. Now. A couple of years ago, you know,
when I was first starting out, and nobody really understood
what TikTok was, and nobody understood what book talk was.
Somebody said to me, are you on book talk? And
(01:54):
they thought it was like a separate app. It's not
a separate app. No, it's it's it's it's its own
little community of reader than authors and people who love
books on TikTok. It is just a little niche part
of TikTok. And and it's lovely because I feel like
there's Bookstagram, there's book Twitter, you know, like any any
place you go you will find book loving people. Yes,
(02:17):
And I remember when Twitter became huge and all of
a sudden, television live coverage would put people's tweets on
the screen to show what the people were saying about
a thing. Yeah, that is no TikTok. People's TikTok's are
now the capsule capture of what's happening right now, and
(02:38):
they're short. They have to be short. You have to
get to the point. You don't have a lot of time,
right I love it and also it's it is a
way to find the people who love the thing that
you love and want to talk about the thing that
you love, and that is I think the generative human experience.
Finding the language to talk about the thing that you love,
too is who you can find other people who love
(02:59):
that just as much. And we are inviting one of
the most popular book talkers onto the show to tell
us all about this world in her own words, and
I'll give you a little spoiler. She was so excited
to talk to Alicia, and Alicia was so excited to
talk to her. We're mutual fans. Yeah, you're mutual fans.
(03:20):
And that level of enthusiasm is exactly what makes TikTok amazing.
It's so cool. Today we're talking to uh Sammy from
Sammy's Bookshelf, and she is so sweet and wonderful and
she is in charge like one of the people who
volunteers for an organization called book Talk, which I am
doing a panel for this week, which is just a
collection of people who love books by marginalized authors and
(03:44):
marginalized readers, and and it's it's so great and nothing
that I could have even dreamed of ten years ago.
So I love seeing the youths youths on TikTok really
dismantling so many things and and creating such a great space.
So we're talking to Sammy today. We are very excited,
and please give a very special love struck. Welcome to Summy.
(04:09):
Thank you so much for joining us today, Sammy. It's
so good to have you, and very excited to see
your face. I've seen you all over to you for
having me in my emails, so very nice to see
your face. Alright, guys, when you emailed me that first
time and you were like I love your TikTok, I
actually almost passed out, Like, no way, I do have
(04:30):
your TikTok. You've come across way for you page kite
a bit. So it's very nice. I think it's because
we have like probably an intersection of like South Asian
books like they're you know that algorithm just it knows
us real well, So why don't you give us a
quick little rundown of your background? How you know what?
(04:52):
What is it? That you do day to day. I
ended up on book Talk during the pandemic. I had
a lot more time on my hands. I was a
university the student at that time, but um, you know
I was. It was the being academics. Professors didn't know
what they were doing, so classes were suddenly a lot easier.
I was like, let me start reading again because it's
been a while. And then I waited a couple of months.
(05:12):
I don't wanted TikTok. I saw people making videos about books,
and I was like, let me get on this. So
it's been I think almost exactly two years now that
I've been on TikTok. And in my day to day life,
I'm still a student. I graduate next year and I'm
a STEM girley. My major is math of all things. Um.
(05:32):
I currently don't have a day job, but I do
volunteer at book Talk. Um that is my part time job,
and that's that's book talks about bookay t A l
t A. Okay, Yes, book Talk the nonprofit not yeah.
I always forget to clarify it too. I'm sure people
would be like, oh my gosh, you can volunteer. What
(05:56):
was your what is your TikTok trajectory. Let's say, like
when you started out, where did you start out making
content about books or was it just you know, you
were being goofy on the internet and then suddenly you
found your niche? How did you How did you come about?
I think it was just books. Like from the beginning,
I started with like those typical quote unquote book talk books,
(06:18):
and then I slowly found like books with South Asian representation.
I was like, wait, that's possible. Um. I was like
nineteen and I would never read a book by a
South Asian author featuring the South Asian character. So when
I read my first one like that was it Like
I was just hooked after that, and then I changed
my content basically to like be more for South Asian
(06:40):
voices and diverse voices in general as well, but obviously
with a special focus. What I really like about your
account specially is that you are so enthusiastic about the
books that you love. And I mean, as an author,
like I can tell you that is invaluable. Like to
have readers who are like I cannot put this down,
like that is the dream. I I don't want readers
to go to the bathroom when they read my book,
(07:01):
like I want you to hold it, you know, I
want you to read the whole thing cover to cover
and then go on and talk about it. You know,
they're portable, right books. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure,
but that is the only way. Well, but like a
lot of South Asians, books in the bathroom or no. No,
My mom always told me no books in the bath Yeah,
(07:24):
because like books are like God's like just so in
in Hinduism. Yes, they're sacred, so you're not allowed to
touch your feet to them or like bring them in
like unclean places either. Um. Yeah, I used to get
I used to get like my grandma used to get
so mad if I ever did that, like because I
(07:45):
would read in the bathtub all the time, and she'd
be like, what are you doing? You can't take it
in the bathroom. And I was like, well, I'm going
to specifically bought a e reader that's waterproof so that
if I drop it, I haven't lost my life. Oh see,
you know what, the readers are a lifesaver because they're
not they're not technically books. So I feel comfortable sitting
(08:07):
in the bathtub with an e reader. I feel like
that's fair yes, absolutely. I also found like, as I
write more and work more online, I can't do e
readers anymore, Like I need a print book now, which
is like I feel like I've come full circle because
I was so suspicious of the readers in the beginning,
and then I was like, oh my god, I can
take forty books on vacation with me and one little thing.
(08:28):
And now I'm like, I'm tired of looking at a
screen paper books. Yeah, So what are your thoughts? Like
on every day, I feel like we see another article.
I think there was one of the New York Times recently.
I think there's one in Washington Post recently to talking
about how book talk is changing the publishing industry, like
(08:49):
you know, TikTok is changing everything. What what are your
thoughts sort of on the future, I mean as like
a romance reader, as you know, somebody who's been in
the genre for a minute, Like, what are your thoughts
on how this platform will change publishing or what do
you hope it will do. I think it's already changed
publishing quite a bit, right, Like it it brought like
(09:10):
Barns and Nobles back from basically the brink of death.
You see book talk tables where you go, whether it's
Barnes and Nobles, indie stores, things like that, Right, And
you know, there was this whole thing about publishers trying
to acquire books that are like marketable. But then that
also comes around to then what what what counts is marketable? Right? Like,
(09:31):
who are you thinking of when you say marketable? It's
almost always whites has head people. So I actually I
have mixed feelings on book talk, Like I hope that
the trajectory it goes in, it's obviously being able to
highlight more marginalized voices, especially as a lot of marginalized
creators are being loud about it. I also fear the
worst and that it does the opposite. Sometimes I don't
(09:55):
think you can have either, and like, perfectly it's gonna
be something in the middle where he has a lot
of marginalized authors will be getting highlighted, but also then
so will a lot of these um whites as head
authors who don't write much representation as well. Yeah, it's
it's a chicken and an egg scenario, I think, right,
And I do worry about that with the books a
(10:17):
little bit where I'm like, oh no, like it's going
to be a case where it used to be. I
mean that the code words when when I was starting
to write, was like, oh, we don't think that people
will be able to find this relatable, and that was,
you know, just a code word, like we don't think
white people in target will pick this up. And I
do fear a little bit like you said, I fear
(10:38):
that that they've looked at the books that have gone
viral and they're going to say, we don't think this
is gonna swing on TikTok, Like we don't know if
this is gonna go viral. Even those like book Talk
displays almost always just the viral books, and they're they're
very rarely ever written by like a person of color,
if at all, very rarely, if if ever. I mean
(10:58):
I I aasionally like wind up on those tables, but
I don't, like, you know, I I don't usually even
make those table And I do love what you said
about bringing Barnes and Noble back, because I do think
that is very true. I think TikTok's saved Barnes and Noble,
and I think part of it is that Barnes and
Noble realized that their individual stores should have a little
bit more control and I went into one the other
(11:19):
day and there was a spicy book talk table. Yeah,
I've seen what. There's one in this town that's like
thirty minutes away and it's like the most white, like
very conservative town, and they had a spicy book talk
people and I was like, which now, It's just it's
(11:40):
so funny because like to have something that says spicy romance,
like in a Barnes and Noble that like would hide
fifty shades of gray like for those selling like things.
I think that is the biggest sign of like how
things have changed over the past two years, and I
hope they continue change. So one of my favorite things
(12:01):
about TikTok, and maybe you can confirm this, is that
the things that you work really hard on will never
go viral, and the things that you like post off
the cuff just random like thoughts will go like mega
viral and you're like, oh no, now people know me
for a lock and you know what I want to
(12:22):
locks and cake pops my friend locks and cake popsy
For people who don't know, I posted a random acid
video about like an extra lock that I use on
my door, and this made like people really upset and
defensive and so some like Europeans are like, we have
much better locks than Europe And then the Americans are like,
(12:42):
get a gun. Why do you even bother with a lock?
And then it got posted like like randomly on some
insult for them, I think. And now I have a
bunch of men telling me that I'm not hot enough
to be murdered, so I shouldn't even worry about it.
And as someone who worked at the front desk of
a hotel chain, you're lock is very smart and you
should absolutely have one's sake. It's like I wish I
(13:05):
was making money on this random lock, Like, no, I'm
not being sponsored for this. And there's always that moment
where you're like, I'm still talking about locks with you people,
what has happening? Like even a week? Can we move
on from logs place? But that is I think that
is one of the coolest things. I mean, it's it's
frustrating sometimes, but one of the cool things about TikTok
is you never know what's going to hit right. Oh,
(13:27):
it's so true. And somebody somebody said to me, like,
you should do branded locks like for your next book,
because it's like a caper. It's like a heist, and
so they were like, you should do branded locks with
your name on them, but like and I was like,
I don't want to be I don't want to feed
this lock drama any longer you need to. So it's
always like anything you put out, like any content you
put out, you can't even like curate it. It's just
(13:48):
like sometimes it goes viral and sometimes it doesn't. What's like,
what's the most surprising video that you've put out that
like kind of went big that you were like, oh man,
saw me, what's your lock? Yeah? What's your lock? Um?
So one time we'll be right back after the short break.
(14:15):
So one time I woke up because my bookshelf fell
over onto me. Um, and that went mega, is your
weight hang on backtrack? Is your bookshelf behind your bed?
Like so it's like it's adjacent to it, so like
my bed is pushed up again the ball and then
my bookshelf is on the opposite, so like teetered over
(14:39):
and hit like the edge of my bed. But I
just really like loud thud four am. My dad came
running in what happened? And I'm like, uh, like I'm
happy sleep. But that video I think is my most
viral video to date, and people thought like I faked it.
I was like, why would I go through all this energy,
tip over my own a case to like and have
(15:02):
to clean up all that mess just for a video,
Like you know, like that's the dumbest thing I've ever
heard of. You don't deliberately put your books on the floor.
Have you not been listening? Right? I said that. I
was like, why would I disrespect my books as a
hind as a good hindew Why would I do this?
Is you could you could have stepped on them and
that would have been really bad. So yeah, you would
(15:23):
never do that. I was like tiptoeing to clean that
stuff up. I was like tiptoeing around my room and
like I almost fell over a couple of times. I
was really trying not to step on any books. It
was hard. Yeah, that's that's very stressful and very funny.
And I love that people thought that you deliberately threw
your book yourself over you But like what what a
(15:47):
good like what a good sign of how many books
you have on that shelf? Right? You know more. I've
been in California like three years now, so not not
very long, and the thought of having anything near my
bed now freaks me out. You don't live in California,
so I don't think you need to here. I'm very
(16:07):
paranoid about things around my bed, and maybe you are
too now. I don't know. If I ever moved to California,
I will be Yeah, you should be. You should be. Please.
That's like my my takeaway for all anyone planning to move.
Don't any near your bed. Uh. What what are your
plans for the future, I mean, besides book talk, what
what do you hope to do both in and out
(16:30):
of the book industry? In the book industry, I'm not
really sure. I would like to continue with book talk
the nonprofit. Can you give us a little explanation of
what the nonprofit is? Yeah, So last year in March,
Asanta came to us and was like, Hey, I have
this idea, and she deemed like a hundred people I think,
and she was like, I want to focus on marginalized
voices and publishing, and I think we can organize a
(16:52):
conference where we bring those voices together and it's for them,
and it's about them, and it's also about the readers
who see themselves in the people's books and we made
it work. Last year. We planned the conference in like
four months. It was an insane time, and we had
enough success that we were like, hey, let's do this again,
(17:12):
but let's do it professionally. So we registered with like
the I R S and stuff like that and got
our official status in like fall and and full disclosure,
I'm doing a panel um for you guys this week.
Yes you are. You're doing our one of our adult
romance panels, and I'm very excited about that. I think,
(17:33):
I think this is so cool to me because I
I have been writing romance since like two thousand nine,
but I've been in the romance industry like as a
spectator basically since high school. Like I I started reading romance,
you know, in the two thousands in high school and college.
And I feel like I would have never even imagined
seeing something like this, like such a big conference, especially
(17:55):
focused on marginalized authors and readers, is like a dream
to me. So it's amazing to see. I mean, it
feels like it's been a really long time, but that's
been you know, a dozen years or so, like, so
you guys are really doing amazing things and it's really
heartening to see that for somebody who didn't have that
when I was in college. I love it when people
(18:15):
say that. I thank you people who maybe ten years
ago wouldn't have had a home anywhere or what I
felt out of place. I remember when I went to
my first conference when I was you know, in two
thousand ten or something. I felt horribly out of place,
like I felt like I did not belong there. I
hit a lot in my hotel room. I didn't talk
to anybody. Uh So to see a whole conference based
(18:36):
around this is truly amazing. It's a good job to all.
You're doing wonderful stuff. I will be texting the team
about this. They will freak out. How good do you
have any book recommendations for us that you are loving,
that you're excited for, that you've read. What what do
you have for us? Okay? So I just started a
(18:58):
million to one and by Theba Jako there, it's young adult.
It's a heist on the Titanic. I love with Youba.
She's great. I worked with her on the launch for
Honey Nie Shoes Guy to Think Dating as well last year.
That's what I'm reading now, and then I'm hoping my
art of Partners at crime gets approved on net Galium.
(19:19):
I'm really excited to read that one. Actually, I mean
luckily you have a hook up now, so if it doesn't,
please let me know. I'll be happy. Thank you. And Sabby,
what is your handle on TikTok or anywhere else that
you want people to find you on the internet. It
is Summy's bookshelf on TikTok and Instagram. We'll see you
(19:41):
around definitely, oh for sure. And you'll see me this
week on book Talk and I'm very excited about that.
And you know, everybody should go see book Talk b
O okay t a l K the conference and the
nonprofit and support that. So thank you for your work
with that as well. Yes, Sammy, thank you so much
for coming on. We really appreciate it. You're a delight
(20:02):
Thank you, thank you for having me. That was absolutely delightful.
I could listen to you guys talk about how much
you love what you do for hours. Yeah, it's my favorite. Alicia.
What is our love to go? I think the love
to go for today is that fandoms will always find
a way as long as there's books, as long as
(20:22):
there's authors creating books and readers who are hungry for them.
They will find a place to congregate on every possible
place on this planet, whether it's book clubs or Twitter
or Instagram or TikTok. And what I love, love love
is seeing how fandoms change and evolve, and especially now
(20:43):
how they're widening and broadening to include people. I mean,
I talked about what my first conference experience looks like,
and to see book talk now and to see that
I'm not even the only South Asian author on the
panel that I'm doing with them is mind blowing to me.
So what a wonderful, wonderful world you know that we
(21:04):
live in, that that all these people from all over
the world can come together and talk about books, even
if it's just books falling on them. My rule of
the Internet has always been, no matter how obscure and
strange your interest is, there is another person who loves
that thing as much as you do. And you are
never alone in the things that you love. Yeah, and
sometimes I mean those are like sometimes the interest is
(21:25):
a little weird, but there's always someone there. You're going
to find your community. So I'm so glad some of
you could come on. I'm glad you could talk about
books and I'm glad she has a platform from which
to talk about what she loves, absolutely and I'm really
happy for her. I'm happy to see what the next
generation is going to bring us to well. Thank you
for being part of our community today and loving the
(21:48):
things that we love, and thank you for sharing your
time with us. If you are looking for more of me, Sarah,
you can find me at Smart Bitches, trashy Books dot com.
I'm at Smart Bitches just about everywhere, and on your podcatcher,
which is my second favorite word, at smart podcast Trashy Bucks.
You can find me Alicia on TikTok at the Real
(22:09):
Alicia Rye or on Instagram at Alicia Rye Writes or
on Twitter at Alicia ray I also have a website,
Alicia Rii dot com, and you can find me and
Kai together on our new YouTube channel, The Happy Place.
Come check us out there. We're just gonna be talking
about all things that are happy and make us happy,
and hopefully they make some of them make you a due.
Our researcher is Jesse Epstein. Our editor is Jen Jacobs.
(22:32):
We are produced by Abigail Steckler and Little Scorpion Studios,
with executive producer Frolic Media. This is an I Heart
Radio podcast. Have a very happily ever after today. I'm
in love with that same I'm in love with you.
(23:01):
I'm in love with you.
It's a phenomenon that is sweeping the world, at least
the literary world. And if you haven't jumped on the
book talk bandwagon, well now is your chance to learn more.
This week, we are exploring book talk from all the angles.
We're going to hear from authors, we're going to hear
from book talkers, and it's going to be amazing. Let's
do this. I'm Sarah Wendell, I'm Alicia Rai. Welcome to
(00:22):
Love Struck Daily, where we bring you love every single day.
I'm in love with that love. I'm in love with you.
(00:46):
So I think in these three episodes, we are going
to take a deep dive into all of the things
that make book talk unique and interesting. And there's so
much to talk about for anyone who hasn't learned or
heard about this. Alicia, what is book talk? And for
that matter, once TikTok So TikTok is a video social
(01:10):
media app. And it started initially as like you know,
they call it like the kids dancing app. Right, It
was initially for music and audio and dancing and like
lip singing, and then it turned into something I think
bigger than itself when it turned into TikTok. And now
it is everybody under the sun, billions of users from
(01:31):
all these countries everywhere, all over the world, singing, dancing, skits, talking,
connecting community. Uh. And there's all these little different subsets
of TikTok. Now. A couple of years ago, you know,
when I was first starting out, and nobody really understood
what TikTok was, and nobody understood what book talk was.
Somebody said to me, are you on book talk? And
(01:54):
they thought it was like a separate app. It's not
a separate app. No, it's it's it's it's its own
little community of reader than authors and people who love
books on TikTok. It is just a little niche part
of TikTok. And and it's lovely because I feel like
there's Bookstagram, there's book Twitter, you know, like any any
place you go you will find book loving people. Yes,
(02:17):
And I remember when Twitter became huge and all of
a sudden, television live coverage would put people's tweets on
the screen to show what the people were saying about
a thing. Yeah, that is no TikTok. People's TikTok's are
now the capsule capture of what's happening right now, and
(02:38):
they're short. They have to be short. You have to
get to the point. You don't have a lot of time,
right I love it and also it's it is a
way to find the people who love the thing that
you love and want to talk about the thing that
you love, and that is I think the generative human experience.
Finding the language to talk about the thing that you love,
too is who you can find other people who love
(02:59):
that just as much. And we are inviting one of
the most popular book talkers onto the show to tell
us all about this world in her own words, and
I'll give you a little spoiler. She was so excited
to talk to Alicia, and Alicia was so excited to
talk to her. We're mutual fans. Yeah, you're mutual fans.
(03:20):
And that level of enthusiasm is exactly what makes TikTok amazing.
It's so cool. Today we're talking to uh Sammy from
Sammy's Bookshelf, and she is so sweet and wonderful and
she is in charge like one of the people who
volunteers for an organization called book Talk, which I am
doing a panel for this week, which is just a
collection of people who love books by marginalized authors and
(03:44):
marginalized readers, and and it's it's so great and nothing
that I could have even dreamed of ten years ago.
So I love seeing the youths youths on TikTok really
dismantling so many things and and creating such a great space.
So we're talking to Sammy today. We are very excited,
and please give a very special love struck. Welcome to Summy.
(04:09):
Thank you so much for joining us today, Sammy. It's
so good to have you, and very excited to see
your face. I've seen you all over to you for
having me in my emails, so very nice to see
your face. Alright, guys, when you emailed me that first
time and you were like I love your TikTok, I
actually almost passed out, Like, no way, I do have
(04:30):
your TikTok. You've come across way for you page kite
a bit. So it's very nice. I think it's because
we have like probably an intersection of like South Asian
books like they're you know that algorithm just it knows
us real well, So why don't you give us a
quick little rundown of your background? How you know what?
(04:52):
What is it? That you do day to day. I
ended up on book Talk during the pandemic. I had
a lot more time on my hands. I was a
university the student at that time, but um, you know
I was. It was the being academics. Professors didn't know
what they were doing, so classes were suddenly a lot easier.
I was like, let me start reading again because it's
been a while. And then I waited a couple of months.
(05:12):
I don't wanted TikTok. I saw people making videos about books,
and I was like, let me get on this. So
it's been I think almost exactly two years now that
I've been on TikTok. And in my day to day life,
I'm still a student. I graduate next year and I'm
a STEM girley. My major is math of all things. Um.
(05:32):
I currently don't have a day job, but I do
volunteer at book Talk. Um that is my part time job,
and that's that's book talks about bookay t A l
t A. Okay, Yes, book Talk the nonprofit not yeah.
I always forget to clarify it too. I'm sure people
would be like, oh my gosh, you can volunteer. What
(05:56):
was your what is your TikTok trajectory. Let's say, like
when you started out, where did you start out making
content about books or was it just you know, you
were being goofy on the internet and then suddenly you
found your niche? How did you How did you come about?
I think it was just books. Like from the beginning,
I started with like those typical quote unquote book talk books,
(06:18):
and then I slowly found like books with South Asian representation.
I was like, wait, that's possible. Um. I was like
nineteen and I would never read a book by a
South Asian author featuring the South Asian character. So when
I read my first one like that was it Like
I was just hooked after that, and then I changed
my content basically to like be more for South Asian
(06:40):
voices and diverse voices in general as well, but obviously
with a special focus. What I really like about your
account specially is that you are so enthusiastic about the
books that you love. And I mean, as an author,
like I can tell you that is invaluable. Like to
have readers who are like I cannot put this down,
like that is the dream. I I don't want readers
to go to the bathroom when they read my book,
(07:01):
like I want you to hold it, you know, I
want you to read the whole thing cover to cover
and then go on and talk about it. You know,
they're portable, right books. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure,
but that is the only way. Well, but like a
lot of South Asians, books in the bathroom or no. No,
My mom always told me no books in the bath Yeah,
(07:24):
because like books are like God's like just so in
in Hinduism. Yes, they're sacred, so you're not allowed to
touch your feet to them or like bring them in
like unclean places either. Um. Yeah, I used to get
I used to get like my grandma used to get
so mad if I ever did that, like because I
(07:45):
would read in the bathtub all the time, and she'd
be like, what are you doing? You can't take it
in the bathroom. And I was like, well, I'm going
to specifically bought a e reader that's waterproof so that
if I drop it, I haven't lost my life. Oh see,
you know what, the readers are a lifesaver because they're
not they're not technically books. So I feel comfortable sitting
(08:07):
in the bathtub with an e reader. I feel like
that's fair yes, absolutely. I also found like, as I
write more and work more online, I can't do e
readers anymore, Like I need a print book now, which
is like I feel like I've come full circle because
I was so suspicious of the readers in the beginning,
and then I was like, oh my god, I can
take forty books on vacation with me and one little thing.
(08:28):
And now I'm like, I'm tired of looking at a
screen paper books. Yeah, So what are your thoughts? Like
on every day, I feel like we see another article.
I think there was one of the New York Times recently.
I think there's one in Washington Post recently to talking
about how book talk is changing the publishing industry, like
(08:49):
you know, TikTok is changing everything. What what are your
thoughts sort of on the future, I mean as like
a romance reader, as you know, somebody who's been in
the genre for a minute, Like, what are your thoughts
on how this platform will change publishing or what do
you hope it will do. I think it's already changed
publishing quite a bit, right, Like it it brought like
(09:10):
Barns and Nobles back from basically the brink of death.
You see book talk tables where you go, whether it's
Barnes and Nobles, indie stores, things like that, Right, And
you know, there was this whole thing about publishers trying
to acquire books that are like marketable. But then that
also comes around to then what what what counts is marketable? Right? Like,
(09:31):
who are you thinking of when you say marketable? It's
almost always whites has head people. So I actually I
have mixed feelings on book talk, Like I hope that
the trajectory it goes in, it's obviously being able to
highlight more marginalized voices, especially as a lot of marginalized
creators are being loud about it. I also fear the
worst and that it does the opposite. Sometimes I don't
(09:55):
think you can have either, and like, perfectly it's gonna
be something in the middle where he has a lot
of marginalized authors will be getting highlighted, but also then
so will a lot of these um whites as head
authors who don't write much representation as well. Yeah, it's
it's a chicken and an egg scenario, I think, right,
And I do worry about that with the books a
(10:17):
little bit where I'm like, oh no, like it's going
to be a case where it used to be. I
mean that the code words when when I was starting
to write, was like, oh, we don't think that people
will be able to find this relatable, and that was,
you know, just a code word, like we don't think
white people in target will pick this up. And I
do fear a little bit like you said, I fear
(10:38):
that that they've looked at the books that have gone
viral and they're going to say, we don't think this
is gonna swing on TikTok, Like we don't know if
this is gonna go viral. Even those like book Talk
displays almost always just the viral books, and they're they're
very rarely ever written by like a person of color,
if at all, very rarely, if if ever. I mean
(10:58):
I I aasionally like wind up on those tables, but
I don't, like, you know, I I don't usually even
make those table And I do love what you said
about bringing Barnes and Noble back, because I do think
that is very true. I think TikTok's saved Barnes and Noble,
and I think part of it is that Barnes and
Noble realized that their individual stores should have a little
bit more control and I went into one the other
(11:19):
day and there was a spicy book talk table. Yeah,
I've seen what. There's one in this town that's like
thirty minutes away and it's like the most white, like
very conservative town, and they had a spicy book talk
people and I was like, which now, It's just it's
(11:40):
so funny because like to have something that says spicy romance,
like in a Barnes and Noble that like would hide
fifty shades of gray like for those selling like things.
I think that is the biggest sign of like how
things have changed over the past two years, and I
hope they continue change. So one of my favorite things
(12:01):
about TikTok, and maybe you can confirm this, is that
the things that you work really hard on will never
go viral, and the things that you like post off
the cuff just random like thoughts will go like mega
viral and you're like, oh no, now people know me
for a lock and you know what I want to
(12:22):
locks and cake pops my friend locks and cake popsy
For people who don't know, I posted a random acid
video about like an extra lock that I use on
my door, and this made like people really upset and
defensive and so some like Europeans are like, we have
much better locks than Europe And then the Americans are like,
(12:42):
get a gun. Why do you even bother with a lock?
And then it got posted like like randomly on some
insult for them, I think. And now I have a
bunch of men telling me that I'm not hot enough
to be murdered, so I shouldn't even worry about it.
And as someone who worked at the front desk of
a hotel chain, you're lock is very smart and you
should absolutely have one's sake. It's like I wish I
(13:05):
was making money on this random lock, Like, no, I'm
not being sponsored for this. And there's always that moment
where you're like, I'm still talking about locks with you people,
what has happening? Like even a week? Can we move
on from logs place? But that is I think that
is one of the coolest things. I mean, it's it's
frustrating sometimes, but one of the cool things about TikTok
is you never know what's going to hit right. Oh,
(13:27):
it's so true. And somebody somebody said to me, like,
you should do branded locks like for your next book,
because it's like a caper. It's like a heist, and
so they were like, you should do branded locks with
your name on them, but like and I was like,
I don't want to be I don't want to feed
this lock drama any longer you need to. So it's
always like anything you put out, like any content you
put out, you can't even like curate it. It's just
(13:48):
like sometimes it goes viral and sometimes it doesn't. What's like,
what's the most surprising video that you've put out that
like kind of went big that you were like, oh man,
saw me, what's your lock? Yeah? What's your lock? Um?
So one time we'll be right back after the short break.
(14:15):
So one time I woke up because my bookshelf fell
over onto me. Um, and that went mega, is your
weight hang on backtrack? Is your bookshelf behind your bed?
Like so it's like it's adjacent to it, so like
my bed is pushed up again the ball and then
my bookshelf is on the opposite, so like teetered over
(14:39):
and hit like the edge of my bed. But I
just really like loud thud four am. My dad came
running in what happened? And I'm like, uh, like I'm
happy sleep. But that video I think is my most
viral video to date, and people thought like I faked it.
I was like, why would I go through all this energy,
tip over my own a case to like and have
(15:02):
to clean up all that mess just for a video,
Like you know, like that's the dumbest thing I've ever
heard of. You don't deliberately put your books on the floor.
Have you not been listening? Right? I said that. I
was like, why would I disrespect my books as a
hind as a good hindew Why would I do this?
Is you could you could have stepped on them and
that would have been really bad. So yeah, you would
(15:23):
never do that. I was like tiptoeing to clean that
stuff up. I was like tiptoeing around my room and
like I almost fell over a couple of times. I
was really trying not to step on any books. It
was hard. Yeah, that's that's very stressful and very funny.
And I love that people thought that you deliberately threw
your book yourself over you But like what what a
(15:47):
good like what a good sign of how many books
you have on that shelf? Right? You know more. I've
been in California like three years now, so not not
very long, and the thought of having anything near my
bed now freaks me out. You don't live in California,
so I don't think you need to here. I'm very
(16:07):
paranoid about things around my bed, and maybe you are
too now. I don't know. If I ever moved to California,
I will be Yeah, you should be. You should be. Please.
That's like my my takeaway for all anyone planning to move.
Don't any near your bed. Uh. What what are your
plans for the future, I mean, besides book talk, what
what do you hope to do both in and out
(16:30):
of the book industry? In the book industry, I'm not
really sure. I would like to continue with book talk
the nonprofit. Can you give us a little explanation of
what the nonprofit is? Yeah, So last year in March,
Asanta came to us and was like, Hey, I have
this idea, and she deemed like a hundred people I think,
and she was like, I want to focus on marginalized
voices and publishing, and I think we can organize a
(16:52):
conference where we bring those voices together and it's for them,
and it's about them, and it's also about the readers
who see themselves in the people's books and we made
it work. Last year. We planned the conference in like
four months. It was an insane time, and we had
enough success that we were like, hey, let's do this again,
(17:12):
but let's do it professionally. So we registered with like
the I R S and stuff like that and got
our official status in like fall and and full disclosure,
I'm doing a panel um for you guys this week.
Yes you are. You're doing our one of our adult
romance panels, and I'm very excited about that. I think,
(17:33):
I think this is so cool to me because I
I have been writing romance since like two thousand nine,
but I've been in the romance industry like as a
spectator basically since high school. Like I I started reading romance,
you know, in the two thousands in high school and college.
And I feel like I would have never even imagined
seeing something like this, like such a big conference, especially
(17:55):
focused on marginalized authors and readers, is like a dream
to me. So it's amazing to see. I mean, it
feels like it's been a really long time, but that's
been you know, a dozen years or so, like, so
you guys are really doing amazing things and it's really
heartening to see that for somebody who didn't have that
when I was in college. I love it when people
(18:15):
say that. I thank you people who maybe ten years
ago wouldn't have had a home anywhere or what I
felt out of place. I remember when I went to
my first conference when I was you know, in two
thousand ten or something. I felt horribly out of place,
like I felt like I did not belong there. I
hit a lot in my hotel room. I didn't talk
to anybody. Uh So to see a whole conference based
(18:36):
around this is truly amazing. It's a good job to all.
You're doing wonderful stuff. I will be texting the team
about this. They will freak out. How good do you
have any book recommendations for us that you are loving,
that you're excited for, that you've read. What what do
you have for us? Okay? So I just started a
(18:58):
million to one and by Theba Jako there, it's young adult.
It's a heist on the Titanic. I love with Youba.
She's great. I worked with her on the launch for
Honey Nie Shoes Guy to Think Dating as well last year.
That's what I'm reading now, and then I'm hoping my
art of Partners at crime gets approved on net Galium.
(19:19):
I'm really excited to read that one. Actually, I mean
luckily you have a hook up now, so if it doesn't,
please let me know. I'll be happy. Thank you. And Sabby,
what is your handle on TikTok or anywhere else that
you want people to find you on the internet. It
is Summy's bookshelf on TikTok and Instagram. We'll see you
(19:41):
around definitely, oh for sure. And you'll see me this
week on book Talk and I'm very excited about that.
And you know, everybody should go see book Talk b
O okay t a l K the conference and the
nonprofit and support that. So thank you for your work
with that as well. Yes, Sammy, thank you so much
for coming on. We really appreciate it. You're a delight
(20:02):
Thank you, thank you for having me. That was absolutely delightful.
I could listen to you guys talk about how much
you love what you do for hours. Yeah, it's my favorite. Alicia.
What is our love to go? I think the love
to go for today is that fandoms will always find
a way as long as there's books, as long as
(20:22):
there's authors creating books and readers who are hungry for them.
They will find a place to congregate on every possible
place on this planet, whether it's book clubs or Twitter
or Instagram or TikTok. And what I love, love love
is seeing how fandoms change and evolve, and especially now
(20:43):
how they're widening and broadening to include people. I mean,
I talked about what my first conference experience looks like,
and to see book talk now and to see that
I'm not even the only South Asian author on the
panel that I'm doing with them is mind blowing to me.
So what a wonderful, wonderful world you know that we
(21:04):
live in, that that all these people from all over
the world can come together and talk about books, even
if it's just books falling on them. My rule of
the Internet has always been, no matter how obscure and
strange your interest is, there is another person who loves
that thing as much as you do. And you are
never alone in the things that you love. Yeah, and
sometimes I mean those are like sometimes the interest is
(21:25):
a little weird, but there's always someone there. You're going
to find your community. So I'm so glad some of
you could come on. I'm glad you could talk about
books and I'm glad she has a platform from which
to talk about what she loves, absolutely and I'm really
happy for her. I'm happy to see what the next
generation is going to bring us to well. Thank you
for being part of our community today and loving the
(21:48):
things that we love, and thank you for sharing your
time with us. If you are looking for more of me, Sarah,
you can find me at Smart Bitches, trashy Books dot com.
I'm at Smart Bitches just about everywhere, and on your podcatcher,
which is my second favorite word, at smart podcast Trashy Bucks.
You can find me Alicia on TikTok at the Real
(22:09):
Alicia Rye or on Instagram at Alicia Rye Writes or
on Twitter at Alicia ray I also have a website,
Alicia Rii dot com, and you can find me and
Kai together on our new YouTube channel, The Happy Place.
Come check us out there. We're just gonna be talking
about all things that are happy and make us happy,
and hopefully they make some of them make you a due.
Our researcher is Jesse Epstein. Our editor is Jen Jacobs.
(22:32):
We are produced by Abigail Steckler and Little Scorpion Studios,
with executive producer Frolic Media. This is an I Heart
Radio podcast. Have a very happily ever after today. I'm
in love with that same I'm in love with you.
(23:01):
I'm in love with you.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.