Finding Diverse Voices on BookTube with BabeInLibrary

Are you tired of the same old book reviews and looking for a fresh, authentic perspective on reading? Join host Alesia as she sits down with Lisa, known as BabeInLibrary, for an electrifying conversation that goes beyond traditional book discussions. This episode dives deep into the world of BookTube, romance reading, and the transformative power of diverse literature. 

Lisa is a proud bookish nerd that can be found at any time with a book in her face. She attributes her love of reading to Pizza Hut and the Book It program from her youth. Unfortunately the means she is always seeking a reward or a good girl after she finishes a book. As a proud library card holder since 2000 she dedicated her bookish name to that special place.  You can find her on all social media platforms at babeinlibrary.

In this episode, we're discussing:

• The Evolution of Book Communities: From secret reading to open discussions about spicy romance
• Diversity in Reading: Strategies for intentionally expanding your literary horizons
• BookTube Insights: Behind-the-scenes of content creation and book reviewing
• The Importance of Representation: How diverse books can broaden our understanding of different experiences
• Romance Reading: Breaking stigmas and recognizing the depth of relationship-focused literature

Whether you're a seasoned reader or just starting your literary journey, this episode will inspire you to read more diversely, challenge your reading habits, and discover new voices in the book world. Don't just consume books—let them transform your understanding of human connections.

CONNECT WITH Lisa @ BabeInLibrary:

YouTube

Instagram 

BOOKS/AUTHORS MENTIONED:

Capri's Book Island -  https://www.youtube.com/@caprisbookisland/playlists 

Sharonda Isadaor -  https://www.youtube.com/@sharondaisadora

MoPages - https://www.youtube.com/@MoPages

My Share the Love video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6qUh0h9YGU

Passion by Monica Walters (Amazon)

Running list of books mentioned (Doc)

Thank you for listening to the We Read Smut Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag @WeReadSmut. Don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast.

Connect with Alesia:
Storygraph

This podcast was produced by Galati Media.
Proud member of the Feminist Podcasters Collective.

Episode Transcript

Alesia Galati (00:00):
Are you tired of the same old book reviews or the

(00:03):
same old boring roundups, andyou want to hear from passionate
readers who can go more in depthabout the books that you know
and love, then it's time thatyou dive into the world of
booktube. Today, we're talkingabout booktube and so much more
with Lisa, also known as Badenlibrary. Listener, discretion is

(00:25):
advised. This podcast containsmature content intended for
adult audiences only. Lisa, I amso excited to have you on. You
guys might know her as Badinlibrary, but Lisa, oh, thank you
so much for being here. I'm soexcited to have this chat.

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (00:44):
Thank you so very much for having me. I'm
honored to be here today.

Alesia Galati (00:47):
Yes, all right, so let's get into your reading
journey as an adult. You know,where did that kind of love of
romance and love of reading comefrom as your adult reading
journey began? So actually,

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (01:02):
before even reading as an adult, I am an
older person in the community, Iwill say, to one degree, I don't
know if you had book it. So whenyou're working with like when
you were younger, Pizza Hut usedto have this reading
competition. You read so manyyou get a personal pan pizza.
And so I typically think I stemback from there. But when I was

(01:26):
in college, one of my collegeroommates, she had, she had
Twilight, and so many of usprobably have started well back
then. So I binged that I we werein her family's home, and
everyone went to sleep, and I'mup in the middle of the night
again. You could not pay me toread a college textbook, but I'm

(01:50):
sitting here and I'm goingthrough it, and I am having a
time in the middle of themorning, and from there, I
really just kept going. Thenwhen I got out of college, I was
unemployed for a year, so I hadnothing but opportunity. But
even back then, it was a littlebit less. I just kept going from
there, and now I'm a monsterwhen it comes to the reading.

Alesia Galati (02:14):
Oh, I love that.
Yeah, I can think back to now.
I'm 33 at the time of thisrecording, and I remember having
grown up very strict to where Iwasn't allowed to read a lot of
certain books, and so I wouldtry to sneak the ones that maybe
weren't approved yet. Or as Igot older, I went, I lived in

(02:38):
New York City for a bit, and Iwould go and I would take books,
not take books, borrow booksfrom the library. And that's
when I discovered Twilight. Andthat was, like, 2011 I want to
say. And I was like, What isthis? And I, like, flew through
the series as well. I'm thinkingtoo. But like, I went through

(02:59):
all the Hunger Games booksduring that time, like I was
really into all of those, and Ialways loved reading, but to be
able to read something that likewasn't approved, quote, unquote,
was really exciting and a littletitillating to me. And then even
thinking about my collegeroommates and some best friends
that I had in college, where Iwould have my phone, and somehow

(03:22):
I found an erotica site, and Iwould just read it, and I'd be
like, Girl, I would just likeread it to them. Like, these are
flip phone level.

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (03:37):
Let me tell you, you just like unlock
something in my memory. Sospeaking about my name is Babin
library. Clearly, I love mylocal library, so I've had my
library card since 2000 and Iremember going in and I never
went to the children's section.
My mother would just like, dropme off. And she was like, Okay,

(03:58):
girl, go do what you got to doand come out like, I'm gonna
give you X amount of time. Istayed in the adult section and
no one was clocking me. No onewas like, Hey, sweetie, your
section is over here. I amfinding Omar's high re I am I am
looking for everything that Icould get with a black person on
it that had, like, romance so,like, milk in my coffee, I had

(04:21):
it all. And as many of us, ifI'm going again, back in high
school, and probably beforehand,how many of us have picked up a
Zane book? How many of us werereading coldest winter ever? I
think that was like the rite ofpassage for everyone. So when
we're talking about, you know,getting into books like, well
before your 50 Shades of Gray, Iwas deep into it. Like, I'm I am

(04:46):
reading and ready. Had no cluewhat I needed to be reading and
ready for. But I was like, thisis a good start.

Alesia Galati (04:57):
Yes, oh my goodness, it's so it.
Interesting too, because, like,I was doing all of that, and
then when I became a mom, and Ihad finished my bachelor's, and
I was on to becoming a secondtime mom, I don't know, I got,
like, on my high horse for somereason. And I remember my mom
telling me, I'm reading 50shades, and, oh, my god, it's so

(05:19):
spicy, and it's so this. And Iwas like, ew, mom. Like, that's
trash. Ew. And now I'm like, Ohmy God. I wish I could, like, go
back and be like, slap myselfupside the head. Like, girl, you
were reading way worse threeyears ago. Chill out.

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (05:34):
The audacity of us. The

Alesia Galati (05:37):
audacity. But yeah, oh my goodness, yeah. I
feel like it is a rite ofpassage. I have a friend. She's
in her 50s, and she talks aboutstealing some of her grandma's
books. Even some of my greatgrandmother's books were like,
passed down to all of the womenin the family. Those didn't get
donated. All the rest of thewomen got those books.

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (06:01):
Oh, this looks a little one for where it
well, love exactly,

Alesia Galati (06:08):
oh, my goodness, so good. So then what happened,
like, in the more like gettinginto, I feel like there's a
whole culture right in the bookcommunity, and now, versus, and
I don't know if it was justCOVID that did it, but I feel
like the book community now isjust so different than it was
like people weren't talkingabout reading smut or reading

(06:31):
these quote, unquote, spicybooks right back then. It was
more like, Oh no, I don't wantanybody to know what I'm
reading, or I'm gonna read itunder my covers, on the down
low, whereas now we're readingit in the coffee shop. It don't
matter.

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (06:45):
Yeah, I can't really tell what it is,
and I think it, it's always beenthis or that, right? Because at
this point, if I see anotherflower cover, I'm going to
screen. But in terms of, I knowpeople Cover Girl, so like, I
have to be able to, because I'mnot as visual as some people,
right? So I, while I don't thinkabout the characters, I resonate

(07:08):
with seeing beautiful people onthe cover, knowing that it's a
romance. So I think, for youknow where we are today, cover
sell, right? People have to knowwhat they're getting into. They
don't want to be spending thetime because, again, we are in
such a quick, paced environment.
It's like, okay, if I look atthis and it has a football and

(07:29):
it has people, I'm automaticallyassuming it's a football
romance. These are the thingsthat I'm getting out of the
story, right? So we are workingin, like popcorn I need to know
before even opening the book,and that could be a good or bad
thing. But again, just as muchas we have that, we have the
opposite of, there's stillplenty of people that want that

(07:51):
cutesy, Illustrated cover, andthen they get smacked in the
face with, you know, a good smutscene, and they're like, whoa,
whoa, whoa, I wasn't preparedfor this.

Alesia Galati (08:04):
Yes, that always cracks me up, though, I think
when people are like, and thisis a discussion that I'm seeing
a lot in on threads right now,and a lot of authors are pushing
back on this idea, but someoneposted they were like, Oh, they
should have ratings on books,just like they do on movies and
just like they do on music andjust like they do on video

(08:27):
games. And a lot of the authorswere like, Whoa, we are not
policing this. That is not okay.
You want to know the things thatare in there, go look it up.
There are ways to find like, ifyou're really intentional, and
say you're picking up somethingfor your tween or your young
teen, then yes, you need to bedoing your research. It's just

(08:48):
not a matter of, oh, that's gota cute cover. I'm sure it's
fine. No, we don't do thatanymore. There are tons of ways
to figure it out. And I think alot

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (08:58):
of that's right, the marketing can do as
much as they possibly can. Soadditionally, can your
bookstores. But usually ifyou're going somewhere, and
again, I think this depends onwhere you're getting your books.
If you're going into a physicalbookstore, they're going to have
a young adult section. Now thatdoesn't necessarily mean that is

(09:18):
going to be free and clear ofany type of romantic interest or
intimacy scenes. It just meansthat it's taken down a little
bit. I don't necessarily want toget into this too much, unless
that's where we decide to go.
But the conversation aboutreading and banning books,
right? That's important from adiscussion of, are you reading
the books before you're givingit to them, are you looking at

(09:40):
the content warnings? Becauseresponsible authors are putting
that information in there.
They're letting you know. Soit's not really that you're
being misled. Yes. Now we're inthis mass publishing industry
where there are certainpublishing houses that are
picking up everything. Thing.
But as you're starting to seethem picked up, you know those

(10:01):
are being targeted, you can seethat book talk that
automatically should have somesynapses firings to say, Yeah,
that's probably going to be tooraunchy for my 12 year old.

Alesia Galati (10:14):
And even if your tastes are something that maybe
you don't like, really smuttyromances. I know that I've had
conversations with people whoare asexual, and they're like,
Hey, do you have anyrecommendations for the one or
two spice? Because I just reallydon't want to read a lot of
smut. And it's yes, and maybedon't follow our account, which
is okay, there are plenty otheraccounts that are gonna have

(10:39):
romances that do not have asspicy recommendations, but the
majority of the ones that werecommend are going to have open
door scenes in them. And that'sjust a fact, right? And we know
who we're talking to, hence thewe read sweat like it's very
clear. And then there are otheraccounts that you can go to. I
won't name them because theyhave the word clean their

(11:02):
username. We don't like thatword here, but you can go find
them. It's very easy to findones that have those closed door
scenes or have the Fade to Blackscenes. But getting back to your
own reading journey, whathappened next? So you had that
year you were enjoying yourreading. What happened next to

(11:23):
take you on that reading journey

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (11:25):
so surprisingly, I don't know how I
came across it, and I thinkprobably it was a mix. I don't
know if Book Two came first orGoodreads came first. I think
they may have happened at thesame time, but I found
Goodreads, and I've been onthere since probably 2011 and
that just continued to give memore ammunition provide items

(11:48):
that would be similar to me,right? And at that time, I
wasn't a large consumer, so Iwas utilizing my library. I was
trying to see what wasavailable. And I think again,
there were certain limitationsof what was being published and
what was accessible via thelibrary, but that helped me to
find Okay, I like this. Maybe Ican go to something else. And so

(12:10):
I just kept going. At that time,I set, like, really manageable
goals, because I wasn't surewhat my working life would be
like. I didn't know when the jobwas going to come. So I really
was like, okay, I can do onebook at a time. Take it one page
at a time. And it wasn't that Ihad the competition right back

(12:30):
in 2011 social media didn'treally, with the exception of
BookTube, we didn't haveBookstagram, we didn't have book
talk, we didn't have a lot ofthose other things that really
fed that competition didn'treally, you know, add into like,
am I reading enough? So I justkind of went at my leisurely
pace. And then as I continue togo on the journey, I started to

(12:53):
have more and more opportunitiesto say, Okay, actually, let me
just binge read this entirecatalog, right? Because I
started to get into seriesrecently, someone just told me,
like, you are a serious girl.
And I was like, am I Iabsolutely am

Alesia Galati (13:11):
I love that?
Yeah, I actually. And I told youthis before we hit record. I did
not even realize that booktubewas really like a thing until I
saw you talking about yourvideos on Instagram, and I was
like, Oh, I would sit there andlisten to someone talk about
their favorite books or doroundups of books, absolutely.
So how did you get into that?

(13:34):
Yeah,

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (13:34):
so I can't really tell what came first,
whether it was good reads orBook Two, but I know that a lot
of people that were on Goodreadsthat I happened to follow
because we were reading the samebooks at the same time. Also
would say, look at my videos onbooktube, or more information,
go here. And it led me to gothere. And I started to see,
okay, these people are reallydedicated. They're able to be

(13:57):
more expansive. They're able totalk about what they're reading,
their reactions, they're able tobe very creative with it. At the
time, we did not haveBookstagram, we did not have
book talk, so we didn't havethose visuals that go with it.
So really, you're reading thebook, you're reviewing the
summary. And in BookTube, youhad to people were wearing

(14:18):
costumes, people were giving youlive reactions, so there was a
lot more engagement from avisual representation, and you
got to feel like you connectedwith that person. I think that
was the first time that I feltlike I connected with other
readers, because at the time, Iwas reading in isolation, like
I'm reading alone, my friendsare not reading I'm not engaging

(14:38):
with them, so they're not reallyexperiencing the joy or the
sadness or the chaos that I'mgoing through on these
adventures with thesecharacters. That's

Alesia Galati (14:48):
how I feel about like, when I'm reading a book
and I have to tell my friends,I'm like, you're probably never
gonna read it, but I have to,have to tell you about it and or
my husband, I'm like, Look,you're coming along. In this
ride with me. It too bad I haveto listen about football that
was

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (15:04):
that could be like the modern day vows as
people get married, like I agreeto love you, whatever, no matter
if you're talking about alienpain that I'm never going to
have, you're talking about beingable to buy me a library at x, y
and z, while I realize all of myshortcomings, I will listen to

(15:25):
you, and that should be writtenin as like the new modern day
vow for bookish people, it

Alesia Galati (15:31):
really should.
We're gonna renew our vows at 10years. So there you go. There's
the renewal vows are gonna besomething about having to listen
to him talk about football, andhim having to listen to me talk
about books. It's going Hannah,right? It's very romantic.

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (15:46):
It is, I think that is, like the core
tenets for a lasting period. Oh,it's

Alesia Galati (15:51):
so good. That's honestly, something that I don't
think enough people talk about,especially I'm a mom. I've got
two kids, and after I had mysecond kid, my libido was shot.
It was so bad, and honestly,smutty, romance saved the sex in
my marriage. So I don't thinkpeople talk about that. Enough

(16:14):
of oh, this was titillating.
Hey, honey,

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (16:18):
these significant others should be
worshiping you atrophy, becausethere's a no way that we
wouldn't. First of all, bookishpeople are literally the people
in the streets and the freak inthe streets. They're in between
the pages, getting all of thefoundation, honey. You want to
know what I just read? Yep.
Would you like to try it? Faucishould be loving you dearly for

(16:42):
the things that you're bringingto them, because it's good
quality content.

Alesia Galati (16:49):
I have definitely set my husband's screenshots and
said, Let's do this. And he'slike, I will see you. Yeah,
yeah. Actually, later, yes.

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (17:01):
How many books does this offer have? Do
you need me to go buy the Maclist? Like, how can I help? How
can I help you? Help me?

Alesia Galati (17:09):
I was telling someone recently. I was like,
anytime I try to write a review,I'm like, five stars. Good
vibes. Next book, because I readso one I read so many books at a
time, I'm usually listening toone, reading one on my Kindle
app, and then I'm usuallyreading one on my actual Kindle,
and then they're acrossdifferent genres, so that I

(17:30):
don't get them mixed up, yeah,just picking out books left and
right. And so I'll get to theend, and I'm like, Oh, that was
good next. I just, I don't takea moment to sit and breathe with
it. And anytime that I have towrite a review, especially for
an arc, I'm like, How do I dothis? Why is this so difficult?
Good vibes all around I liked itor I didn't like it, and and

(17:53):
this is the one thing that Ididn't like. So how do you Yeah,
how does that work? So

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (17:59):
I think it depends on the content creator.
So some people will do smallburst. So they will come to you
as soon as they get done, eitherreading the book, or as soon as
they read a certain scene,they'll do a check in. And that
is something that I am startingto do. I'm starting to learn
because I am in the same spaceas you write, I'm reading so

(18:21):
quickly and I'm moving on to thenext thing, and I am a mood
reader. So it's not often thatI'm always going to be in that
same threat. I have tointentionally think I'm going to
do something about a rangemirror. So I have to stick to a
TBR, which is probably the mostdifficult thing that I could
ever ask myself to do. But youmay have some people that will,

(18:42):
like I said, do those instantcheck ins. You have people that
take extensive notes. So that ishow a lot of times people can
write reviews, or they will beable to share that information
with you and kind of read thatso you don't get to see a lot of
the behind the scenes and theprep. One of the things that I
thought before getting into it,like these people are doing it

(19:04):
and it's effortless, any type ofplatform that you're on, it
takes work. It takes a lot ofprep. There is a lot of work
that goes on behind the scenes,and even more so when you're
doing it in a long fashion,right? Because you have to
really say, okay, yes, I knowpeople are coming here for long
content, but there are some booksupers on here that are on here

(19:25):
for two hours. I was like, Idon't have the two hours to give
you, but I can't shorten up. Youknow, this book that I'm adoring
to 15 minutes, it's just notgoing to happen. So I think that
it's, it's that balance that yousee, but it's a lot of work on
the back end.

Alesia Galati (19:39):
Yeah, I can imagine even thinking about I'm
a podcaster through and through,I've been podcasting since 2018
and so long form content andlike being able to sit in one
spot and just bang out a 30minute, 45 minute solo episode
is not out of the realm ofpossibility for me, but it's the
being on face camera. Thatreally weirds me out sometimes.

(20:03):
And even I have a video editoron my team, and like Alesia,
when you pause to like, statesomething again, try to keep
your face still, try to holdyour body still, so that the
Edit clip doesn't look superjumpy. And so then I'm thinking
about all these different thingsthat go into it, and all of the
notes. And am I looking at mynotes? Where are my eyeballs

(20:24):
while I'm doing this? There's somuch that goes into it that I
don't think people realize,like, how much effort it takes
to actually put forth videos andthen put it out in the world.
And be like, I hope you like it.
There's

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (20:42):
a lot of things that either get scrapped,
right? Depending, again, some ofus have the ability we're
perfectionist, right? So I willsit there and edit and edit and
edit, and I'll be like, Okay,after the fourth time, this is
good enough, or I'll scrap it.
Sometimes I will record and thenI'm like, I actually hate that.
I'll shut it down, start it overagain. It really depends. The
longer that you do it, the moreyou can critique yourself, the

(21:04):
more you you know, find thoseperfections and also looking at
other people, right? I think asyou grow, you learn, even if
it's a different genre, right? Ithink that's some of the best
things that you can do is lookat other content creators who
don't necessarily read the samegenre as you, but you find
interest in how they're, youknow, summarizing the content,

(21:25):
how they are editing. You canlearn so much from that
diversity of thought and nothave it be tied to the genre
that you're reading, right?
Because then you're starting topay attention to the book, and
then you're like, Okay, well, Ididn't feel that way. Take the
book out of the equation andlisten to the speaker and see

(21:47):
you know how they're engaging. Broll, which is very, very
important for book, super rightas you're doing vlogs, or as
you're doing intros, what otherthings do people find interest
in? I think that's one of thebiggest ways that I start to see
the difference is that in thebook two community, we are
constantly engaging with othersto say, Okay, well, what do you

(22:07):
like? Because at this point,it's a production. We're putting
it on for us, but we're alsogetting people to tune in,
whereas on Instagram, it's alittle quick content, right? You
may never go back to look atthat, because you're 30 posts
later,

Alesia Galati (22:21):
I love that strategy, too, about not looking
at people who are in the samegenres as you, because that's
just going to lead tocomparison. You're going to
probably feel inferior to howtheir production looks. Take
that out of it. Take yourselfout of it, and just say, How can
I improve a little bit moretoday, because honestly, content

(22:44):
creation, especially forhobbies, and some people might
be monetizing it, right, but itusually starts off as a hobby.
Hobby content creators, it is alabor of love, and we are
putting our best foot forward,and doing our very best and also
changing as people at the sametime. So you mentioned starting

(23:08):
to watch and be on Goodreads andbe on booktube around 2011 How
do you think it's changed overthe years, better or worse,
right? But how do you feel it'sbeen so

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (23:19):
I think there's been really good points.
And then some points, I'm like,Okay, we're losing a little bit
of craft here. For one thingthat I will say, I am starting
to see more diverse contentcreators. I am able to see
people that look like me andyou, people that are reading
diversely, right? I may have todo a little extra digging. I may
have to go in and put specificthings in there, but I'm

(23:42):
starting to see a lot more ofthat representation, I think
also with the books that I'mreading. I don't know if it's
the books that I'm reading orthe people that are reviewing,
but at one point, ya was reallybig, and so that was only the
only things that I was seeing.
And of course, like everythingelse, there's an algorithm, but
you start to see now that we'vemoved away from that space, or

(24:02):
maybe I've just moved away fromthat, and now we're looking at
books that are now being thoseadaptation right? You're
starting to see Hulu pickingthings up. You're starting to
see prime pick it up, and you'restarting to see a lot more of
that being pushed into thealgorithm feed. And that could
be a good thing or a bad thing.

(24:23):
So like, I did a video for blackcake because I knew it was
coming to Hulu, but that was areally good opportunity for me
to continue to push that,because yes, is going to be
marketed. However, that's maybenot a book that I'm going to see
on booktube. I'm not going tosee a lot of people having those
discussions, because that stillpromotes for me to be able to

(24:45):
talk about people that arecoming from the Caribbean,
people that are generational.
Those are the conversations andthings that I want to continue
to see. And so what betteropportunity? I think the ways in
which. Change. There was moretime that we were just doing,
like short content where peopleare sitting and talking to you.
Now a lot more people wantvlogs. They want B roll they

(25:07):
want they want to see your life.
Right before it was only books.
There was no other content thatwas going to be on booktube. It
was very direct and to the pointand now people want to feel like
they know you most of the time.
You may not have known thatperson's name, you may not have
engaged with them. They're notinviting you into their life. So

(25:30):
that's where I think a lot haschanged within the booktube
community, but I think it alsois reflected in some of the
other spaces that we're in.

Alesia Galati (25:39):
I feel like it's really interesting because,
like, I think about even some ofthe YouTube people that I
follow, and a lot of it is, Idon't focus on YouTube a lot
just as a content absorber. Idon't really go on YouTube a
lot. Mine is to watch yourvideos, and then very
sporadically, if there'ssomething I want to know, then

(26:00):
it shows up on Google as avideo. Sure, I'll watch that.
And then there's one otherperson who is a fitness person,
Kaylee Cohen, and she does spinclasses and weight training
videos. And I really love herapproach to just like
inspiration and gettingstronger, rather than slimmer,

(26:23):
and just, I really love hervibe. And you could always see
her little pug in thebackground. She has two kids.
Her husband works behind thescenes on the cameras, as you'd
see a little bit of her life,but not a lot. But on Instagram,
you see a lot more of the behindthe scenes. And so I'm curious,
as a content creator, how muchbalancing does it feel like to

(26:47):
be on YouTube and then to haveto shift? It sounds like it's a
lot of effort, right? And like alot of things that go into it,
it's like, how do you balancethe because the two platforms
you tend to be on our YouTubeand then Instagram. So how do
you kind of balance that inshowing yourself? And then I
want to go a little deeper intolike, what do you share versus

(27:09):
what do you not share? And like,how do you decide that?

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (27:12):
Okay, I love this question. For me, I
feel like I am currentlystruggling to be in both spaces
successfully because theyrequire a lot of prep on both
ends, right, like on theBookstagram side, I don't have a
ton of graphics. I love seeingthe content creators who can
have like, visuals flying in andoverlapping and doing all of the

(27:34):
things, right? I love to seethat I'm not that person. I I am
35 and I am not able to go inand figure out all of the tools
like y'all have it, have at it.
I'm going to promote, I'm goingto move it forward. But I think
I have to be very intentional inthat space, because I have to
remember, okay, how many timeshave I posted? Does it coincide?

(27:58):
Or is it a get like I'm tryingto be in both spaces
simultaneously? But sometimes itdoesn't necessarily get that
easy, because I have done avideo, and yes, I should be
making the visuals match myvideo, but I usually put that in
my story, and the story onlylasts for so long, and I don't

(28:19):
want that same image to be in myfeed, so then I have to add
something else. So just jugglingthose two is very difficult,
because again, one is very shortcontent and one is long and
expansive, but I write downwhere I'm gonna post. Am I
posting on this day? I am theleast consistent person. This

(28:39):
also goes with my mood readings.
Like I know some booktubers,they say, Okay, if you're going
to post on these days, so sayyou do Tuesday and Friday, it
has to be a video every Tuesdayand Friday. That's too much to
be able to commit or behold to.
And so I just try to make sure,if I post something on booktube
that I'm also promoting it in myBookstagram, and the hard part

(29:01):
is just getting people toconvert from that space over to
book. And I haven't been able todo that seamlessly. But that
doesn't mean I won't stoptrying.

Alesia Galati (29:12):
I find the same with podcasting and then social
platforms, right? Becausepodcasting is such a vocal thing
and podcast listeners, they'resuper fickle. I love you guys,
but you're super fickle. Like,once someone is inconsistent,
you will drop them like a hotpotato. You will move on to the

(29:35):
next podcast, which, like I getthey're also bingers, and so
they'll go on a road trip andbinge 20 episodes, and then
they'll ghost you for sixmonths, and then during that
time, they're never gonna replyto any of your social content.
You'll give them a call toaction in the episode and say,

(29:56):
Hey, reach out to me. Send me aDM, and maybe one person i. Of
the 500 that listen willactually send you a DM, and
then, like trying to push themover to the other platforms, it
can be really difficult, just asa content creator, so I feel
you, it can be so hard, it'slike, I'm here, and I'm

(30:16):
literally begging you to justsend me a DM and tell me that,
like you hear me, anyone out

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (30:21):
there? I've never even thought about that,
because before I startedaudiobooks, like I would listen
to podcasts, and I still listento podcasts, right? I think I'm
trying to balance way too much.
That's the other gift and thecurse I love, that books have
found their niche and theirspace in multiple places.
There's about four or fivebookish podcasts that I listen
to, but until you just satthere, I was like, I have never
literally DM someone like theymay say, hey, reach out to us

(30:44):
and tell us what you'reinterested in and hearing tell
us how you like the episode, x,y. And I'm like, this is over.
That's it. So don't please ifyou're listening to this, if
you're watching through thespider flag, please engage. Let
them know. Hey, I'm listening.
This is what I like. Because weneed to be able to feed the

(31:05):
machine. We need to be able tocontinue to have content. We
need to know what you're likingand what you're not liking. And
I think it's easier on some ofthe platforms because there's a
thumbs up button or there's acomment space, but I've never
thank you for sharing that,because I've never thought about
it once.

Alesia Galati (31:22):
Yes, it's so difficult. So how do you
navigate, like, how much toshare of your life? I know some
of our guests are very private.
They don't want to be on video,which I 100% respect. So how do
you kind of balance that,especially with consumers on
YouTube, wanting more of thebehind the scenes and wanting to
know your name and wanting toknow more about your life. How

(31:44):
do you balance all that? I

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (31:47):
try to have some core things right. I do not
put anyone on my socials thathas not agreed, and even if they
do agree, I think circumstanceschange, and I don't want to put
someone in a position where,because I love seeing those
booktube where they're bringingtheir spouse in and they're
interacting. I don't have aspouse, so I'm those are things

(32:09):
I'm okay with. Sharon, ifsomeone watches this video and
you all want to know more aboutme, and it's going to help me
out. Send your husband's friendsmy way. Send. The DMS are open.
But as far as like, when itcomes to the people in my line,
I want to protect them by anymeans necessary. So I tend not
to put anyone else unless it'sanother content creator, right?

(32:30):
It's someone that's alreadystepped into the line, like
someone that's already done thatwhen it comes to some of the
things, because, as I talkedabout B roll, I want to make
sure if I go into a space. I'mnot focusing on people that I
don't know. I am looking at thescenery, but there is more to be
able to see. As readers, we takeour books everywhere. So if I am

(32:51):
out and I am listening toaudiobook or I bring my Kindle,
right, I want you to experienceit with me, right? Because I'm
not reading simply in this room,in my four walls, like I am
experiencing life outside ofthat. So of course, I'm gonna
show when I go to book fears.
I'm gonna show you when I go outof town, I'm on a plane, I will
show you all of the things I'mexperiencing because I'm

(33:12):
experiencing it with this Kindleright here with me. I am
experienced it as an audio or avisual, digital reader. I am
taking the books with me, andI'm taking the people with me. I
just try to make sure that I'mnot exposing people or things
that didn't want to be a part ofit.

Alesia Galati (33:33):
Yeah, I've been in the online business space
since 2016 and became a newmonument in 2014 so like, my
kids have been part of mybusiness journey. And like, they
show up a lot on my businesssocials up until about a year
ago. They're 10 and seven now,and so now we're at the point

(33:54):
where if they say, Oh, I don'twant my picture taken, we
respect that, right? That isthat is a big deal. And if I do
post something about them, Iwill ask them for permission
beforehand, or if you know, Idon't post them on the we read
smut account, but like on the weread SMUD account, I have taken

(34:16):
conversations that I've had withmy husband, and I will put those
up. Those do really well. By theway, people love my husband. He
is. He's a nasty boy sometimes,but, like, some of the stuff
that he says, I'm like, Babe, ohmy gosh. And they're like, give
that man a treat.

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (34:35):
Yes, yes.
Actually, we deserve

Alesia Galati (34:40):
it's so funny, and then I'll obviously, I check
with them first. I'm like, Hey,I'm doing this for Bookstagram.
I'm gonna share thesescreenshots. Are you okay with
that? Like, consent is soimportant, especially with the
people in our lives who we love,not putting them on blast.
Sidebar, I recently heard thatpeople who don't share about
their spouse. Says on socialmedia, or their significant

(35:03):
others on social media havehappier relationships. And I was
like, I bet I'm not puttinganybody on blast. I'm getting
your consent before I sharethis. And yeah, and like even
the pictures, I'll be like, Hey,how do you feel about these
pictures that I'm sharing? Doyou like them? Cool, awesome.
And usually he's like, send me acopy of that collage. I like

(35:24):
that. I want it so things likethat. I think it's so important
when you're balancing, like thepeople in your life and trying
to, like, how much do I share,how much do I not? But that B
roll stuff, I think he gave somereally good ideas too, and and
I'm even thinking about goingbecause I don't go out of my
house a lot because I work fromhome. I don't like going to

(35:46):
events because I have socialanxiety out the wazoo, and so
like very few events that I dogo to, but you will always catch
me reading everywhere I go. Soif I'm in the doctor's office
with a kid, we are reading mybook. If I'm on a drive, I'm
listening to something. If I amhaving to watch my kid do MMA,

(36:07):
I'm either listening to an audiobook or I'm reading out my
Kindle. These things arehappening. So these are such
great ideas of get that contentanywhere you can

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (36:16):
absolutely now, sometimes it's to my desk
from it, because I will be likelistening to something at work.
I am a very engaged person. I'mlike, I'm not admitting among
coworkers, are you talking toyourself again? Maybe don't
bother me. We are in the thickof it like that. We are in the
throes of passion. Please giveme five seconds. But yeah, so

(36:39):
no, I think it's very importantto show as much as you're
comfortable with, because that'swhat people are looking for.
They're looking for theauthenticity. They're looking
for someone that is relatable,right? That does not mean show
up as a completely differentperson that is not sustainable,
that is not something that youshould feel like you have to do,

(37:01):
but make it so that people wantto see what you have to offer.
What is making you unique? Whenit comes to the significant
other conversation, again,people become way too invested,
and they start to look forthings that's not there. But I
wonder if your husband knowsthat he's Mr. Weave reads much.
Does he know that that's themoniker, right? And these text

(37:24):
messages, sir, if you don't keepup with it, we're looking for it
on a quarterly basis or everysix month, right? Like we need
the content, but even thatlittle bit is just enough to
show your dynamic, right? Toshow I love those where they get
the cover, and the guy's like, Ithink that this is this. And I

(37:45):
was like, You're not wrong. I'llalways

Alesia Galati (37:48):
send him ideas of, Hey, babe, I have an idea. I
want you to pull a book off ofmy shelf. Now I have a very
extensive library of booksbehind me. My physical book
amount is a round 250, or morebooks that I have, I have not

(38:09):
read most of them, but because Ijust, I buy things that maybe I
don't need. Most of them aretrophies, but not all the time.
Sometimes it's just, oh, that'sso pretty. And I want to support
that person. So yes, I'm buyingit. And so I've got some of
those too. And so I said, we'regonna get a bottle of scotch,
because I love drinking scotch.
We're gonna get a bottle ofscotch, and I'm gonna have to

(38:32):
take like, a sip or two everytime you pull a book off of my
shelf, and I can't tell you whatit's about. And he was like,
Girl, you're gonna be drunk. AndI was like, but it's for the
gram. He was like, All right, so

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (38:51):
I think he took two things. Like, in my
mind, I'm like, okay, yes, I'llbe drunker than a sec, but how
will he know? Like, how will heknow? Because, Grant, I will buy
the books, right? I have, I'vegot a ton of books. I know I
have a general idea what it'sabout. The real question is,
Have I read it? No, I keep anExcel spreadsheet. And every

(39:14):
time I'm looking I'm like, it'sgetting ridiculous. Buy another
one. At some point she'll readit. I think that's um, so that's
the unfortunate thing. And Idon't know if you find yourself
doing this, but being a contentcreator, there's three different
hobbies, right, reading books,buying books, right? And talking

(39:36):
about books, right? You don'thave to do all three. I find
myself doing all three, right?
Like, I will buy books, and I'mlike, Yeah, I'm not ready to
read this, but I need to haveit. But when it comes to content
creating, I have not gotten ontothe bandwagon of doing like, all
of the digital content, right,pulling the screenshots, doing
all other things. I still liketo have the physical book to.

(39:58):
Hold up when I'm doing my videosor to take a picture with. And I
think that is getting out ofcontrol at this point. I just
bought the most beautiful copyof JL Seegers reclaim me before
it even released. That's howmuch I love her. Like, I bought
it, and I was like, it'sbeautiful. It's gorgeous. I have
to have it. She hadn't evendropped a singular line. I was

(40:20):
like, I deserve I know it'sgonna be good, so I feel you on
times of some of these arelegitimate trophies. I have a
friend. Do you offer books likeone of my best friends? Like,
can I take this and I'm like,actually, you cannot. This
should not be touch. It shouldbe in plastic. Please turn your
eyes,

Alesia Galati (40:42):
yes, 100% I recently reached out to four or
five of my dear friends who Iknow read Open Door spice, and I
said, Hey, here's my list ofbooks that I own physical copies
of. So I keep track of mine onstory graph with the owned tag,
or like the owned category. Andthen I also have a paperback

(41:05):
category that tells me, Hey, Iown the paperback of this, just
so I can keep him in one spot.
And so I've made that listpublic. And I said, look over
this. You can look through andfind like moods that you like,
and I will tell you if it'savailable, meaning, if it's
signed, you're not getting it.

(41:27):
Number two, if it's to Alesia,you're definitely not getting
it. Also, if it's part of a set,you're not getting it. So some
of them are like, Oh, I'd lovethis one, and I'd love that one.
And I'm like, you can get noneof those. Maybe these, yeah,
yeah, but I needed to get rid ofsome books that I was definitely
not gonna read. But that was oneway to do it. And the fact that

(41:51):
I also am quite a collector ofsigned books didn't help that
fact either. But yeah, I totallyam with you. I was on threads
one Saturday morning and saw alocal author that I did not know
was local. Was a Latina authorwas gonna be at my Barnes and

(42:11):
Noble. And I was like, Hey,babe, I'm going to Barnes and
Noble today. I've never read anyof her books, but I was like, I
support somebody, it's gonna begood.

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (42:24):
Let me tell you, I have that same thing. If
I go to a space and there is aLatino author, if it is a black
author, if it is someone thatis, again, because we're not
always in these spaces, there'sso many conventions, there's so
many things, even for like smalllocal things, I'm showing up and

(42:46):
I'm buying something. It is wellwithin my right. I want to
support you. I want you tocontinue to come back out. I
want you to feel like at leastthis was worth your time. So I
think that is really important,being able to show up and
support, also monetary, right? Iknow it's not a situation that
everyone can find out. So thenagain, I invade the library. I

(43:07):
started off in the library. Iliterally just picked up a
library book. So I'm not tellingyou you have to buy everything,
but when you can do, it meansthe world to them, especially
with indie authors, which we tryto read a lot from right, if you
can buy from them. I think thelast I just bought from two
authors that I know I'm gonnasee in 2025 have never, actually

(43:31):
three authors have never read abook from them, but I knew I was
going to read it, and they werehaving sales like, why would I
not give you the money directly?
Why would I not support youknowing that you're trying to
make a living in this, and Iknow I have the means to be able
to do so right now.

Alesia Galati (43:49):
And that's not to say, like you mentioned, I think
book creators, we do have thosethree hobbies, or we tend to
fall into some of that varietyof reading books, collecting
books, and then talking aboutbooks. Don't let how we're
talking about it, or how anyoneis talking about it, push you to
feel like you have to collectoutside of your means at all. I

(44:13):
100% and I know that Lisa, youagree. No, don't do that. Go to
the library. There are so manyways to get free books without
pirating right on. We read smut.
We have a whole post about waysto get free books follow people
like us. I am constantly sharingwhen books are on sale or when
books are free. There's all ofthe stuff your Kindle days that

(44:36):
happen. If you follow theauthors you love, they will
constantly tell you when theirbooks are on sale. There are so
many different ways to get them,in an affordable way, or
literally just reach out to meand be like, Hey, you mentioned
this book. I can't afford to getit. I will buy it for you. I'm
not outside of doing that atall, and more than happy to do

(44:57):
that absolutely.

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (45:00):
You mentioned two things. One, I
will say I'm always going toevery time I see an author, have
something for free, I'm alwaysgoing to post it. So know that
there's days, right? They havetheir birthdays, their
anniversaries. These people wantto get their content out there,
right? So there's going to bethat opportunity for you. Also
know that if you go on so ifyou're a Kindle reader, you go

(45:20):
to Amazon, there areopportunities where you can look
up free books like so freeinterracial romance. You can
look up free black romance, youcan look up free items in the
Kindle, and it will tell you allof the ones that are free. You
do not have to have a Primesubscription. You do not have to
have Amazon first read. So nowthat there is plenty of ways.

(45:41):
And then, as a librarysupporter, just know that there
are certain libraries that youcan get a membership in, and you
don't have to live there.
There's other avenues to be ableto support. I know one author,
if they like their books areaudiobook. They have them
actually the audiobooks onYouTube, because that's the
platform that they want us to gothrough, and it's from the

(46:03):
author. So it's not that it'sbeing pirated, it's not that
it's out there for free, becausePlease do not do that. Do not go
out there, especially arcreaders. I know we're going to
talk about, like arcs and thingsof that nature, do not take
advantage of what has beengifted to you, because a lot of
the time it will have your namein that book, right? I've got

(46:23):
plenty of accesses to babe inlibrary, and I appreciate that.
Makes me feel a little bitspecial, but understanding that
there's plenty of access outthere for you to be able to get
the books that you need, andwe'll make

Alesia Galati (46:37):
sure that we have access to those resources in the
show notes as well, for anyonewho's doing other things, then
you can see that post as well assome of those resources. Hooplas
one Liv there's so manydifferent places that you can
find really accessible books. Solet's talk arcs as mood readers.
And I know I am struggling withthis, especially this year, and

(47:00):
have actually reduced the numberof arcs that I've requested, is
that I'll request an arc and I'min the mood to read it now, but
I maybe have to wait four weeksor six weeks to get access to
it, and then by the time I haveaccess to it, I'm in a totally
different mood. A few weeks ago,I was in a mafia mood this week,

(47:21):
I'm in my alien mood, like itchanges depending on what's
going on. So how do you navigatethat? Especially as a mood
reader, I

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (47:31):
think there's a couple of ways that I
will do that. I actually prepmyself at the beginning of the
month so I know which arcs thatI have, and so I have to
constantly tell myself, okay, Ididn't get to it this week. Put
it on next week's TBR, bringingit up in the forefront of your
mind obviously helps me a ton,also figuring out ways to

(47:52):
partner it, right? I like toeither do like a six degrees of
separation. So if there is onetrope that can tie into that,
because sometimes you're not inthat mood, right? You are knee
deep in Alien romance, but youget to the point where it's like
an arranged marriage. And I'mlike, Okay, now I'm I've read
this now. I can pick this oneup. Now I can make that

(48:14):
transition. I think there'stimes where you can also, when
it comes to certain arcs thatyou receive, please be mindful.
Do not force yourself at thattime. If you are not feeling it,
you don't want to negativelyimpact it. You do not want to
critique a book just becauseyou're not in that mood. Reach

(48:35):
out to the off and say, Hey, Imay be not able to get to it by
this deadline. Read it when thetime is right, and still go in
and promote and market, becausejust because it's out does not
mean that it's getting thetraction that it deserves. It
does not mean that they stilldon't want to hear your
response. So I think you have tobe gracious and kind to

(48:57):
yourself, but also know that itis a benefit and a privilege to
be able to get that art copy andto prioritize that however you
can. Yeah,

Alesia Galati (49:07):
that's so true.
And yeah, I found myself in thelast month, hey, you need to get
to this book. And one of thebooks, I loved the book. It was
fantastic, but it took me amonth to read it because I was
just trying to read it in littleincrements to like, I just need
to get through this. But itended up being fantastic. Once I
get to the 250 page mark, I flythrough the end, but it's

(49:30):
getting to the 250 page mark,and it did feel like a struggle.
And it wasn't because I didn'tlove the characters, or it
wasn't because I didn't love theauthor, it was just I wasn't in
the mood for it. And so I agreeit can do a disservice to the
final review, especially if youdon't keep that in mind when
you're like, how did I feelabout this book? So going back
to YouTube, how's the diversitylook now? Like we talked about

(49:53):
it, the journey of previouslyversus now, and even. Thinking
about like you're on there. Whatare some, maybe some other
content creators that you'rereally liking getting content
from. But are we seeing, like,some decent diversity over there
that we can check

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (50:12):
out? Yeah, so I will say that there are
plenty of BookTubers that I'vedone. I think I did a
bookstagrammar Recommendationsvideo. So there are some that
are there. I will tell you thatif you type in black book, super
if you type in Latin XBookTuber, right? So one start

(50:32):
at the search, try tointentionally go out there and
look for it, go out and put inthe book that you want to know.
There are a lot of hashtags thatyou'll be able to find. I will
tell you, as far as like certainand I don't even want to say
just looking from a person thatokay, this is a black person and
she's going to be able to relateto me, or this is an indigenous

(50:55):
person and they're going to beable to relate to me. I will say
that I have found some allies inthe community that read
diversity. So do not discount itby saying that someone that is
white or white passing right,they may not read the books that
you're reading. So that's whyI'm telling you to look up the
books that you want to read aswell. But as far as some
channels that I think that youall should go check out, I would

(51:19):
say mo pages, and that's m, O,P, A, G, E, S. Love her content.
She is so funny, like it's justso great. I will tell you the
one person that has a channelthat has a full playlist of all
black book subtubers, and Ithink she's at past 100 now,
Caprice book Island, she makessure to spotlight and share. She

(51:45):
had one year that she read onlyfantasy or only romance, only
black office, right? So shetries to be intentional with her
reading. I will tell you tocheck out her page. I would say
that I just was looking at, Ibelieve it's shadora. Let me
pull her up. I think if she NoraIsadora, I'll send you her

(52:06):
information. She's also onBookstagram, right? So a lot of
the times you may have somebookstagrammers that are in that
space that will convert over thebooktube. So go in, if you're
finding someone and you reallylike their content on
Bookstagram, go into their linktree, see if they have any other
socials. Those are really goodways to expand. But if not, like

(52:28):
I said, I've got some, and I'llsend you away so we can have a
list in the description. Yes,

Alesia Galati (52:33):
absolutely. Oh, that's so good. And that really
helps too, because I think thatpeople who maybe aren't watching
booktube or didn't even knowthat it was a thing until this
moment. You're like, wait, Ilike hearing people talk about
books. And yes, I want to listento people while I'm working or
while I'm doing other things.
Then that's such a great way toto hear about the books that you

(52:55):
love or the books that you'reinterested in. And that is so
interesting. The Creator thatyou said, does a whole year of
reading a certain type of book.
I, as a mood reader, cannot evenimagine. I have to turn my
intentions into percentages. Soin a last year, I did not do

(53:20):
well with reading diversity atall. And was really disappointed
with myself. My diversity was 25bipoc for 75 white or unknown.
And I was like, girl, you needto get those numbers up. And so
one of my intentions was todouble it. And so it was a 5050,
whereas now I'm at 6040 so 60%bipoc, 40% white or unknown. And

(53:47):
that felt really good to me. Andthen when I looked at the
numbers even deeper, I realizedthat I read a lot of black
authors, specifically not a lotof Latina authors. So then,
okay, let's build on thisintention of next year. What
does that Latina percentage looklike? What does that indigenous
or Asian or Pacific Islanderpercentage look like and like?

(54:09):
How can I make sure that's alsodiverse while still reading for
fun and reading what I like

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (54:14):
absolutely and I think you know what?
That's the thing each yeareveryone should be looking at,
reflecting and seeing what theyhaven't read. So like, for me,
this year, I was like, Okay, I'mactually not promoting enough
sapphic reads. Why is that? Isit that I haven't found the
particular authors? Am I notdoing the work? So I'm going out

(54:37):
and I'm intentionally thinking,okay, what can I do? I know J
arias. She is, she writesprimarily SAP read. She is of
diverse background. Let me goahead and put her on Mika James,
right, and so I am doubling downright. So I'm also reading from
bipoc authors. But I know thatthere's a margin of a different
community that I am notsupporting, that I need to make

(54:59):
sure. Is visible, right? Ifthere is a trans character, I'm
like, Girl, what are we doing?
RM, virtues is right there.
Let's go ahead and add this tothe list. Non binary. What
things am I not seeingreflected? Because even when we
again, and this is somethingthat is important, right? As we
talk about being diverse andrepresenting a diverse community

(55:23):
and making sure that is yourplatform, you have to realize
that there is going to be,whether it's unconscious bias or
blind spots or things that youdon't have reflected on your
shelves, that you should beinvested in figuring out why. So
I think that's important forevery year I look at what I've
read and I say, Okay, what do Ineed to capitalize on, even if

(55:45):
it's going outside of my genre,right? I'm not the biggest non
fiction reader, but I love amemoir. How can I diversify my
reading genre? Because that I'mdoing this month, and I
apologize to be one of thosepeople, but this month I am
doing a noir November challenge,right? And I try to make sure to
say there is a book for everysingle genre that will have a

(56:09):
black person if you like sci fi,ELIZABETH STEVENS, if you like
historical fiction, sadikaJohnson, right? If you like
mystery, you've got plenty ofauthors that have that right. So
what can you find to be able toexperience your reading, even if
it's not romance, which, again,we're talking about romance. I

(56:30):
love it, trust me, I can giveyou a recommendation for it.

Alesia Galati (56:34):
So true. I think that it is so important that we
are diversifying. And like yousaid, what are those maybe
unconscious biases or thingsthat are just blind spots that
we're not paying attention to,and that's where I love things
like storygraph, where you cansee that data really clearly and
like, really dig deep into whatyou're doing or what you're not

(56:56):
doing and make those changesright? Like, we don't have to
beat ourselves up. Let's dobetter next year. Let's be more
intentional in how we'reapproaching it. Join challenges
that get us maybe a little bitoutside of our comfort zone, and
make us think, oh, this, I maybecould do this a little
differently and stillapproaching things from a place

(57:17):
of curiosity and fun, like itdoesn't have to be boring, it
can still be tons of fun. And Ilove what you said about if
you're interested in a certaingenre, there is something for
everyone. And I say the samething for tropes, right? If you
like a particular trope, thereis a diverse book with that
trope, or many diverse bookswith that trope. There's so much

(57:41):
variety that I wish more peoplewould talk about. But that's why
we're having theseconversations, and that's why
it's important to have theseconversations. To

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (57:51):
your point.
Star graph takes out of thework, right? If you're like, I
just can't do it myself. The appliterally does the work for you.
It will tell you there is asection for LGBTQIA plus, right?
So if you're like, I actuallydon't see that bar. I wonder why
that is. If you don't seesomething reflected, that app
will tell you, and I think it'screated by the diverse

(58:14):
community. We are able to sendin suggestions. So I love
storygraph, and I hope that wecontinue to pour into it,
because they're listening andthey're enacting the feedback
that we're giving them. Yes,

Alesia Galati (58:28):
and that's why I have a premium membership. He's
literally five bucks a month.
That's why I have that, so I canhave those special graphs.
Because I'm like, I'm a datagirly. I like to see what's
going on. I like to check it outmy numbers regularly, and one of
the things that I've beenlooking at this year was the
percentages, but then alsolooking at, where am I putting
my money? I'm spending a lot ofmoney on paperbacks, but I'm

(58:52):
actually not reading a lot ofpaperbacks. I am actually
listening to books on audible,whether that's through the
audible, premium free catalogwith my credits, or through
Kindle Unlimited like those arethe two places where the
majority of my reading ishappening. So maybe it's not a
great idea to keep buying booksthat I'm not gonna read. Okay,

(59:14):
good to know, at least I havethe data to tell me Alesia,
maybe slow down a little bit

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (59:22):
Absolutely.
And so to bring up the commentyou made about arcs like also
challenge yourself, right? LikeI am, for me, I said I cannot
request another book, or Icannot do this until I've
completed this. Right? Make it areward system, going back to
like my childhood, if I read somany books, I'm getting a pizza.
If I knock down five books on myphysical TBR, I can buy a book.

(59:46):
Make sure that you are analyzingeverything you do. I know that
there is a conversation aboutreading big and political.
Reading is strategic. It ispolitical. It is being
intentional about everythingthat. Do, and I think that's the
importance that we're talkingabout today. Is just making sure
that you're not idly by. I amnot a person that reads for
escapism. I can see how it isdone, but when I do read, I am

(01:00:09):
reading, and I'm seek, takingthat information in, and so I
need to be intentional aboutwhat I'm taking in and consuming
and sharing. That's why I findit very difficult to post or
make videos about things that Ihaven't read, even doing TBRs,
like doing my TBR videos, I'mlike, I don't want to get out

(01:00:30):
here and say it's aboutsomething and it's completely
not so I think being responsibleas a content creator is also
important. That does not meanthat you have to say you love
everything, because we're notgonna like everything, but being
clear about the things that youdon't like, that whole
conversation of I didn't seemyself reflected. Maybe that's

(01:00:50):
the point of reading the book.
That's what we're here for. Andthis is someone's story. I just
read passion by Monica Walters,and it was like, do not say that
this is not reality. It may notbe your reality, but this is
someone's experience, and forher to put that in, like her
author's note or her dedication,I was like, Yes, more of this.

Alesia Galati (01:01:14):
I have learned so much about myself, but also the
people I love through readingeven romance books, right? Like
I was on a podcast interviewrecently, and I was talking
about how much I love to readfor fun, and as a business
owner, I don't read selfdevelopment because I can't it.
Just I can't read it. Also, Idon't need to improve myself.

(01:01:35):
I'm mentally working on myselfon a regular basis, and actually
I'm improving by readingromance, and here's how. And I
talked about how when my son gothis autism diagnosis, it wasn't
a freak out, because I had readbooks where main characters had
autism and on the spectrum thathe does, and how they're able to

(01:01:56):
have high functioning lives andthey're able and like, here are
the little quirks and the littlethings, and here's how to
address it, and here's howthey're able to still live a
fulfilling life andunderstanding themselves. And it
gave me a deeper understandingof my son, but it also was like,
wait, I kind of see some ofthose things in myself.
Interesting. Might need to goback to the doctor and talk

(01:02:17):
about those things. And that wassomething I hadn't even expected
or thought I would ever realizeit is such a powerful tool, and
I cannot praise it enough,

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (01:02:28):
yes, and I think you literally took the
word powerful out of my mouth aswell, like out of my brain,
because that's exactly what Iwas going to say. I think the
thing about and I know we saideven romance, right? Romance is
a valid it is an important. Ithink we stigmatize romance
reading so much. But if I thinkabout it, it's not just about

(01:02:49):
the relationship of the maincharacters, right? It's not
solely focused on them. Inromance book, you get to see how
their family shows up in theirrelationships, what their
friendship, relations. Like weare human beings, we thrive on
interaction and the amount ofinteractions you get in a
romance book, because you'realready investing your feelings,

(01:03:10):
you're already in emotion. Sothat shows you how you show up
in the world and how youinteract. I think it's very
important that we destigmatizeromance books solely about the
the intimate relationships. It'sso many relationship dynamics
that you see in there. And mostof the time, if you're not
reading something like in thirdperson or second person, right,

(01:03:32):
like you are that character,you're walking their walk,
you're living their life, you'reexperiencing their interaction.
And in real life, you don'tnecessarily get that dual
perspective. I love dual POVs,but which is my preference in
books, but you are living inboth of those shoes, and I find
it very interesting when I canstep because I've been reading

(01:03:55):
some romances here lately whereI'm like, This really sounds
like it's from a male POV. Like,how are they nailing it and
hitting it out the park?
Because, like, as a woman, I'mreading this, and I'm like, That
can't be the case, but you haveto step outside yourself and be
vulnerable in these spaces. So Idon't want to say I know
sometimes I get into my own,like, even in romance. No,

(01:04:15):
because of romance, I readromance. I'm happy to read
romance, and I think it teachesyou a lot about interacting and
being in touch with youremotions.

Alesia Galati (01:04:26):
Ah, that's so good. It's not just even in
romance. It's because of romancemic drop, yeah, oh, Lisa, this
has been so much fun. If peopleare like, wait, I kind of want
to check out BookTube, and Iwant to check out Lisa's stuff.
Where can they find you? Get toknow you hang out with you. Yes,

Lisa @BabeInLibrary (01:04:46):
please check me in any social media
platform so on all of them, I'mat Bateman library, so please
come over to my booktube. Checkout my Bookstagram. I am on
storygraph and on Goodreads. By.
DMS are open. I'm not on booktalk, but if you all make a
compelling argument I made, dipmy toe in the water. Do not hold

(01:05:07):
me to it. Alesia, do not hold meto it. I am already doing
enough, but find me on anysocial media platforms at Damon
library, I would be so happy tochat with you. My DMS are always
open.

Alesia Galati (01:05:24):
Thank you so much, Lisa, this was so much
fun.

Unknown (01:05:34):
You.