There is no doubt within the ever-growing book lovers community how powerful some of these creators and influencers have become within the last few years. Social media has created a safe space for book lovers to spread their devotion to reading. New content creators have come out of the woodwork to share their love of their favorite novels, characters, and authors on various social media apps; Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube – you name it. The BookTube community, specifically, is continuing to grow, despite being around since the early 2010s. Gen-Z is now a generation with evidently limited attention spans, and social media is there to speed the process along even more.
We now have the option of watching a thirty-second book recommendation video on TikTok pertaining to our interests, and the option of watching a seasonal ten-minute recommendation video, both by the same creators and influencers.
Sara Carrolli is a content creator on YouTube who posts videos of her daily life, book recommendations, and vlogs. She is studying Business Marketing and is currently finishing out her senior year of college! With a growing number of 65,500 subscribers, she was able to answer a series of questions related to her thoughts on history with reading, reading ethic, and what it is like managing her time as a student and creator.
Carrolli started her YouTube channel in 2019, and most of her content consists of daily college vlogs, try on hauls, and get ready with me videos.
Her Campus: What inspired you to transition into making book related videos and content?
Sara Carrolli: I think I’ve always wanted to post book-related videos because reading was big in my personal life, but I never thought my followers would enjoy that content. Like you said, there was no book content at all at the time, but I saw people like Steph Bohrer had book videos that did really well so I decided to just post one and it ended up blowing up! I think this gave me some motivation to post more book content here & there with my (at the time) normal videos. Seeing how many people loved the book content & were able to relate to my opinions/connect with them made me wanna continue making book content.
HC: Were you an avid reader as a child and were there any specific books or characters you loved as a child? Did those books or characters affect how you read now/what you look for in an enjoyable book?
SC: As a child, yes I loved reading. I was a BIG Junie B. Jones & Magic Tree House kid. My mom tells me as a punishment she used to take my books away LOL. I’d say it feels like those two series could have definitely impacted the books I choose now since I love contemporary reads & I’ve dipped into fantasy recently. But I don’t really remember too many of the types of books I used to love since I stopped reading for a majority of my life because I thought it was “uncool” or “boring”, which is so sad.
HC: How do you maintain a good reading ethic as a busy college student in between classes, internship work, and as a social media influencer/content creator?
SC: I think the method I try to stick to by including my reading within my busy schedule is to read when I need it or when I have some free time. I try not to force reading on myself which can get a bit difficult since I post videos/content relating to what I’m reading. I typically carry around the current book I’m reading wherever I go & when I feel like I have the time to read some pages, I’ll do that! Plus, nighttime is a huge time of the day where I know I have nothing to do but sit on my phone/watch TV, so I’ll usually read instead. On the other hand, if I just need a break from life and I’m too stressed to do any work, I’ll pick up a book.
HC: In the world of social media, especially when it comes to BookTok and BookTube, there is a constant pressure of reading as many books as one can. How do you remain authentic to yourself and to reading?
SC: This one’s hard because I try to keep up with all the books I get recommended, or books I see all over the place, and one can only read so fast. I try not to see it as a competition with myself and keep it as a hobby so that it doesn’t lose the spark for me and doesn’t turn into a job/something I dread doing.
HC: What are you currently studying in school? Has joining the YouTube community affected the way you see your future career path?
SC: I am currently a Business Marketing major, graduating this May! I will say that doing YouTube has 100% changed my views. I feel like right now I honestly don’t need my degree to continue working. For what I want to do aside from YouTube, which is social media marketing/coordinating for a brand, I believe my experience with social media would have more of an impact on a company than if I have a degree. With my internship, they offered me a job with them before I even graduated and I don’t think my degree would have affected that too much, although I do think it’s good to have! I do think I have a huge opportunity now with YouTube, where if my channel continues to grow I would be able to stick to it as a full-time job one day.
HC: Which book impacted you the most and why?
SC: I think I would say Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren. This book hasn’t impacted me in the way that I relate to it, because I don’t, but it’s my comfort book. I’ve read it twice and both times I have flown through it and just completely fell in love with the characters/the story. I think it’s amazing how books can make you feel things and this is my absolute favorite book of all time, it just feels like a safe space for me when I’m reading it. I think it’s really cool how books can have that kind of impact on people, where just words on a page can make you fall in love with the whole book!
Check out Carrolli on social media at @SaraCarrolli.