Booktube Newbie Tag

Hello hello!

If you are watching this video, either you are my friend and you do not have an option but to watch this video. Or very very likely you are planning to start booktube and until couple weeks ago. You didn’t even know booktubenewbie tag is a thing.

So congrats to you. Go do it. You will do an amazing job at it. Or even if you suck at it, it does not matter. Because no one gives a shit. Honestly. I went through first videos of all popular booktubers and the number of views is ridiculously low.

So it doesn’t matter. This tag. This video. This time we both are having here, is our first mini book club in a weird way. So let’s get to know each other.

Quick bit about myself, I am your everyday introverted tech entrepreneur. Kinda like Jesse Eisenberg in social network meets Leonard in Big Bang theory. Except I am not a dick to my cofounder and I don’t have billions of money. I do have hot wife and lot of amazing friends though. I love running my startup, coding, dancing, working out, writing, occasional tweeting and of course reading. I recently turned 30. Got married. Moved back to Singapore. Setting up new home. Dealing with alopecia areata. But importantly, convinced my wife to put a bookshelf in the house.

So very happening, challenging and fun life.

But what is life without scaring myself to shit. Apparently scare of recession, running a bootstrapped startup, existential crisis as founder are too old school.

So I thought I would give YouTube a shot. And also my cofounder got fed up with me repeatedly saying I want to give this creator thing a shot so I am kinda forced to make this video or I lose 50$.

Enough about me. Before you decide my accent is too thick for you to handle, I will talk about 3 things for my first video.

What books I love to read.

My favourite genre is fantasy. If you say you love Name of the wind or Gentleman bastards. I would fight wars for you even without knowing your name. I love Brandon Sanderson’s writing. Actually more than his writing, I love how much he loves writing.

Next favourite genre is thrillers. So much so that people go to therapy. I open Agatha christie’s book.

But other than genres or books, let me paint few quick short stories on my reading journey that I find interesting.

When I was a kid, I saw my mom opening this old torn book. It was a drama where a middle class married woman is going through shitty life repeatedly. And I read that and I found it very interesting that my mom, a very very young lower middle class wife, found comfort in that book.

Second story I remember is when I was in my 10th class. I remember borrowing Harry Potter from a friend. Read two chapters. Did not understand even a word and I had to give it back. But I was intrigued by few sentences and words. Then I went to our school’s library which was a total of 50 books. I used to skip my classes, steal few Famous Five, Secret Seven books and read them while other people learnt actual English the right way… Good news though. Within one year from that time, I finished entire Harry Potter series and I was craving for more things to read.

Third story is the most recent one. I was going through a bit tough phase in term of mental health. I also hit a wall in terms of my love for reading. Then I stumbled on Gentleman Bastards, Name of the wind, Fermat’s Enigma and likes. I finished Lies of Locke Lamora, the first book in Gentleman Bastards Sequence where one key thing happens and I lost my shit at the book. But I also smiled because I found my love for reading fantasy again.

That brings me to my next topic. Why I started this channel.

I recently finished The republic of Thieves (third book in Gentleman Bastards Sequence). I saw few videos of book tubers on what they felt and read few Goodreads stories. Then I realised I do not agree with many points. So I did what I usually do. Call my friends and talk to them hours and hours about characters and scenes they have no clue about. Then I had second realisation, I am 30. My friends are 30. They are married. I probably should tone down on being the reason for my friends breaking up with their wives.

Also I realised these authors are putting their heart and soul into writing. And I am loving it. And if I can do one small step to increase the SEO, reach or readership for them. Even by one single person. They deserve it. And that’s my goal. So if you do end up reading any book because of me, let me know. I don’t care if your comment increases the video’s reach but that one person reading and enjoying. Knowing about that will be something.

Everything else that comes out of this is a bonus.

Btw if you are still here and you are planning to do booktube. Here’s my BIG tip. Stop watching more booktube newbie tag videos. You can even close this video right here after I tell why.

I realised all booktube videos after a point start sounding exactly same. Same questions. Similar answers. Same background. And you would end up making another same-ish video.

I think there is only one reason you should watch more booktube videos, if you need more confidence. Any other reason is making you farther from creating a genuinely unique video. Or at least that’s my take.

Lastly, what can you expect from this channel? I am going to be honest. I won’t be the booktuber you should trust for good recurring content. For two reasons

• I love writing more than creating videos. Even this video. I wrote the script. Took time to refine it. Smiled at my jokes. Then made the video.
• I have conflicted opinions on creativity vs schedule. For most cases, I believe you cannot have creativity on calendar.

Having said that, good stuff, I do have few ideas. Most around books. Some around my life maybe. I wrote my first standup and performed it in my wedding. I might post that. Might talk about startups if I find there is an angle that I can add or if people ask about it. Simply put, you can’t expect much from this channel like other channels. But what you can expect though- I will take time to write good stuff, flesh it out and put out video that I think is helpful. It’s just that I never know when that might be next.

So for you what that means is— I just gave a good reason for you to subscribe so you know when I post something fun!

And that’s it from my end for now. This is Siddhartha! Siddu! Sid! SG! The man with many nicknames.

Have an amazing day wherever you are fellow book lover :)