Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Aria @ Book Nook Bits has been the host since the beginning of April 2022.

Prompt: What are some bookish or blogging myths that you’ve heard of?

Hey, y’all! I felt like writing again today since I haven’t been able to do much at work today. I finished as much as I could do today, but I honestly wish I could take a nap and/or eat. My head is kind of giving me a problem today, so it’s been a little difficult for me to concentrate. But I’m here, and I’m working on writing a little bit every day, and I’m glad to be here.

Since I haven’t done all of Let’s Talk Bookish since its been in existence, I figured I would go back to the beginning and do the older ones whenever I feel like doing one of them and I’m not on the correct posting date. It usually doesn’t matter to me, but I do like seeing what was done in the beginning and seeing what I have to say about it. So here I am!

This prompt was the first ever Let’s Talk Bookish prompt back in August of 2019, so you can imagine that there have been bookish and blogging myths that have changed since then. I’ll talk about some of the ones that I’m experiencing now. Or at least that I’m seeing.

Now that I’ve worked at my favorite library for almost a year – CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! – already, I can tell you right now, that is not the case. I don’t even know if that was the case back in the day, but there is so much more to the job of librarians than just reading at the desk. Even outside of the books itself, there are programs and events that happen that cater to all facets of the community, and other outreaches that happen. There’s just a lot that I can’t even articulate right now, but that’s what makes a library so great. Now, do I wish that I could sit at the desk and read? Of course I do, but I don’t. because most of the time I’m either prepping for a program that is coming up, running a program that is happening, or planning for programs happening in the future.

I don’t even want to dignify this with a response, to be honest with you. There is still discourse about this in some of the reading groups that I’m in on Facebook, and I don’t understand why this is the case. I don’t get it. It legit works me up when I hear someone say “well audiobooks don’t count as reading because you aren’t physically reading it. You’re just listening to it. How does that count?” or whatever else they want to say. So no, it’s a myth that needs to be debunked forever.

Okay this is coming from someone who doesn’t really like to read non-fiction or classics or sometimes horror, so yeah. I love to read whatever I love to read, and that is what makes me a true reader. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise, you hear? You’re a true reader no matter what! And I believe in you.

So this one I think I don’t want to believe because I definitely am nowhere near 5,000 followers on any of my social media accounts and I don’t think I ever will be. I’m not good at following the trends very well, I’m not constantly making appealing content that people will like all the time, and I’m definitely not using the right hashtags when I post. I just know I’m not, and maybe this is on purpose so that I don’t ever get into the feeling of this passion feeling like work, or maybe I’m just being stubborn. I really don’t know. But I don’t think it should matter how many followers you have for you to be considered a “true” anything. Be a blogger, or a bookstagrammer, or a booktoker without having to worry about how many followers you have. Unless you are trying to make it a source of income for you, then worry about it. Or at least do what you gotta do to make your goal for monetization, but other than that… I wouldn’t worry about the numbers. Easier said than done of course, but that’s how I feel about it.

I remember when there was a time that I didn’t get ARCs, and I felt like I was irrelevant because of it. Sure, there are ARCs that you can get as “Read Now” on Netgalley or Edelweiss and that’s how you can START getting ARCs, but even if you don’t get them or don’t want them, that doesn’t make you irrelevant. Some people just know that they can’t commit to reading and reviewing an ARC by the requested deadline, and honestly that’s okay. I wish that I would have limited myself to how many ARCs I requested back in the day, because my ratio is absolute crap right now and I have no idea if I’ll ever make it up. I’m always so honored and humbled to receive ARCs, and I don’t ever take it for granted that I get them, but I also don’t judge those that don’t get or want them. We all read at our own pace, we all read things that we want to read, and being a reader is what makes us relevant. That’s what matters. And again, if anybody tells you otherwise, I will beat them up for you.

Phew! I felt like I rambled a lot today, but it’s also okay because I haven’t written that much in a long while. It felt good to do so! So what do you think? Do you feel like any of these myths are still myths or have they been proven correct? What other myths in the bookish world do you think about sometimes? Let me know in the comments!