Greetings and salutations. It is I, Graham.

Not to give too much away, but Clevenger and I are both at the tail end of Gen X. This means that while we didn’t grow up with electronics and the internet, we were around for the introduction of the phrase “Google is your friend”. So when we started writing seriously, we turned to Google and its more interactive sibling, YouTube, for advice and tips on how to properly write. It did not take long to find groups of individuals known as BookTubers, individuals specializing in genre book reviews, writing and publishing tips, and discussions about the trends and tropes of modern authors. This turned out to be such an influential find for us. While there were many that we stumbled across, there were four that stood out to me, each providing a different set of tools.

One of the first BookTubers we found was Jenna Moreci. While she was a bit more difficult to listen to, she offers excellent videos on formatting and publication. A lot of her videos going into the do’s and don’ts of writing relationships, both romantic and platonic. Much of her offerings gave us realistic goals and expectations for giving our books a direction.

jennamoreci.com/

twitter.com/jennamoreci

instagram.com/jennamoreci/

Merphy Napier is one we found through her friendship with another BookTuber. She gives a lot of advice on theme and tropes in the fantasy genre. Her videos are fairly entertaining and very on point. We learned a lot on recent changes in the genre from her videos.

instagram.com/merphynapier/

Another we stumbled across was a talented woman named Meg LaTorre, operating under the name iWriterly. She actually worked in the publishing industry, enabling her to provide all sorts of insider advice on writing and publishing. In addition, she often puts out videos with her speaking with other editors and publishers who are still in the field, allowing them to give further insight to share with us plebs. She has a fun and friendly presence, while still providing a sense of authority.

iwriterly.com/

instagram.com/Meg_LaTorre/

twitter.com/MegLaTorre

You might have figured out that I am presenting these BookTubers in order of how impressive and influential they felt to me. My second place individual is a wonderful woman named Diane Callahan, using the name Quotidian Writer. In all of her videos, she uses images and explanations rather than being on camera herself. She offers a lot of videos on writing advice about person and tense, motivation, and just about everything you can think of when it comes to writing. What was highly impressive about her videos is that she doesn’t just tell you what she is discussing. She provides some of the best examples I have ever seen used to make her points. She takes concepts that many people have difficulty following, and makes it simple to understand. Her videos should be used in university writing classes. In addition, she brings such a fresh take that there were concepts I was fully aware of, and she was still able to school me on them, teaching me new angles on them.

twitter.com/QuotidianWriter

quotidianwriter.com

Last, but certainly not least, is one of the first that I personally came across, a gentleman named Daniel Greene. I was hooked by his personality, energy, and opinions. He discusses pretty much nothing on publishing and writing advice. No writers tips and tricks. Instead what drew me to him was his opinions on tropes and trends, and his reviews of modern, popular fantasy fiction. So many BookTubers spend time providing their credentials, explaining why their opinions on the book industry are valid. Daniel takes the opposite approach, claiming to be a fan that just has an opinion based on what he has seen and read. And it works. It brings an honesty and an authority of its own to his videos. I respect his opinions on tropes. They make sense and came across more as friendly, entertaining advice. Granted, as more of a fan of the genre, about half of his videos are having to do with fantasy projects that have nothing to do with books, such as following movies and TV shows. But that’s fine, he is still a pleasure to watch.

instagram.com/dgreene101/

twitter.com/DanielBGreene

So that’s our introduction to BookTubers I have been following. Later on we will get into what I have specifically gotten out of them, and what I have done with that knowledge. Until then…

Don’t forget to love one another.

Graham