Getting to know the Creative: Angela Anne (Bookstagrammer, Author, and TikToker/InstaReeler)
Flat lays surrounded by potted lilac flowers, levitating books of the year with fairy lights, and book lovers posing with their books that they review or are showing off. These are just a few things that encompass the bookstagram world. On the surface, one would think that one would need to be an avid reader with experience to be a part of the community, but Bookstagrammer, Writer, Tiktoker and Instareeler, Angela Anne debunks some common worries about starting a bookstagram.
In this interview, you get to learn more about our guest and the world of Bookstagram.
A huge Thank You to Angela Anne for doing this interview with me. Please follow her on Instagram, Tiktok, and Youtube!
1. What book got you into reading?
The first three series I remember falling in love with (all around the same time) were the Boxcar Children series, the Nancy Drew series, and the Royal Diaries series.
2. What got you into bookstagram?
I got into bookstagram in the most roundabout way possible. When I started my account, it was for writing and documenting my journey to being published only. I didn’t want to feel pressure to read so many books or certain books, which can sometimes be an issue in the online book community. During quarantine, I got bored and had an idea for a bookish TikTok. I created it just for fun, thinking no one would watch it, and it got over a million views in 24 hours. From there, I started creating more bookish content on TikTok.
Slowly, people from TikTok found my Instagram and Youtube and asked for bookish content on these platforms as well. I decided to shift first my Instagram and then my Youtube to this bookish content because making it on TikTok was so fun and it really resonated with people in a way my writing content didn’t.
3. Do you think that booktube and bookstagram are treated like a competition a lot of the time?
Not from my experience--in fact, I think all three (booktube, bookstagram, and booktok) complement each other well and provide three different genres of bookish content for us all to enjoy. However, I do think there is some pressure in the online book community to read a lot of books a month and with my content, I hope to ease that pressure for any and all viewers; you are a bookworm no matter how much you read.
4. What is your favorite genre?
It’s a tie between young adult contemporary and young adult thrillers.
5. What is your least favorite genre?
I’m not a big fan of adult literary fiction.
6. What made you become a 5 am writer?
I’m naturally a morning person and so the mornings are when I’m most creative. I always recommend to people to fit in writing whenever they are at their most creative, if possible.
7. Do you think reels and TikTok boost up a profile’s interactivity?
Yes. I also think, perhaps even more importantly, it helps me be creative in a unique way as well as connect on a more personal level with other readers. It allows me to be sillier and more authentic than photos or even long-form video.
8. What is your favorite topic to do tiktoks and reels on?
I love creating Tiktoks/reels about book humor and aesthetic day in the life/motivational content. These are very different but TikTok/reels allow me to express both of these parts of my personality in a fun way.
9. Who is your favorite author?
My all-time favorite author is Jane Austen. However, honorable mentions have to include Sarah J. Maas, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Adam Silvera, Becky Albertalli, Angie Thomas, Krystal Sutherland, Isabelle Allende, Jenny Han, and probably many other authors I’m forgetting right now.
10. What advice do you have for people who feel insecure about their bookstagram because they don’t have the aesthetic pleasings that most accounts have?
This is very offbeat advice but work on your mindset. I wasn’t connecting in the way I wanted to online with others at the start of 2020. Once I started meditating and practicing self-healing through emotional freedom tapping (EFT), I was happier and felt like I was enough (though I still struggle with this at times as I am human).
Something subtle shifted in the way I created because I was less anxious and felt like my authentic self was worthy of being seen. Whoever is reading this is so worthy of being seen, having an aesthetic feed that reflects them (not bookstagram trends), and cultivating a community of like-minded people, and if like me, you struggle to see that, mindset work can help :)
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