Reading and Reviewing
Instagram content creator Hannah Stark (@readingintechnicolor) holds several books in the Clarke Central High School Media Center on March 22. Stark launched a book review on Instagram and has found that one of the biggest benefits of reading is learning about a diverse range of life experiences. “I would say the biggest thing with reading is (diversity), and being able to experience a life outside of yourself. I do think just even in interacting with other cultures and having kind of a frame of reference for being respectful and maybe knowing a few words (helps),” Stark said. “It helps with geography, too. The more I read books from other countries, I can understand like, 'Oh, that's next to this. This is what this country was facing at this time.’” Photo by Lucas Donnelly
iliad Co-Editor-in-Chief Luna Reichert, a senior, spoke to Instagram content creator Hannah Stark about her book review Instagram account.
iliad Co-Editor-in-Chief Luna Reichert: Can you tell me a little bit about your Instagram and what you do on there?
Instagram content creator Hannah Stark: It's primarily a book review account. I review books and post about it. Then I also get advanced copies of books from publishers in exchange for writing a review or featuring it. Even if it's a brutal review, they still send me books.
LR: Why did you decide to start your Instagram account and review books?
HS: I just kind of wanted to document what I was reading after I finished grad school. I have always been a huge reader, but after I finished grad school, I was working full time and going to school and I felt like I like wasn't reading anymore. I did Goodreads 100 Books to Read Before You Die challenge and read all of those. That kind of sparked things up again. I was really reading a lot more and I wanted to keep track of it. I just started Instagram to do that. Then I realized there's this whole Bookstagram community out there. I started interacting with people and growing a little bit — I'm definitely not one of the biggest accounts out there, (but) it's been really fun. And I've enjoyed getting to see books early. My friends will text me and ask me what they should get at the bookstore.
LR: How long have you been doing it? How did you start to try and build yourself up a little bit to reach those goals?
HS: I actually started it in the middle of COVID. I think a lot of hobbies happened around that time. Originally, (when) I just started, my pictures kind of sucked. It was just like, I would just snap a picture of the book and write a little bit about it. Then as I started exploring around and realizing that there was this whole community out there, I worked on pictures a little more and tried to bring some lightness to it and make it my own. Then for a while, I would just go and interact on people's pages. I would leave a couple comments or stuff. Then I did start doing some (more engagement) once I realized I had a goal. I was always against the follow trains and stuff because it just doesn't seem natural. At the end of the day, you are competing to have enough followers to get books because there's only a certain amount of advanced copies that go out. You do have to have a decent amount of interaction and followers. That was something that I started to do after a while, but then just staying engaged with it does take quite a bit of time. It's definitely an investment. I know I have made some amazing friends. There's a group of us that live all over the world that chat every single day. One's in the UK, we have two in India, one’s in Australia, and then all over the US. A couple of us have gotten together when we've been traveling. When I moved from Atlanta to Charlotte, one of my friends that I made on my book Instagram (became) someone I hang out with in real life. We are in a book club together and all of that.
LR: Is there a goal you hope to achieve for your audience that you're posting for on Instagram?
HS: I want to be trusted. I think I really enjoy having a lot of diversity and sometimes that can be a downfall on Bookstagram. There's lots of people that have had success like they just do thrillers, they just do romance or something. You get a following of people that want that specifically, whereas I enjoy a little bit of everything. I guess one of my big goals was to hit 5,000 (followers) because that allowed me to apply for any of the influencer programs like Random House and any of the big publishers. Then also Libro FM does advanced listening copies of books. Then there's a site called NetGalley that sends free advanced copies. I would love to be over 10,000 (followers) so I can have the links. It is mostly just something I do for fun. I don't put a ton of pressure on myself to hit numbers or anything to try to be more organic.
LR: What do you think is the hardest part of having that account?
HS: I think it's the time. As much as I read now, I cover North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia for work. I'm in the car a lot, so audiobooks are huge and save me. It's just finding the time and not allowing it to take (away relationships). My friendships are still very important. My relationship is very important. Trying to temper how much time I'm spending engaging online, as opposed to actually reading is probably the hardest thing. Then there are some trolls out there. There's still people that will comment something mean or share something (mean). People that are trying to build up their accounts will follow and then like the next day unfollow. It gets catty. It's a lot of girls (on Instagram). For the most part, the relationships have been really good. Just letting that stuff slide off and taking the nice people and building them up.
LR: What's your favorite part of what you've been able to do since you've made the account?
HS: I'm reading so (many) fewer terrible books now that I know kind of what's out there and what people are enjoying. I'm interacting with reviews before and after. Most people are pretty good about not putting spoilers up. I think that's it for (that) and then just the friendships are awesome. I have plenty of real-life friends that read but not to the level (of the friends) that I have on there other than the real-life friends I've made from Bookstagram.
LR: What do you think is the benefit of reading and how has it benefited you?
HS: Diversity is one of the biggest things I highlight in my books. In the sense that I have the opportunity to live my life, and I get to experience everything that I've experienced. It's great when I can relate to somebody in a book, but the more I read books from different cultures, or people with a different lifestyle, or skin color, or ethnicity, or history, or from a different continent, the more I find a shared human experience. I think it's so important to build empathy. That's a huge way I think that reading can help you grow and be understanding of others. It's a way to live or get a glimpse of a life outside of your own. I think that's where it's been most beneficial. Then also just the desire to learn and grow. To learn, I do nonfiction too. That's been super helpful in business. It's helped me get pulled for some big work streams at my job and being able to follow up with research as well. The more I have a critical eye for what I'm reading, the more I'm pulling important things out of what I'm doing in my personal life and professional life. Then finding like-minded friends as well.
LR: What are your thoughts on the benefits of reading from an early age?
HS: I was a huge reader when I was young. My childhood was a little rocky and that was my safe place. I did a lot of fantasy. (I) read Lord of the Rings six times and listened to it once, and a lot of books that allowed me to escape and be in another world. That was huge for me. It developed a love of this imaginative place where I could escape. Reading, to me, was like a coping mechanism. As much as I'm a very social person, I'm also an introvert. (Reading is) my time to (say), ‘Don't talk to me, I'm doing something productive.' Also, I do think it builds on the knowledge of learning. I think it played (hugely) into me doing well in college. I was the one that actually read all the assigned pages. Even if I didn't listen to a word lecture, I was gonna do well. Just having that comfort level with academic reading, having read, being familiar with words, being familiar with geography, being familiar with all of that. It helped me in every class, just to experience the world. Reading is fundamental to every job you'll ever have also. Taking grammar, if you read enough of it, then you understand the rules. It's going to benefit you because every job you have, you'll have to write an email. You had to put together a resume. You have to read training materials.
LR: Do you have any advice or anything you would say to people interested in pursuing reading and literacy more heavily?
HS: As much as I'm a huge reader, I didn't actually like English that much when I was in high school. I felt like sometimes when you read so critically for themes and use of language and all of that, it can sometimes when you strip it down, it made it less fun for me. I would just encourage you to find what you like. I mean, I love a great literary novel, anything by Anthony Doerr or Jane Austen. Things that use literary devices and all that's amazing, but there's also no shame if you just enjoy reading romance or you like to read business books. Just finding where your niche is and what brings you joy, I think that makes reading easier, when you don't let other people's judgments of what you're reading or how much you're reading get in the way. Last year, I read 136 books. But one of my good friends from work, her goal was to read 12 and that was huge. I was so excited for her when she hit it because that was a big deal because it's not something she made a priority. I think as long as it makes you happy.
