At Emerald Book Club, poetry is more than written lines on a page — it is voice, rhythm, emotion, and connection. Our Poetry & Spoken Word series creates a space where language is felt as much as it is heard.
This initiative celebrates the power of spoken expression, storytelling, and creative reflection, bringing together poets, listeners, and lovers of language from across our community and beyond.
A Space for Voice, Expression and Connection
Poetry has long been a tool for understanding ourselves and the world around us. Through spoken word and performance poetry, stories are shared aloud — boldly, gently, and authentically.
Our Poetry & Spoken Word sessions and recordings feature:
Original poetry and spoken word performances
Readings by emerging and established poets
Reflective pieces exploring identity, love, culture, community, and personal growth
Live poetry sessions, open mics, and literary events
Each performance invites listeners to pause, reflect, and connect — whether through shared experiences or new perspectives.
Why Poetry and Spoken Word Matters
Spoken word poetry offers a powerful platform for self-expression and inclusion. It allows voices to be heard, stories to be shared, and emotions to be processed in a supportive and creative environment.
For many participants, poetry becomes:
A tool for confidence and communication
A way to process thoughts and feelings
A bridge between creativity and community
An entry point into reading, writing, and storytelling
By creating accessible poetry spaces, Emerald Book Club continues its mission to inspire creativity, literacy, and meaningful connection.
From Live Performances to Digital Platforms
Our Poetry & Spoken Word content lives both online and within our events. Through recorded performances and digital playlists, poetry becomes accessible to anyone, anywhere.
You can experience our poetry content through:
Live poetry readings and open mic sessions
Recorded spoken word performances
Online poetry discussions and reflections
Community-led literary events and celebrations
These recordings are also shared through our YouTube channel, allowing our poetry community to grow beyond physical spaces.
Who This Is For
Our Poetry & Spoken Word series is open to:
Poetry lovers and spoken word enthusiasts
Emerging writers and performers
Readers looking for creative inspiration
Anyone seeking mindful listening and meaningful storytelling
No experience is required — only an openness to words and voice.
Get Involved
We encourage our community to take part in many ways:
Attend our poetry events and open mic sessions
Watch and engage with performances online
Share favourite lines or reflections in the comments
Submit interest to perform or collaborate
Poetry thrives when it is shared — and every voice adds value.
Join the Emerald Book Club Community
Emerald Book Club is committed to building inclusive literary spaces through reading, writing, and creative expression. Our Poetry & Spoken Word series is just one of the ways we bring people together through the power of words.
BookTok is a vibrant subcommunity on TikTok where users (BookTokers) create and share short videos about books, including reviews, recommendations, emotional reactions, and literary memes, sparking trends and significantly boosting book sales, especially in Young Adult (YA), fantasy, and romance genres, by showcasing a book’s aesthetic or specific tropes. It’s a powerful force for discovering new reads, with content driven by user passion and algorithm personalization rather than traditional marketing, making it a go-to source for bookish inspiration and community
BookTok is a subcommunity on the social media platform TikTok that focuses on books and literature. This book club emerged in late 2019 as TikTok was becoming more popular. Members of this subcommunity, known as the BookTokers, make videos reviewing, discussing, and joking about the books they read. These books range in genre, but many content creators tend to focus on young adult fiction, fantasy, and romance. The community has been known to impact the publishing industry and book sales along with general interest in reading.
Content: Videos feature emotional reactions (e.g., crying readers), aesthetic book displays, discussions of literary tropes, and “as seen on BookTok” shelves in bookstores.
Genres: While diverse, it heavily features YA, fantasy, romance, and dark academia, often featuring relatable characters and intense plots.
Impact: It drives book sales, helps authors gain visibility, and encourages reading among young people, often causing books to go viral and top bestseller lists.
Discovery: Users find BookTok content by searching for #BookTok or interacting with book-related videos, training their algorithm to show them more, explains this Reddit thread.
Community: It’s a space for genuine connection, with creators sharing intimate feelings about books, fostering a sense of shared experience.
Booktok Statistics
BookTok has fundamentally reshaped the publishing industry by 2026, driving record-breaking sales and revitalizing backlist titles through viral trends.
Platform Reach & Engagement (2025–2026)
Total Views: The #BookTok hashtag has accumulated over 370 billion views globally by mid-2025. Some 2026 reports project the hashtag surpassing 200 billion views on TikTok specifically.
Content Volume: Over 52 million videos have been created under the hashtag.
User Demographics: Approximately 71% of BookTok users are under the age of 30, with a heavy skew toward Gen Z and Millennial women.
TikTok Users Report Reading 50% More Because of BookTok
A recent poll asked 10,000 TikTok U.S. and Canadian users if they are reading more because of BookTok, and here are the results.
Impact on Sales & Consumption
Purchasing Power:45% of TikTok users report purchasing a book after seeing it on the platform.
Revenue Growth: Books featured on BookTok see an average 600% increase in sales. In 2022 alone, sales driven by authors with large BookTok followings exceeded $760 million.
Reading Habits:
48% of users in the U.S. and 53% in Canada report reading more due to BookTok’s influence.
The average American TikTok user reported reading 60% more books annually compared to before their exposure to the platform.
In the UK, 59% of 16–25 year olds credit BookTok with helping them discover a passion for reading.
Market Trends & Genre Dominance
The “Backlist Boom”: Unlike traditional marketing which focuses on new releases, 70% of books sold in 2022 were backlist titles (older releases), a trend heavily attributed to the platform. For example, Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us (2016) saw a 42,133% sales increase years after its release.
Top Genres:Romance, Fantasy, and “Romantasy” are the dominant genres. Sales in Science Fiction and Fantasy rose by 41.3% between 2023 and 2024, largely driven by viral titles like Fourth Wing.
Physical Retail: Nearly half (49%) of Gen Z readers have visited a physical bookshop specifically to buy a book they saw on TikTok. This has led retailers like Barnes & Noble to create dedicated “BookTok” sections in-store.
Booktok Community
How to join Booktok
To join BookTok, create a TikTok account focused on books, start posting short, engaging videos (reviews, recommendations, trends) using #BookTok, and actively engage with the friendly community by following creators, commenting, and using TikTok’s tools like Stitch/Duet. Authenticity, consistency, and niche focus help you find your audience and grow, making it less about joining a formal group and more about participating in a vibrant algorithm-driven space.
Getting Started
Create/Dedicated Account: Set up a TikTok account, potentially a new one just for books, to keep your content focused.
Explore the Community: Search for #BookTok, favorite authors, or genres, and like/follow accounts you enjoy so the algorithm learns your taste.
Post Your First Videos: Don’t overthink it; just start recording! Talk about a book you love, a recent read, or your TBR (To Be Read) list.
Quick & Engaging: Keep videos short, use hooks, and get straight to the point.
Content Mix: Share reviews, recommendations, aesthetic book stacks, or participate in trends
Growing Your Presence
Hashtags are Key: Use popular tags like #BookTok, #BookRecs, #FantasyRomance, etc., but also niche ones for your specific interests.
Engage Authentically: Reply to comments, respond to DMs, and comment on other creators’ videos to build connections.
Join Trends: Use TikTok’s Duet and Stitch features to interact with popular videos and trends.
Find Your Niche: Focus on a specific genre (romance, sci-fi, thriller) or style (cozy, dark academia) to attract like-minded readers.
Be Consistent: Regular posting helps the algorithm favor your content and keeps your new followers engaged
what is Booktok: Hashtags
Popular BookTok hashtags include broad terms like #booktok, #bookstagram, #books, #booklover, #bookworm, #bibliophile, and specific niches like #spicybooktok, #bookaesthetic, #bookrecommendations, plus genre/trope tags (e.g., #fantasyromance, #enemieslovers) and viral ones like #ForYouPage (#FYP) to increase reach. Use a mix of general, niche, and trending tags to connect with readers, discover new content, and boost visibility on TikTok’s algorithm.
#ForYouPage, #ForYou, #FYP, #TrendingNow, #Viral (to hit broader audiences)
#booktokfyp (combines BookTok with viral reach)
#bookishfollowtrain (for community building)
How to Use Them
Mix & Match: Combine broad, niche, and viral tags for best results.
Be Specific: Use book titles, author names, and specific tropes (e.g., #TheFourthWing, #RebeccaYarros).
Check Trends: See what’s popular on BookTok right now by browsing the #booktok feed.
Thank you for reading this article on What is booktok. Do you have any thoughts or comments on booktok? Let us know in the comments or send us a message. Do not forget to follow us on TIktok
FLOOD-TIDE below me! I watch you face to face; Clouds of the west! sun there half an hour high! I see you also face to face.
Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes! how curious you are to me! On the ferry-boats, the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning home, are more curious to me than you suppose; And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence, are more to me, and more in my meditations, than you might suppose.
The impalpable sustenance of me from all things, at all hours of the day; The simple, compact, well-join'd scheme--myself disintegrated, every one disintegrated, yet part of the scheme: The similitudes of the past, and those of the future; The glories strung like beads on my smallest sights and hearings--on the walk in the street, and the passage over the river; The current rushing so swiftly, and swimming with me far away; 10 The others that are to follow me, the ties between me and them; The certainty of others--the life, love, sight, hearing of others.
Others will enter the gates of the ferry, and cross from shore to shore; Others will watch the run of the flood-tide; Others will see the shipping of Manhattan north and west, and the heights of Brooklyn to the south and east; Others will see the islands large and small; Fifty years hence, others will see them as they cross, the sun half an hour high; A hundred years hence, or ever so many hundred years hence, others will see them, Will enjoy the sunset, the pouring in of the flood-tide, the falling back to the sea of the ebb-tide.
It avails not, neither time or place--distance avails not; 20 I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many generations hence; I project myself--also I return--I am with you, and know how it is.
Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt; Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one of a crowd; Just as you are refresh'd by the gladness of the river and the bright flow, I was refresh'd; Just as you stand and lean on the rail, yet hurry with the swift current, I stood, yet was hurried; Just as you look on the numberless masts of ships, and the thick- stem'd pipes of steamboats, I look'd.
I too many and many a time cross'd the river, the sun half an hour high; I watched the Twelfth-month sea-gulls--I saw them high in the air, floating with motionless wings, oscillating their bodies, I saw how the glistening yellow lit up parts of their bodies, and left the rest in strong shadow, 30 I saw the slow-wheeling circles, and the gradual edging toward the south.
I too saw the reflection of the summer sky in the water, Had my eyes dazzled by the shimmering track of beams, Look'd at the fine centrifugal spokes of light around the shape of my head in the sun-lit water, Look'd on the haze on the hills southward and southwestward, Look'd on the vapor as it flew in fleeces tinged with violet, Look'd toward the lower bay to notice the arriving ships, Saw their approach, saw aboard those that were near me, Saw the white sails of schooners and sloops--saw the ships at anchor, The sailors at work in the rigging, or out astride the spars, 40 The round masts, the swinging motion of the hulls, the slender serpentine pennants, The large and small steamers in motion, the pilots in their pilot- houses, The white wake left by the passage, the quick tremulous whirl of the wheels, The flags of all nations, the falling of them at sun-set, The scallop-edged waves in the twilight, the ladled cups, the frolicsome crests and glistening, The stretch afar growing dimmer and dimmer, the gray walls of the granite store-houses by the docks, On the river the shadowy group, the big steam-tug closely flank'd on each side by the barges--the hay-boat, the belated lighter, On the neighboring shore, the fires from the foundry chimneys burning high and glaringly into the night, Casting their flicker of black, contrasted with wild red and yellow light, over the tops of houses, and down into the clefts of streets.
These, and all else, were to me the same as they are to you; 50 I project myself a moment to tell you--also I return.
I loved well those cities; I loved well the stately and rapid river; The men and women I saw were all near to me; Others the same--others who look back on me, because I look'd forward to them; (The time will come, though I stop here to-day and to-night.)
What is it, then, between us? What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?
Whatever it is, it avails not--distance avails not, and place avails not.
I too lived--Brooklyn, of ample hills, was mine; 60 I too walk'd the streets of Manhattan Island, and bathed in the waters around it; I too felt the curious abrupt questionings stir within me, In the day, among crowds of people, sometimes they came upon me, In my walks home late at night, or as I lay in my bed, they came upon me.
I too had been struck from the float forever held in solution; I too had receiv'd identity by my Body; That I was, I knew was of my body--and what I should be, I knew I should be of my body.
It is not upon you alone the dark patches fall, The dark threw patches down upon me also; The best I had done seem'd to me blank and suspicious; 70 My great thoughts, as I supposed them, were they not in reality meagre? would not people laugh at me?
It is not you alone who know what it is to be evil; I am he who knew what it was to be evil; I too knitted the old knot of contrariety, Blabb'd, blush'd, resented, lied, stole, grudg'd, Had guile, anger, lust, hot wishes I dared not speak, Was wayward, vain, greedy, shallow, sly, cowardly, malignant; The wolf, the snake, the hog, not wanting in me, The cheating look, the frivolous word, the adulterous wish, not wanting, Refusals, hates, postponements, meanness, laziness, none of these wanting. 80
But I was Manhattanese, friendly and proud! I was call'd by my nighest name by clear loud voices of young men as they saw me approaching or passing, Felt their arms on my neck as I stood, or the negligent leaning of their flesh against me as I sat, Saw many I loved in the street, or ferry-boat, or public assembly, yet never told them a word, Lived the same life with the rest, the same old laughing, gnawing, sleeping, Play'd the part that still looks back on the actor or actress, The same old role, the role that is what we make it, as great as we like, Or as small as we like, or both great and small.
Closer yet I approach you; What thought you have of me, I had as much of you--I laid in my stores in advance; 90 I consider'd long and seriously of you before you were born.
Who was to know what should come home to me? Who knows but I am enjoying this? Who knows but I am as good as looking at you now, for all you cannot see me?
It is not you alone, nor I alone; Not a few races, nor a few generations, nor a few centuries; It is that each came, or comes, or shall come, from its due emission, From the general centre of all, and forming a part of all: Everything indicates--the smallest does, and the largest does; A necessary film envelopes all, and envelopes the Soul for a proper time. 100
Now I am curious what sight can ever be more stately and admirable to me than my mast-hemm'd Manhattan, My river and sun-set, and my scallop-edg'd waves of flood-tide, The sea-gulls oscillating their bodies, the hay-boat in the twilight, and the belated lighter; Curious what Gods can exceed these that clasp me by the hand, and with voices I love call me promptly and loudly by my nighest name as I approach; Curious what is more subtle than this which ties me to the woman or man that looks in my face, Which fuses me into you now, and pours my meaning into you.
We understand, then, do we not? What I promis'd without mentioning it, have you not accepted? What the study could not teach--what the preaching could not accomplish, is accomplish'd, is it not? What the push of reading could not start, is started by me personally, is it not? 110
Flow on, river! flow with the flood-tide, and ebb with the ebb-tide! Frolic on, crested and scallop-edg'd waves! Gorgeous clouds of the sun-set! drench with your splendor me, or the men and women generations after me; Cross from shore to shore, countless crowds of passengers! Stand up, tall masts of Mannahatta!--stand up, beautiful hills of Brooklyn! Throb, baffled and curious brain! throw out questions and answers! Suspend here and everywhere, eternal float of solution! Gaze, loving and thirsting eyes, in the house, or street, or public assembly! Sound out, voices of young men! loudly and musically call me by my nighest name! Live, old life! play the part that looks back on the actor or actress! 120 Play the old role, the role that is great or small, according as one makes it!
Consider, you who peruse me, whether I may not in unknown ways be looking upon you; Be firm, rail over the river, to support those who lean idly, yet haste with the hasting current; Fly on, sea-birds! fly sideways, or wheel in large circles high in the air; Receive the summer sky, you water! and faithfully hold it, till all downcast eyes have time to take it from you; Diverge, fine spokes of light, from the shape of my head, or any one's head, in the sun-lit water; Come on, ships from the lower bay! pass up or down, white-sail'd schooners, sloops, lighters! Flaunt away, flags of all nations! be duly lower'd at sunset; Burn high your fires, foundry chimneys! cast black shadows at nightfall! cast red and yellow light over the tops of the houses; Appearances, now or henceforth, indicate what you are; 130 You necessary film, continue to envelop the soul; About my body for me, and your body for you, be hung our divinest aromas; Thrive, cities! bring your freight, bring your shows, ample and sufficient rivers; Expand, being than which none else is perhaps more spiritual; Keep your places, objects than which none else is more lasting.
We descend upon you and all things--we arrest you all; We realize the soul only by you, you faithful solids and fluids; Through you color, form, location, sublimity, ideality; Through you every proof, comparison, and all the suggestions and determinations of ourselves.
You have waited, you always wait, you dumb, beautiful ministers! you novices! 140 We receive you with free sense at last, and are insatiate henceforward; Not you any more shall be able to foil us, or withhold yourselves from us; We use you, and do not cast you aside--we plant you permanently within us; We fathom you not--we love you--there is perfection in you also; You furnish your parts toward eternity; Great or small, you furnish your parts toward the soul.
Let laureates sing with rapturous swing Of the wonder and glory of work; Let pulpiteers preach and with passion impeach The indolent wretches who shirk. No doubt they are right: in the stress of the fight It's the slackers who go to the wall; So though it's my shame I perversely proclaim It's fine to do nothing at all.
It's fine to recline on the flat of one's spine, With never a thought in one's head: It's lovely to le staring up at the sky When others are earning their bread. It's great to feel one with the soil and the sun, Drowned deep in the grasses so tall; Oh it's noble to sweat, pounds and dollars to get, But - it's grand to do nothing at all.
So sing to the praise of the fellows who laze Instead of lambasting the soil; The vagabonds gay who lounge by the way, Conscientious objectors to toil. But lest you should think, by this spatter of ink, The Muses still hold me in thrall, I'll round out my rhyme, and (until the next time) Work like hell - doing nothing at all.
Twenty-First. Night. Monday Poem by Anna Akhmatova
Twenty-first. Night. Monday. Silhouette of the capitol in darkness. Some good-for-nothing -- who knows why-- made up the tale that love exists on earth.
People believe it, maybe from laziness or boredom, and live accordingly: they wait eagerly for meetings, fear parting, and when they sing, they sing about love.
But the secret reveals itself to some, and on them silence settles down... I found this out by accident and now it seems I'm sick all the time.
Lackadaisical (adjective) describes someone or something lacking interest, enthusiasm, or effort, showing a lazy, listless, or half-hearted attitude. It implies a carefree indifference or a spiritless lack of energy, often seen in a person’s approach to work or tasks. Synonyms include languid, lethargic, idle, spiritless, and unmotivated, while examples of usage involve “lackadaisical service” or a “lackadaisical attempt
📘 Definitions
Lackadaisical describes a relaxed, lazy, or indifferent attitude, especially one that shows little enthusiasm, effort, or concern.
without interest, vigor, or determination; listless; halfhearted:
“His lackadaisical approach to studying meant he struggled to meet the exam deadlines.”
“taking a lackadaisical approach can jeopardize the success of a project”
“The coach was disappointed with the teams lackadaisical performance”
🌱 Why We Love This Word:
Lackadaisical is a wonderfully expressive word that captures more than simple laziness—it reflects a state of apathy or low energy that can affect motivation and outcomes. Recognising it helps us reflect on when slowing down is healthy and when it becomes a barrier to progress.
💬 Members’ Thoughts:
What does lackadaisical mean to you?
Have you ever noticed this attitude in yourself or others?
When is being relaxed helpful, and when does it become unproductive?
Share your reflections in the comments below and join the conversation.
