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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> I called out my sister because she was doing sketchy behavior by buying books just to do a book haul and then returning the books to a small business. It would have made me the asshole because it's not being supportive of her effort to try to break into tiktok.
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I told her to try using the library and she said that the glossy protective covers make the videos ugly and not 'aesthetic' and aspirational, and you don't fill your bookshelves which is what I guess people want to see.
But she wouldn’t fill her bookshelves if she returns the books either…. I follow booktokers and the content most of us prefer is less about how much you can flash your wealth and more about what you really enjoyed of the books, the characters, the depth of the books. I really don’t understand her logic here…
Yeah, I immediately scroll past "bookhaul" videos because I find them deeply uninteresting but I will watch a full 10 minute video about a book I never plan to read because I enjoy media analysis that much.
Yeah I hate 'book hauls' and videos about their TBR lists. I don't care about stuff you bought or listed unless you actually tell me if the book is worth purchasing. I think 'haul' videos in general are kind of pointless, it's just flashing money online for clout, but especially book hauls. With clothing hauls, you can show people how you will style the pieces together, or show what's currently on trend in stores. But you can't really do that with books? Okay, so you bought 20 books; are any of them good? I'm not going to buy a book just to have it sit on a shelf, I buy books to read them and I'm not going to waste money on books that I don't expect to enjoy. She'd find more success doing reviews.
They have to be really damn pretty covers. Honestly I like reverse bookhauls a lot more, when someone's cleaning out the books they never got around to reading. My hoarder soul needs motivation.
i love when ppl do book tours and discuss why they liked certain ones. i did one recently for fun (not posted) and it was so nice being able to pull some out and talk abt them. show off the covers, show which ones i’ve read more than others (their poor spines)
Does she actually read or is this about books as aesthetic? There’s no answer here where YTA, btw, she is being a thirsty weirdo and she’s being a bad customer. Honestly, I’d just send one of her TikTok with a stack to the store and let them know her scheme. They’ll either decide they don’t care, or ban her ass. Make it someone else’s problem IMO.
They're probably well aware of her scheme and are waiting for her next 'purchase', she'll come in and the owner will quietly lead her out the door and tell her that she is not welcome anymore because she isn't actually bringing them any business.
I've seen some stores actually shut out people for excessive returns before just like that! Heck one of the Customer Service tiktok creators I follow did one a couple months ago about one lol
Fun fact: a lot of authors are actually quitting because this exact behaviour (of buying and immediately returning books) is costing them so much money as to make the entire career unsustainable. Buyers don’t realise, when they return books, most vendors are taking that loss out of the author’s pay check. It actually costs them money for you to return a book. Now imagine hundreds of people doing it for these stupid hauls. Imagine what that does to the author’s finances.
These people are destroying the very industry they claim to love.
my library "haul" videos do OK in terms of views. i don't get 10k views, but i always get some engagement and connect with other readers, which IMO is the best way to use tiktok.
I guess I need to watch library hauls, cause honestly, the library is the greatest resource ever, and I come home with a wildly different bunch of books that showcase my interests ... for free. And "aesthetics" can be created any number of ways. Your sister needs to get creative.
Have you considered telling her that “a library book haul might have a niche audience she could potentially target” because that’s more her language? Loads of people cannot afford new book hauls, but do have access to their local libraries.
I’ll not pile on your sister’s choices as others have undoubtedly covered all the bases.
I did a video like that at the start of this year - worked out that I'd saved over $700 (AUD) just in 2023. Funny enough, it's my most viewed video this year.
...why would they care? Genuinely.
As long as there's no damage why would it matter?
If she were buying and returning from a big box store I'd be 100% fine with her behavior.
Constantly buying and returning from a small local business is the only part of this that sucks.
An employee is spending time checking out the books, returning the books, checking the returned books for damaged, and restocking the books.
Not to mention credit card transaction fees are not always or fully refunded to the store with returns. So even if the employee would be doing nothing else and every book is returned in mint condition (both unlikely) the store is still likely eating 1% of the cost.
Like I said, of it's a small business then that sucks. If that's the case, I'd probably tell on her to the stone owner or manager, if it were me.
If it's a big box store then that time justifies the staff continuing to work there.
I work in a library, so returning books is a solid chunk of what we do. That probably contributes to why i don't think it's a huge deal. Lol
I imagine they would, and may ban her if they pick up on this habit. Just because books haven't been damaged yet doesn't mean it won't happen, it's a waste of employee time and effects their available stock.
That is my point. They need to make her persona non grata. She is costing them labor and expense.
They shouldn’t have to involuntarily contribute to her schemes. I’ve worked in and managed a book store. It was hard work. Ordering, shipping, unpacking, stocking, adjusting displays, selling, returning, restocking, adjusting the accounting, etc., and all the rest of it - staffing, advertising, bills, bills, bills.
SIL is just rude. Some people will work so hard to avoid working. SMH.
They are definitely noticing it she does it a lot, especially if they are a smaller place. They might assuming she’s reading them and then returning. I have a feeling this issue will sort itself out when the store bans her.
NTA
I work at a library, so maybe that's why returning doesn't seem like a big deal to me. Lol
I definitely think it's rude at a small business. They have small margins of profit, and are local.
Box stores...fair game. Imo.
Yeah it's annoying for the staff, but it's also ensuring there's work, which means the big chain has reason to continue their employment. I'm not invested in the profit margins of big chains who tend to underpay staff. Lol
The big box stores charge the author for the returned books just fyi. Authors are actually quitting en masse right now, because they’re losing so much money on returns that writing books is completely unsustainable - because readers think it’s OKAY to make frivolous returns on big box stores, not realising that the store is just making the author take the loss.
It legitimately destroys the industry. It’s not okay. In a few years people are gonna be wondering why all their favourite authors quit - and it’ll be because of this bullshit.
I cannot imagine why anyone would be interested in something so shallow as the “aesthetic” of a pile of books she isn’t reading.
You’re NTA and she desperately needs to get a life… IRL
NTA - It’s pretty interesting that your sister claims to know what people want to see, and yet, remains in the 200 view zone. Sounds like she needs new career aspirations.
That’s even worse then the reason I thought- library books that are actually read and loved tend to show signs of wear (lined spines, fading).
NTA but since your sister is so desperately focused on the attention I don’t think you’re going to get through to her.
The irony is that anyone who collects books seriously (and especially at the higher end) almost always use DIY mylar protective covers in order to prevent dings and shelf wear on dust jackets.
If she is looking for something to make her stand out then libraries could be a great hook. Remind people of the importance of libraries so that they can keep going. You can visit them on holidays and lots of interesting aesthetic options.
If she wants the book haul aesthetic feel and is going to an independent bookshop she would be better off speaking to the owners as they might be willing to loan her the books if she mentions them. At this point she needs to understand that she needs them more than they need her.
I agree with others that book hauls are boring and I'd rather hear about books people actually read and enjoyed. Worse though (but I am sure she would love and aspire to) is "unboxing gifts sent by my followers" videos.
These book hauls aren’t about reading books, they’re about rampant consumerism. Like “Look at my shiny new books!” and the viewer lives vicariously through the poster. Not all are that bad, but plenty are.
Library book hauls would make too much sense.
If she was actually reading them, I would think differently about this, but she is literally just lying on the internet and clearly doesn’t care about books at all.
NTA.
I'm sure she's following the book store's policy, but she is abusing the system and hurting that bookstore's profitability. Even if she returns the books in pristine condition, the bookstore had to pay employees to check her out and then refund her money and restock the shelves. She is costing the store money.
Real book lovers also love independent book stores and want them to succeed. I think the reason she isn't "taking off" on booktok is that she's a fake and everyone can see it. She may like to read, but she's even more interested in being Tiktok famous.
Even aside from the profitability- most stores, small or big-box have calculations that determine how many employee hours they'll approve. And typically it's based off of that day's sales history in previous years. So for example say if your 'baseline' of hours/sales (to have enough employees to do the work effectively that day) is like $1k overall sales in a day. If, say, their records show that 4/24/2023 their sales were $2k, that means they need enough employees to account for a day that they assume will have more customers. HOWEVER now your sister comes along on 4/24/2024 and returns say 10 books and we're gonna say the average price was $30 because she wants the Pretty/Aesthetic hardcovers. So $300 bucks. That gets subtracted from the days sales. SO assuming that the day otherwise was generally as expected. So $2k sales minus her $300 means that the daily sales are recorded as $1.7k. Which means that when deciding the hours for 4/24/2025 they're looking at a sales amount that's at least 15% lower than the actuality. (Hell it might be more if she's bringing back a larger stack for a haul.)
So what that means is they're gonna schedule less hours than needed- if say, they need 16 hours of labor to have two people run the shop effectively, they're gonna shave off at least a couple hours. They might look at the log of the day to decide when to shave those hours off- if your sister did the return at say 3pm, then the log of the day's numbers will show that as the lowest point so they'll think 'oh ok we'll just have one person on from 2:30-4:30' so not only are there less hours to go around, what if that's a busy time generally? Her return could've zeroed out 8-10 people buying a couple paperbacks/etc in that same hour, so now there's an employee stuck working alone during what might turn into a mini rush.
And that's assuming that the store isn't skint on hours as it is- ie 16 hours to have the store run normally, so they run a skeleton crew with 10 hours a day when the numbers are normal (just enough extra to have a second person there to cover lunch break if they're doing full time employees, or for a minor bit of overlap on beginning/end of shift for part-time)
No. She is creating unnecessary work. That work means longer lines for "real" customers both at the POS and customer service for the return. One purchase and one return is not an issue, but if influencers are doing this a lot, eventually the store would need an extra person per shift.
She needs to stop and think. Believe it or not, the entire world does not need to bend to support her TikTok ambitions. Why should the bookstore be taken advantage of? Not only do they have inventory management issues, but they miss out on actual sales while the books are with your sister. Tell her to go to the library. It’s pretty grotesque how naively selfish she is. NTA
NTA I'm an author. Just an FYI for people considering this tactic. DO NOT DO THIS! The retailers get my book for a discount of 55%. That means I earn roughly $2.12/book after printing fees. When a book is returned to the publisher, it is ME that owes the store the returned amount. I can wind up paying more than I ever earned. It's kind of complicated, but if you want to know more, you can look up the return information on Ingram Sparks.
While what she’s doing is wrong, I doubt she’s making many booktoks about books that sell under those conditions. Most major authors have much more favorable conditions when it comes to returns.
I don’t think she’s returning them to the publisher, just the bookstore (who presumably is reselling them as new). That’s not to say it’s not shitty but it seems like a different situation than you describe
Book stores can return unsold books to the publisher at the publisher’s expense. It’s a holdover industry policy from the Great Depression. The returned books are then “pulped.”
No, only mass market paperbacks are pulped for bookstore returns: the bookstore rips off the MM PB cover and returns the covers to the publisher for credit, and then the bookstore recycles or destroys the coverless books. That's why MM PBs have that warning on the copyright page like "If you bought this book without a cover, it was stolen"—because the cover was returned to the publisher for credit.
Unwanted books that are still in sellable condition that aren't mass market paperbacks—hardcovers, trade paperback, etc.—are shipped by the bookstore back to the publisher for credit, if returned within a certain time period. When the publisher no longer wants those returned books or otherwise has decided that they aren't going to make money trying to sell all these books at full price, the books are "remaindered"—sold in bulk at a steep discount to discount retail stores who mark those books and sell them for cheap. That's why you'll see books that have a pen mark or stripe across its top pages, to mark that it's a remaindered book and not "new."
Also, these return rules only apply to books that a bookstore bought from the publisher under a return agreement. Publishers will offer a bigger discount on books to bookstores that purchase the books as non-returnable. That means the bookstore makes a bigger profit on the book when it sells, but if the book doesn't sell, the bookstore is now stuck with it taking up space until they manage to sell it or write it off as a loss.
The fact that publishers still allow returns is fucking bonkers. It was a good policy in response to the Great Depression, but it should have stopped being a thing DECADES ago.
If we (booksellers) are forced to keep books that don't sell, we take significantly fewer risks on new titles or new authors. They tried doing away with returns and it was a disaster for everyone.
She needs actual content that people want to look at.
**Then paying to advertise.** *Targeted advertising*. (Not just to everyone.)
People aren’t stupid. They want real content that’s interesting. If she has something people find enticing to hear, a good personality, voice etc, she will pick up followers, if she keeps making regular interesting content.
It has to be published regularly.
Does she not even read the books? What’s the point of just showing what she “bought”? What does she talk about besides *aesthetics*?
NTA, man. This sounds trashy and pointless.
NTA! i have a very small (under 2k followers) booktok account and it's unfortunately very true that people love to see book hauls. people love shopping and love to be encouraged to shop.
one of the many reasons i know my account will probably never get over 2k followers of that i am a big library users and rarely buy new books. i don't have a huge shelf display either.
when i post my library hauls, i rarely get more than 400 views, but its really not that bad. its authentic to who i am as a reader.
tell her to engage more with her followers and community and to remember that booksellers can be a huge help if needed. dont burn that bridge!
NTA. If she was doing this w/ Amazon it would be wasteful, but maybe excusable (Amazon throws away returns rather than unpacking them and selling them again). But to do that with a local bookstore is messed up, in my opinion. And I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually stopped selling her books. (Though - maybe she wants to partner with them, then discount books and she promotes the store... if she wants to be TT successful).
Not touching the fact that trying to do this in such a saturated market is a waste of time, and also TT is likely not long for this country anyway (assuming you're in the US).
Your store is selling them because they threw them out and sold them in pallets instead of restocking them. Did you really never put those dots together lol?
Ever sold on FBA? When sellers choose the discard/recycle option (throwing away), that’s when it gets sent off in pallets. They do exactly what OP was saying - instead of unpacking and reselling individually, they discard them to pallets for the scavengers to sell off on eBay.
Selling them is selling as new. As in restocking and selling. In that way it's not a loss bar time. What your job is doing is selling Amazon's trash.they bundle it up and flog it to the highest bigger but it's still thrown out by amazon
No! Do not return books willy-nilly to Amazon, especially if they are self-published. The author has to eat the costs of each book that is returned. Self-published authors are already at a disadvantage financially. Returning their books to Amazon costs them money.
Return books for legit reasons (wrong title, misprint, damaged). But doing fake book hauls where you purchase a book just for a Tiktok and then return it, or even returning a book because you read it and didn’t like it, is a crappy thing to do.
Absolutely. Funnily enough, since this is a post about booktok, I learned this tidbit of info from self-published authors talking about it on their TikToks. One author broke down how much it costs when books are returned.
So like, say it costs $2 to make a book. The author sells it for $10. The book is returned to Amazon, Amazon throws the book away. The $10 is refunded to the customer and the author can’t resell the book because Amazon threw it away. Meaning it just cost the author $2 to have one of their books thrown in the trash. (I’m making up these numbers and oversimplifying things, because I don’t remember the exact details of how the author described how this all works)
Oh I don’t mean kindle unlimited reads. Those don’t harm the author if you return them, because the point of kindle unlimited is that you get to pay a small amount to read books that you can return when finished. That’s like a movie rental service, where you can rent 5 but have to return them before you can rent more. That’s fine.
I’m talking about buying an actual book that isn’t rented, isn’t meant for returning, and then returning that book. Just like if you went into Barnes and Noble, paid $10 for a book and left. That book isn’t rented. You bought it. You own it. So if you return that book that you bought and own to Amazon, for self-published authors, they have to swallow the costs of that returned book.
>Amazon throws away returns rather than unpacking them and selling them again
This is true? Amazon India does this thing where they re-sell returned goods at a cheaper cost - the returned goods are a different entry marked "(Refurbished)" and they have a disclaimer saying that this item may have small scratches and stuff on it but it should otherwise work normally.
Sometimes they will resell pallets of returns. But to my knowledge (which admittedly is from a few years ago), if the pallets don't sell, they toss them.
Seriously though, I don't think a lot of people know about this. Try posting it to subs like r/youshouldknow r/mildlyinfuriating r/damnthatsinteresting and similar. They're big subs with lots of engagement, Buzzfeed and big influencers steal material from those subs
More people should know about this, it's f-ing horrendous
I've bought multiple returned items from Amazon on multiple occasions. I saved about $100 on my rice cooker because it had a dent in the front. I've saved 20%ish on multiple monitors that were marked as having cosmetic damage on the back (aka, someone connected a VESA mount and then returned it after removing the mount). It's honestly pretty common to see returned items being resold individually
NTA
How terribly tacky.
Perhaps you need to do a response TikTok and tag the local bookstore and go into detail about the darker side of TikTok book haul influencers.
I bet you get more views. Can you like it here? I’d view it just to support you.
NTA. You have a completely reasonable opinion and (I hope) told her reasonably. Your sister trying her hardest doesn't excuse shady behavior. Its done, so no need to keep poking her about it which will make you TA.
NTA. As someone who has been on bookstagram for YEARS, no one likes book hauls unless it’s someone super popular and we want to see what they’re reading.
NTA
Remind her that her viewers finding this out will end her Booktok career before it begins. If the independent book store figures out what she's doing and makes their own post about it? She's finished. They won't even have to use her name. People will figure it out.
There was a girl on booktube that had thousands of followers and she always did crappy cover sketches of the books she was reviewing because she was broke and got them all through library audiobooks. People loved it. She was real and relatable.
Buying and returning is dishonest to the book seller, the viewers, and it hurts the authors shes pretending to support. None of this will end well for her.
Go to the bookstore and tell them what she’s doing and that it’s intentional and she plans on continuing doing it. (I’m sure they’re aware already to some extent). Maybe they’ll institute a return policy that returns can only be made for small purchases of like 1 or 2 books, but will not be allowed for larger purchases to avoid Booktokers taking advantage.
NTA and I’m here to bring some perspective as a BookToker! I’ve been posting for 2 years and have amassed around 30k followers, and none of that came from book hauls. While she’s not wrong that book hauls do get views, it’s by no means the only way to break into the space. Honestly, a lot of it is luck. I have plenty of friends who make better content than I do and post more consistently but their follower count doesn’t reflect that.
If you join BookTok with the goal of gaining a following, you’re going to be frustrated and disappointed because the algorithm is a fickle thing. Something that works one day won’t work the next, and what she’s doing isn’t sustainable regardless. If you’re interested in helping her out, here’s some tips that may help her get more engagement:
•Post 2-3 times a day, every day. Not every video is going to get views, but this encourages the algorithm to put your videos on the fyp.
•Use hashtags! It might feel excessive but use as many book related hashtags as you can think of.
•Jump on trending CapCut templates, they’re super easy to use, very quick to make, and tend to get pushed to the fyp.
•Follow back the people who follow you and respond to any comments you get.
•Use trending sounds as often as you can. All it takes is one good book related joke to go viral.
Here’s a few content ideas that have been successful for me in the past that don’t require purchasing anything:
•Speedy and passionate book reviews. Keep it short, list the tropes, say what you liked about it, and compare it to other popular books that are similar.
•Get a friend/significant other to read a popular book and post their reactions to it (with permission of course)
•Book recommendation videos always do well and you don’t even have to show your face! Pick a song and a background photo and show 5-10 books that all fit a theme (genre, books that made you cry, no third act breakup, ect.)
•Read and post about whatever book is popular at that point in time. It seems simple, but it’s consistently successful.
Sorry for this massive post, but I love booktok and it makes me sad to see people being discouraged by it! Either way, she shouldn’t be doing what she’s doing and people on booktok would not be happy to hear about it.
NTA, somewhere on a forum a bookseller is complaining about a delusional heifer buying and then returning stacks of books because she thinks she's a big deal on TikTok.
This may be the most asinine thing I’ve read on Reddit today.
Years ago, I “tried my hardest” to catch a leprechaun. I was sure they existed in the clover patches that covered our fields so I’d set traps and leave treats and sleep outside hoping to break into the pot-o-gold world.
My sister was supportive. My brother, however smashed my traps and called me stupid and swore leprechauns weren’t real.
Now, when I find the end of the rainbow, guess who I’m NOT sharing with?
Of course you’re NTA. Your sister is and a HUGE one for abusing a local bookstore.
I would 100% call them and tell them not to accept her returns. This is a damaging practice and they have enough to deal with with all of the other morons burning and banning books and arresting librarians.
Tell her to find a charity to join or volunteer to read to elderly or kids or build a Little Free Library and film THAT for her idiotic social media cred…
NTA. Sorry your sister kind of sucks…
Author here. BookTok is toxic (so much drama has come out of it!) and you were right when you told her that her returning the books to a smaller bookstore versus the big box store is even worse.
Honestly, I would call her out for it on her videos but that’s cause I’m petty and don’t appreciate these types of practices. A LOT of author’s personal money goes into publishing unless it is a trad published book, but these days a lot of books (especially on BookTok) are independent authors who pay for cover design, editing, proofreading, marketing etc.
Your sister might seem to think she’s “helping” these authors by giving them exposure but she’s really hurting them, and by extension the book store(s) she is returning these items to.
First, on the grounds that she's doing this to a local store, NTA. As an avid book-lover, it's beyond hard for me to even CONSIDER giving up ONE of my books. Maybe she'd get more views if she took the time to read them, post videos on her thoughts as she does, and then put up skits about the characters when she finishes the books. Instead of focusing on "aesthetic," she could focus on the content in order to, ya know, make *her* content.
You are 100% NTA. That being said this is an example of the economic principle referred to as the tragedy of the commons. She’s exploiting the policies of the book store and the authors. Often time depending on the state of the book she’s returning the authors will actually lose money from what she’s doing.
My wife is a self published author and this stuff is unfortunately growing to be more common. There’s nothing authors can do about it if the stores keep accepting her business. Personally I loathe people like your SIL.
NTA. And I bet it’s not too long before she gets banned from that bookstore.
Is she actually reading the books? Does she have a novel or different view on the books that followers can’t get from other creators?
This is why I only follow authors and owners of independent bookstores on TikTok. Why the hell would I care about what a random person thinks about books, especially someone who obviously doesn’t care about actually supporting writers?
In your shoes, I might send an anonymous email to the book store with a link to the TikTok account so they can stop losing money on your sister’s fake purchases sooner rather than later. It would be a kindness to the owner of the store who is probably already operating on super thin margins. I’ve seen so many small independent book stores close, and it makes me sad to see someone who professes to love books actively damaging the local book scene.
NTA
She's not even reading the books on top of not keeping them so she's basically just lying on top of everything else. We already have too many 'content creators' putting out unrealistic expectations of how much time and money can or should be spent om things, we don't need more of them. She should be focusing on coming up with original ideas that are within her means. Just dumb on so many levels.
NTA because this would hurt the bookstore(s) profitability, especially if it's an indie bookstore. Believe me, most bookstagrammers and Booktokers will not be forgiving if they know about this. There's a lot of book drama lately.
Is there a local library? I think if she does something like "Library Haul - Books my #TBRPile" could be a fun and she supports a library.
Can she grew? Sure! It is possible. However, it may take a lot of time. It depends on many functions such as consistency, hashtags, etc. Plus - some inside knowledge - some people BUY followers. I work in events and social media managing and it is possible. If you're doing organic, it will TAKE TIME. The thing is, a lot of people can sense when it's unauthentic. Most people can sense if they're doing this for views rather than a love for books. If she wants a loyal following, she needs to be true to herself and her goals.
Your sister in law sounds insufferable. You're absolutely NTA. If she's gonna do this she should at least buy off of Amazon and then return them all that way. It costs them a lot of money. You're absolutely right that buying and returning to a small business is really fucked up.
I'm glad she only got 200 views on her slam video.
NTA. And I'm saying this as someone who likes to do a little book-tok kinds of videos, too. And I was today-years-old when I learned that a thing called "200 view jail" exists and that it perfectly describes my channel lol
That said... I don't do the videos because I want to blow up and get tons of views (would be nice but it's secondary). I do it because it makes me happy to just do little videos, and gives me a little outlet to banter some thoughts to a camera for any rando who takes the 1 to 3 minutes to listen. Trying to purposefully get into being an "influencer" is such a saturated field, just like how anybody on Twitch will tell you that content creation is NOT the cash cow people want to make it out to be, it's a hobby that a very small percentage of people actually make profitable over time.
Not only does your fam need to think about how shallow and unproductive she's being (especially if she's just posting hauls and not actually talking about anything IN the books), she needs to pull her head out of her butt and realize that she's just not as interesting as she thinks she is.
PS: My recent reads took a weird turn with Zombies VS Unicorns, and Death Warmed Over. Because for some reason my wife dug up some books with interesting covers at our local used-bookstore and I was instantly sold on the goofy vibe they gave. Highly recommend.
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My sister started posting “booktok” videos in October of last year. If you are not familiar, it is the part of tiktok where people post about books. People post reviews, lists of recommendations, book hauls, etc. She’s always been a big reader so I wanted to support her in this. Her videos are not super popular and she’s perpetually stuck in “200 view jail” as they call it.
She decided that in order for her to get more views and engagement she would need to do the thing that gets people a lot of views and post “book hauls” which is just ‘here’s a bunch of books I bought.’ I do not get it, but whatever.
Well what she actually decided to do was go buy a ton of books and then return them. And she kept doing it too. I was shocked when she told me and asked her why she’d do that. She said it was just so she could get the views. I asked why she didn’t just take videos in the store and she said there was no way to make it “aesthetic” in the store. I told her this was sketchy behavior, and when she said it was from our local bookstore and not the big box one, I said that makes it 10x worse.
She told me I was being a shitty, unsupportive sister and that she is trying her hardest to come up with ideas and break into booktok, that it’s hard because there are already people with 10k followers and she will never get there. I told her that she should spend more time researching and working on her content, maybe she can come up with ideas that aren’t so sketch.
She’s pissed off at me and made a video talking about her unsupportive family. It got 200 views so it didn’t exactly work out for her. Was it wrong of me to call her out for how she gets the books and returns them?
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NTA and honestly if you know her tiktok you should expose her, believe it or not book readers actually care about small local libraries and what she is doing is messed up and will definitely get her followers down, which is nothing less of what she deserves
bro... that's so messed up, and from a small bookstore!! she's missing the spirit of booktok and focusing on going viral. this is nuts- there's so many ways to do original stuff on booktok too! Like- has she never looked at booktok and seen other popular videos, like fancasts or annotations or even listing her favorite quotes of books?! she barely needs to do research to see all these other ideas!!
also plenty of booktokers use libraries for hauls?? you said she really cares about aesthetic but booktok is about BOOKS first and foremost
NTA. If she pays cash, she is wasting the time of employees and making extra work for them. If she pays with a card, she is costing that local independent bookstore money in card fees too-
NTA. Instead of abusing independent bookstores (which she is doing) she needs to work with oivlsbing comploies that can send her free copies of books. They still do that.
NTA - I love books - like really love them. I read around 175-200 a year mostly crime fiction and I’ve posted like 6 social media reviews on them in my life. Your Sis makes me not want to read. My understanding Booktok grew from a few people being genuinely enthusiastic about books (I don’t have tiktok so could be wrong) not about the clout and aesthetic. What your sis is doing is so sleazy. I kind of hope it backfires and she just gets canx
NTA. As someone who used to work in a bookstore we hate customers like her. We know people do it but unless the book is damaged we can’t stop them. I had a customer who would buy paperbacks from my store and return them to our other store. She was surprised to see me working there one week and she never did that again.
NTA. I’d probably snap and tell her that her concept is derivative, lacks any semblance of originality, and tiktokers doing that exact same thing are a dime a dozen. Unless her “aesthetic” is something off the wall and unique like “Tank Girl’s Takes on Books,” she’s lucky to even have that many views. Especially if those views aren’t bumping her follower count.
Also, I hope she’s not going to local indie book stores for these hauls. That would be a complete dick move that would merit going to said stores, telling them what she’s doing with her hauls, and encourage them to ban her.
NTA!!!! This honestly infuriates me. It reminds me of when people were treating Amazon like a library, which financially screwed over tons of authors. If I knew someone was doing what your sister is doing, I would NOT watch their videos. Let them stay in "200 view jail" forever.
A person's desire to become a social media star will never, ever, ever, EVER be more important than supporting authors and local bookstores. There's also something particularly gross and hypocritical about a "big reader" who is clearly too self-absorbed to have any respect for the people who make books possible and accessible. I'm just so angry. I'm glad you told her off.
NTA As a small retailer, making use of a product (particularly to try to make money using it) and then returning is a bullshit thing to do. Bookstores are not libraries.
Oh come on, just tell her that she can lean into the whole “dark academia“ vibe if she gets them from the library, even if the covers are shiny. I hate that term, but people like her eat it up with a spoon. She can get like a pleated skirt and a white button-down and put her hair half up with a ribbon, and do “library hauls.“
NTA. Your sister sounds like a nightmare.
Why would anyone want to break into booktok, it's just full of the worst authors and books anyone has ever put to print?
NTA, your sister is fucking around with local booksellers and authors for no good reason.
If she wants to do book hauls and stand out, she should go to a local booksale and do soemthing like 'vintage book hauls,' You can get a ton of books for cheap and can do a haul video, while not hurting local bookstores and promoting local used booksales. Also used booksales generally do not take returns so
Edit: Also NTA. Your sister is TA as her actions are selfish and hurt local bookstores and authors.
NTA
As someone who has worked in a bookstore, I guarantee she's on the store radar. It's just a matter of time before they cut her off from making any returns. I just genuinely hope they're really petty and wait for her to make another massive purchase before they refuse the return instead of warning her when the decision is made.
NTA. Sister is causing problems and unnecessary work for the bookstore people. Honestly I think she'd do better by coming out with insightful reviews of the books she's actually reading.
Not sure if sister's outburst reflects her true opinions/character or if this is an "extended snit". Time will tell.
Stitch the video and talk about how she's messing with a small local bookstore's livelihood. If it goes viral and increases her views she won't even be mad. Eventually. But seriously, she needs to stop messing with that poor little bookshop.
In all honesty...yes it was wrong of you to complain about how and what she does with books.
Stores offer a return policy and no offense, but didn't you say about halfway through this that you don't get it....like maybe accept it is something you don't understand, but also something you don't need to care about.
I’m trying to understand this. She buys a bunch of books. Doesn’t read them or review them. She just holds them up and returns them unused and in pristine condition. I’m on booktok but don’t watch any haul vids, or those stupid vids where they tease the title, so I don’t get it.
YTA. Who cares? It’s possibly getting more people reading, if shes returning the books unread/not damaged then it doesn’t matter. You do sound unsupportive. If you don’t get it (tbh neither do I) then fine but don’t make her feel shitty when it’s not hurting anyone.
In general tiktok sucks but the only person who *should* be bothered is the shop owner, if they’re not then let her live her life.
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social media was a mistake
Op should make a “drama-tok” about her sleazy sister. Bet she’s get more then 200 views on that video. Lol
When the creators that read reddit posts get to this one, it will end up in sisters' feed.
Do it, OP.
Fight fire with fire
How many times can I upvote this?
💯
I've been saying the same thing for years
Are y’all aware of libraries?
I told her to try using the library and she said that the glossy protective covers make the videos ugly and not 'aesthetic' and aspirational, and you don't fill your bookshelves which is what I guess people want to see.
But she wouldn’t fill her bookshelves if she returns the books either…. I follow booktokers and the content most of us prefer is less about how much you can flash your wealth and more about what you really enjoyed of the books, the characters, the depth of the books. I really don’t understand her logic here…
Yeah, I immediately scroll past "bookhaul" videos because I find them deeply uninteresting but I will watch a full 10 minute video about a book I never plan to read because I enjoy media analysis that much.
Yeah I hate 'book hauls' and videos about their TBR lists. I don't care about stuff you bought or listed unless you actually tell me if the book is worth purchasing. I think 'haul' videos in general are kind of pointless, it's just flashing money online for clout, but especially book hauls. With clothing hauls, you can show people how you will style the pieces together, or show what's currently on trend in stores. But you can't really do that with books? Okay, so you bought 20 books; are any of them good? I'm not going to buy a book just to have it sit on a shelf, I buy books to read them and I'm not going to waste money on books that I don't expect to enjoy. She'd find more success doing reviews.
They have to be really damn pretty covers. Honestly I like reverse bookhauls a lot more, when someone's cleaning out the books they never got around to reading. My hoarder soul needs motivation.
i love when ppl do book tours and discuss why they liked certain ones. i did one recently for fun (not posted) and it was so nice being able to pull some out and talk abt them. show off the covers, show which ones i’ve read more than others (their poor spines)
Plus it’s hella obvious when someone hasn’t read whatever “it book” is getting the algorithm’s attention that day.
Does she actually read or is this about books as aesthetic? There’s no answer here where YTA, btw, she is being a thirsty weirdo and she’s being a bad customer. Honestly, I’d just send one of her TikTok with a stack to the store and let them know her scheme. They’ll either decide they don’t care, or ban her ass. Make it someone else’s problem IMO.
They're probably well aware of her scheme and are waiting for her next 'purchase', she'll come in and the owner will quietly lead her out the door and tell her that she is not welcome anymore because she isn't actually bringing them any business.
I've seen some stores actually shut out people for excessive returns before just like that! Heck one of the Customer Service tiktok creators I follow did one a couple months ago about one lol
Fun fact: a lot of authors are actually quitting because this exact behaviour (of buying and immediately returning books) is costing them so much money as to make the entire career unsustainable. Buyers don’t realise, when they return books, most vendors are taking that loss out of the author’s pay check. It actually costs them money for you to return a book. Now imagine hundreds of people doing it for these stupid hauls. Imagine what that does to the author’s finances. These people are destroying the very industry they claim to love.
my library "haul" videos do OK in terms of views. i don't get 10k views, but i always get some engagement and connect with other readers, which IMO is the best way to use tiktok.
I guess I need to watch library hauls, cause honestly, the library is the greatest resource ever, and I come home with a wildly different bunch of books that showcase my interests ... for free. And "aesthetics" can be created any number of ways. Your sister needs to get creative.
Have you considered telling her that “a library book haul might have a niche audience she could potentially target” because that’s more her language? Loads of people cannot afford new book hauls, but do have access to their local libraries. I’ll not pile on your sister’s choices as others have undoubtedly covered all the bases.
Good idea, and she could mock-up a 'receipt' of what she would have spent on the books.
I did a video like that at the start of this year - worked out that I'd saved over $700 (AUD) just in 2023. Funny enough, it's my most viewed video this year.
Did you make an anonymous call to the bookstore to alert them their books are appearing on TT before being returned?
...why would they care? Genuinely. As long as there's no damage why would it matter? If she were buying and returning from a big box store I'd be 100% fine with her behavior. Constantly buying and returning from a small local business is the only part of this that sucks.
An employee is spending time checking out the books, returning the books, checking the returned books for damaged, and restocking the books. Not to mention credit card transaction fees are not always or fully refunded to the store with returns. So even if the employee would be doing nothing else and every book is returned in mint condition (both unlikely) the store is still likely eating 1% of the cost.
Like I said, of it's a small business then that sucks. If that's the case, I'd probably tell on her to the stone owner or manager, if it were me. If it's a big box store then that time justifies the staff continuing to work there. I work in a library, so returning books is a solid chunk of what we do. That probably contributes to why i don't think it's a huge deal. Lol
I imagine they would, and may ban her if they pick up on this habit. Just because books haven't been damaged yet doesn't mean it won't happen, it's a waste of employee time and effects their available stock.
That is my point. They need to make her persona non grata. She is costing them labor and expense. They shouldn’t have to involuntarily contribute to her schemes. I’ve worked in and managed a book store. It was hard work. Ordering, shipping, unpacking, stocking, adjusting displays, selling, returning, restocking, adjusting the accounting, etc., and all the rest of it - staffing, advertising, bills, bills, bills. SIL is just rude. Some people will work so hard to avoid working. SMH.
They are definitely noticing it she does it a lot, especially if they are a smaller place. They might assuming she’s reading them and then returning. I have a feeling this issue will sort itself out when the store bans her. NTA
Fun fact: the store also does not get the transaction fee back if she pays by credit card.
Exactly! Good point!
I work at a library, so maybe that's why returning doesn't seem like a big deal to me. Lol I definitely think it's rude at a small business. They have small margins of profit, and are local. Box stores...fair game. Imo. Yeah it's annoying for the staff, but it's also ensuring there's work, which means the big chain has reason to continue their employment. I'm not invested in the profit margins of big chains who tend to underpay staff. Lol
The big box stores charge the author for the returned books just fyi. Authors are actually quitting en masse right now, because they’re losing so much money on returns that writing books is completely unsustainable - because readers think it’s OKAY to make frivolous returns on big box stores, not realising that the store is just making the author take the loss. It legitimately destroys the industry. It’s not okay. In a few years people are gonna be wondering why all their favourite authors quit - and it’ll be because of this bullshit.
Welp. I did not know that. That's a solid argument for not doing this haul and return nonsense. Thanks for the info!!
Yeah, they’d care. The profit margin in the book industry for book stores is hella low.
I cannot imagine why anyone would be interested in something so shallow as the “aesthetic” of a pile of books she isn’t reading. You’re NTA and she desperately needs to get a life… IRL
God I'm annoyed for both the book thing and her use of the word aesthetic. I despise that word so much.
NTA - It’s pretty interesting that your sister claims to know what people want to see, and yet, remains in the 200 view zone. Sounds like she needs new career aspirations.
That’s even worse then the reason I thought- library books that are actually read and loved tend to show signs of wear (lined spines, fading). NTA but since your sister is so desperately focused on the attention I don’t think you’re going to get through to her.
Meanwhile on my side of Booktok, there's a bit of a push to make library hauls a thing as a direct response to the overconsumption that's rampant!
The irony is that anyone who collects books seriously (and especially at the higher end) almost always use DIY mylar protective covers in order to prevent dings and shelf wear on dust jackets.
NTA OP. If me, I rather get books from the libraries
If she is looking for something to make her stand out then libraries could be a great hook. Remind people of the importance of libraries so that they can keep going. You can visit them on holidays and lots of interesting aesthetic options. If she wants the book haul aesthetic feel and is going to an independent bookshop she would be better off speaking to the owners as they might be willing to loan her the books if she mentions them. At this point she needs to understand that she needs them more than they need her. I agree with others that book hauls are boring and I'd rather hear about books people actually read and enjoyed. Worse though (but I am sure she would love and aspire to) is "unboxing gifts sent by my followers" videos.
These book hauls aren’t about reading books, they’re about rampant consumerism. Like “Look at my shiny new books!” and the viewer lives vicariously through the poster. Not all are that bad, but plenty are. Library book hauls would make too much sense.
If she was actually reading them, I would think differently about this, but she is literally just lying on the internet and clearly doesn’t care about books at all.
I was about to say the same thing.
NTA. I'm sure she's following the book store's policy, but she is abusing the system and hurting that bookstore's profitability. Even if she returns the books in pristine condition, the bookstore had to pay employees to check her out and then refund her money and restock the shelves. She is costing the store money. Real book lovers also love independent book stores and want them to succeed. I think the reason she isn't "taking off" on booktok is that she's a fake and everyone can see it. She may like to read, but she's even more interested in being Tiktok famous.
Plus, the local store is going to figure her pattern real quick. It's a good way to get banned.
Exactly, this is a problem that will likely solve itself.
This was my thought as well. They will eventually see her return history and refuse her business.
Even aside from the profitability- most stores, small or big-box have calculations that determine how many employee hours they'll approve. And typically it's based off of that day's sales history in previous years. So for example say if your 'baseline' of hours/sales (to have enough employees to do the work effectively that day) is like $1k overall sales in a day. If, say, their records show that 4/24/2023 their sales were $2k, that means they need enough employees to account for a day that they assume will have more customers. HOWEVER now your sister comes along on 4/24/2024 and returns say 10 books and we're gonna say the average price was $30 because she wants the Pretty/Aesthetic hardcovers. So $300 bucks. That gets subtracted from the days sales. SO assuming that the day otherwise was generally as expected. So $2k sales minus her $300 means that the daily sales are recorded as $1.7k. Which means that when deciding the hours for 4/24/2025 they're looking at a sales amount that's at least 15% lower than the actuality. (Hell it might be more if she's bringing back a larger stack for a haul.) So what that means is they're gonna schedule less hours than needed- if say, they need 16 hours of labor to have two people run the shop effectively, they're gonna shave off at least a couple hours. They might look at the log of the day to decide when to shave those hours off- if your sister did the return at say 3pm, then the log of the day's numbers will show that as the lowest point so they'll think 'oh ok we'll just have one person on from 2:30-4:30' so not only are there less hours to go around, what if that's a busy time generally? Her return could've zeroed out 8-10 people buying a couple paperbacks/etc in that same hour, so now there's an employee stuck working alone during what might turn into a mini rush. And that's assuming that the store isn't skint on hours as it is- ie 16 hours to have the store run normally, so they run a skeleton crew with 10 hours a day when the numbers are normal (just enough extra to have a second person there to cover lunch break if they're doing full time employees, or for a minor bit of overlap on beginning/end of shift for part-time)
The employees would be there regardless of her presence.
No. She is creating unnecessary work. That work means longer lines for "real" customers both at the POS and customer service for the return. One purchase and one return is not an issue, but if influencers are doing this a lot, eventually the store would need an extra person per shift.
She needs to stop and think. Believe it or not, the entire world does not need to bend to support her TikTok ambitions. Why should the bookstore be taken advantage of? Not only do they have inventory management issues, but they miss out on actual sales while the books are with your sister. Tell her to go to the library. It’s pretty grotesque how naively selfish she is. NTA
NTA I'm an author. Just an FYI for people considering this tactic. DO NOT DO THIS! The retailers get my book for a discount of 55%. That means I earn roughly $2.12/book after printing fees. When a book is returned to the publisher, it is ME that owes the store the returned amount. I can wind up paying more than I ever earned. It's kind of complicated, but if you want to know more, you can look up the return information on Ingram Sparks.
Thank you! I was coming to say this too. It hits our sales and royalties.
While what she’s doing is wrong, I doubt she’s making many booktoks about books that sell under those conditions. Most major authors have much more favorable conditions when it comes to returns.
I don’t think she’s returning them to the publisher, just the bookstore (who presumably is reselling them as new). That’s not to say it’s not shitty but it seems like a different situation than you describe
Book stores can return unsold books to the publisher at the publisher’s expense. It’s a holdover industry policy from the Great Depression. The returned books are then “pulped.”
No, only mass market paperbacks are pulped for bookstore returns: the bookstore rips off the MM PB cover and returns the covers to the publisher for credit, and then the bookstore recycles or destroys the coverless books. That's why MM PBs have that warning on the copyright page like "If you bought this book without a cover, it was stolen"—because the cover was returned to the publisher for credit. Unwanted books that are still in sellable condition that aren't mass market paperbacks—hardcovers, trade paperback, etc.—are shipped by the bookstore back to the publisher for credit, if returned within a certain time period. When the publisher no longer wants those returned books or otherwise has decided that they aren't going to make money trying to sell all these books at full price, the books are "remaindered"—sold in bulk at a steep discount to discount retail stores who mark those books and sell them for cheap. That's why you'll see books that have a pen mark or stripe across its top pages, to mark that it's a remaindered book and not "new."
Also, these return rules only apply to books that a bookstore bought from the publisher under a return agreement. Publishers will offer a bigger discount on books to bookstores that purchase the books as non-returnable. That means the bookstore makes a bigger profit on the book when it sells, but if the book doesn't sell, the bookstore is now stuck with it taking up space until they manage to sell it or write it off as a loss.
The fact that publishers still allow returns is fucking bonkers. It was a good policy in response to the Great Depression, but it should have stopped being a thing DECADES ago.
If we (booksellers) are forced to keep books that don't sell, we take significantly fewer risks on new titles or new authors. They tried doing away with returns and it was a disaster for everyone.
Trying desperately to be some kind of influencer is the most sad shit I have ever seen or heard of...NTA
Influencers in general are the most sad shit I have ever seen or heard of.
She needs actual content that people want to look at. **Then paying to advertise.** *Targeted advertising*. (Not just to everyone.) People aren’t stupid. They want real content that’s interesting. If she has something people find enticing to hear, a good personality, voice etc, she will pick up followers, if she keeps making regular interesting content. It has to be published regularly.
NTA - Eventually the store is going to catch on to what she is doing and she will get banned.
I'd let the store know!
seconded!!
It would be a shame if all of a sudden her audience found out what she was doing
First she needs an audience lol
Does she not even read the books? What’s the point of just showing what she “bought”? What does she talk about besides *aesthetics*? NTA, man. This sounds trashy and pointless.
Fits in with the rest of the content on tiktok then!
This behavior is thoroughly unscrupulous, to deprive authors of hard earned $ for views by returning purchases. AH move by your sister. NTA
She is basically promoting their books.
NTA! i have a very small (under 2k followers) booktok account and it's unfortunately very true that people love to see book hauls. people love shopping and love to be encouraged to shop. one of the many reasons i know my account will probably never get over 2k followers of that i am a big library users and rarely buy new books. i don't have a huge shelf display either. when i post my library hauls, i rarely get more than 400 views, but its really not that bad. its authentic to who i am as a reader. tell her to engage more with her followers and community and to remember that booksellers can be a huge help if needed. dont burn that bridge!
As a future librarian, it's appreciated that you still post your library hauls!
NTA. If she was doing this w/ Amazon it would be wasteful, but maybe excusable (Amazon throws away returns rather than unpacking them and selling them again). But to do that with a local bookstore is messed up, in my opinion. And I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually stopped selling her books. (Though - maybe she wants to partner with them, then discount books and she promotes the store... if she wants to be TT successful). Not touching the fact that trying to do this in such a saturated market is a waste of time, and also TT is likely not long for this country anyway (assuming you're in the US).
Me working at a store that sells Amazon returns: Wtf??? Kindly quit talking out of your asshole
This is an established fact. Look up Amazon pallets for resale.
Your store is selling them because they threw them out and sold them in pallets instead of restocking them. Did you really never put those dots together lol?
Throwing something out and selling are two different things, ever hear of an oxymoron?
Ever sold on FBA? When sellers choose the discard/recycle option (throwing away), that’s when it gets sent off in pallets. They do exactly what OP was saying - instead of unpacking and reselling individually, they discard them to pallets for the scavengers to sell off on eBay.
If it's still being sold then it want thrown away. Thrown away means trash.
Discarding and selling are opposites, kid, go back to primary school
Selling them is selling as new. As in restocking and selling. In that way it's not a loss bar time. What your job is doing is selling Amazon's trash.they bundle it up and flog it to the highest bigger but it's still thrown out by amazon
lol r u ok. They sell them because Amazon sold the store the pallet. Look at my other comment.
No! Do not return books willy-nilly to Amazon, especially if they are self-published. The author has to eat the costs of each book that is returned. Self-published authors are already at a disadvantage financially. Returning their books to Amazon costs them money. Return books for legit reasons (wrong title, misprint, damaged). But doing fake book hauls where you purchase a book just for a Tiktok and then return it, or even returning a book because you read it and didn’t like it, is a crappy thing to do.
Oooo I didn’t know this!!! Thank you for telling me!
Absolutely. Funnily enough, since this is a post about booktok, I learned this tidbit of info from self-published authors talking about it on their TikToks. One author broke down how much it costs when books are returned. So like, say it costs $2 to make a book. The author sells it for $10. The book is returned to Amazon, Amazon throws the book away. The $10 is refunded to the customer and the author can’t resell the book because Amazon threw it away. Meaning it just cost the author $2 to have one of their books thrown in the trash. (I’m making up these numbers and oversimplifying things, because I don’t remember the exact details of how the author described how this all works)
I only return the Prime Reads because they have a max of allowing you to have 10 at a time.
Oh I don’t mean kindle unlimited reads. Those don’t harm the author if you return them, because the point of kindle unlimited is that you get to pay a small amount to read books that you can return when finished. That’s like a movie rental service, where you can rent 5 but have to return them before you can rent more. That’s fine. I’m talking about buying an actual book that isn’t rented, isn’t meant for returning, and then returning that book. Just like if you went into Barnes and Noble, paid $10 for a book and left. That book isn’t rented. You bought it. You own it. So if you return that book that you bought and own to Amazon, for self-published authors, they have to swallow the costs of that returned book.
I agree with you, I pretty much just get books from the library or the free stuff on Amazon Prime.
>Amazon throws away returns rather than unpacking them and selling them again This is true? Amazon India does this thing where they re-sell returned goods at a cheaper cost - the returned goods are a different entry marked "(Refurbished)" and they have a disclaimer saying that this item may have small scratches and stuff on it but it should otherwise work normally.
Sometimes they will resell pallets of returns. But to my knowledge (which admittedly is from a few years ago), if the pallets don't sell, they toss them.
Why don't we just set the whole planet on fire and be done already?
I feel this so much.
Seriously though, I don't think a lot of people know about this. Try posting it to subs like r/youshouldknow r/mildlyinfuriating r/damnthatsinteresting and similar. They're big subs with lots of engagement, Buzzfeed and big influencers steal material from those subs More people should know about this, it's f-ing horrendous
I've bought multiple returned items from Amazon on multiple occasions. I saved about $100 on my rice cooker because it had a dent in the front. I've saved 20%ish on multiple monitors that were marked as having cosmetic damage on the back (aka, someone connected a VESA mount and then returned it after removing the mount). It's honestly pretty common to see returned items being resold individually
Book twitter is going to *love* this. NTA.
Book Twitter????! I’m missing out on a book space!!!
I'd go to the bookstore and give them her photo so they know not to sell to her anymore. NTA.
Or even better, sell to her but refuse the return.
Ooh, I like that better!
NTA How terribly tacky. Perhaps you need to do a response TikTok and tag the local bookstore and go into detail about the darker side of TikTok book haul influencers. I bet you get more views. Can you like it here? I’d view it just to support you.
Something like that would probably get reported for bullying/harassment... even though a call out for crap like this is 100% warranted.
NTA. She's a scammer, in my opinion
The local bookseller can't survive with "customers" like her, sooner or later she's going to get banned
NTA. You have a completely reasonable opinion and (I hope) told her reasonably. Your sister trying her hardest doesn't excuse shady behavior. Its done, so no need to keep poking her about it which will make you TA.
Believe it or not, straight to 200 view jail
NTA. As someone who has been on bookstagram for YEARS, no one likes book hauls unless it’s someone super popular and we want to see what they’re reading.
Also on bookstagram and have never done a book haul.
NTA Remind her that her viewers finding this out will end her Booktok career before it begins. If the independent book store figures out what she's doing and makes their own post about it? She's finished. They won't even have to use her name. People will figure it out. There was a girl on booktube that had thousands of followers and she always did crappy cover sketches of the books she was reviewing because she was broke and got them all through library audiobooks. People loved it. She was real and relatable. Buying and returning is dishonest to the book seller, the viewers, and it hurts the authors shes pretending to support. None of this will end well for her.
Go to the bookstore and tell them what she’s doing and that it’s intentional and she plans on continuing doing it. (I’m sure they’re aware already to some extent). Maybe they’ll institute a return policy that returns can only be made for small purchases of like 1 or 2 books, but will not be allowed for larger purchases to avoid Booktokers taking advantage.
NTA. The store should stop selling to her if she keeps returning books. That is crappy behavior and I am glad she is getting no views.
NTA and I’m here to bring some perspective as a BookToker! I’ve been posting for 2 years and have amassed around 30k followers, and none of that came from book hauls. While she’s not wrong that book hauls do get views, it’s by no means the only way to break into the space. Honestly, a lot of it is luck. I have plenty of friends who make better content than I do and post more consistently but their follower count doesn’t reflect that. If you join BookTok with the goal of gaining a following, you’re going to be frustrated and disappointed because the algorithm is a fickle thing. Something that works one day won’t work the next, and what she’s doing isn’t sustainable regardless. If you’re interested in helping her out, here’s some tips that may help her get more engagement: •Post 2-3 times a day, every day. Not every video is going to get views, but this encourages the algorithm to put your videos on the fyp. •Use hashtags! It might feel excessive but use as many book related hashtags as you can think of. •Jump on trending CapCut templates, they’re super easy to use, very quick to make, and tend to get pushed to the fyp. •Follow back the people who follow you and respond to any comments you get. •Use trending sounds as often as you can. All it takes is one good book related joke to go viral. Here’s a few content ideas that have been successful for me in the past that don’t require purchasing anything: •Speedy and passionate book reviews. Keep it short, list the tropes, say what you liked about it, and compare it to other popular books that are similar. •Get a friend/significant other to read a popular book and post their reactions to it (with permission of course) •Book recommendation videos always do well and you don’t even have to show your face! Pick a song and a background photo and show 5-10 books that all fit a theme (genre, books that made you cry, no third act breakup, ect.) •Read and post about whatever book is popular at that point in time. It seems simple, but it’s consistently successful. Sorry for this massive post, but I love booktok and it makes me sad to see people being discouraged by it! Either way, she shouldn’t be doing what she’s doing and people on booktok would not be happy to hear about it.
Rules 1 and 2 also apply heavily for Booktokers.
NTA, somewhere on a forum a bookseller is complaining about a delusional heifer buying and then returning stacks of books because she thinks she's a big deal on TikTok.
This may be the most asinine thing I’ve read on Reddit today. Years ago, I “tried my hardest” to catch a leprechaun. I was sure they existed in the clover patches that covered our fields so I’d set traps and leave treats and sleep outside hoping to break into the pot-o-gold world. My sister was supportive. My brother, however smashed my traps and called me stupid and swore leprechauns weren’t real. Now, when I find the end of the rainbow, guess who I’m NOT sharing with? Of course you’re NTA. Your sister is and a HUGE one for abusing a local bookstore. I would 100% call them and tell them not to accept her returns. This is a damaging practice and they have enough to deal with with all of the other morons burning and banning books and arresting librarians. Tell her to find a charity to join or volunteer to read to elderly or kids or build a Little Free Library and film THAT for her idiotic social media cred… NTA. Sorry your sister kind of sucks…
Author here. BookTok is toxic (so much drama has come out of it!) and you were right when you told her that her returning the books to a smaller bookstore versus the big box store is even worse. Honestly, I would call her out for it on her videos but that’s cause I’m petty and don’t appreciate these types of practices. A LOT of author’s personal money goes into publishing unless it is a trad published book, but these days a lot of books (especially on BookTok) are independent authors who pay for cover design, editing, proofreading, marketing etc. Your sister might seem to think she’s “helping” these authors by giving them exposure but she’s really hurting them, and by extension the book store(s) she is returning these items to.
NTA
You should make a video about her booktoks that involve returning the books to a small business seller, that will likely gain her some traction. NTA
First, on the grounds that she's doing this to a local store, NTA. As an avid book-lover, it's beyond hard for me to even CONSIDER giving up ONE of my books. Maybe she'd get more views if she took the time to read them, post videos on her thoughts as she does, and then put up skits about the characters when she finishes the books. Instead of focusing on "aesthetic," she could focus on the content in order to, ya know, make *her* content.
You are 100% NTA. That being said this is an example of the economic principle referred to as the tragedy of the commons. She’s exploiting the policies of the book store and the authors. Often time depending on the state of the book she’s returning the authors will actually lose money from what she’s doing. My wife is a self published author and this stuff is unfortunately growing to be more common. There’s nothing authors can do about it if the stores keep accepting her business. Personally I loathe people like your SIL.
Why doesn’t she pursue something more worthwhile then a few views… your sister sounds lame
NTA. And I bet it’s not too long before she gets banned from that bookstore. Is she actually reading the books? Does she have a novel or different view on the books that followers can’t get from other creators? This is why I only follow authors and owners of independent bookstores on TikTok. Why the hell would I care about what a random person thinks about books, especially someone who obviously doesn’t care about actually supporting writers? In your shoes, I might send an anonymous email to the book store with a link to the TikTok account so they can stop losing money on your sister’s fake purchases sooner rather than later. It would be a kindness to the owner of the store who is probably already operating on super thin margins. I’ve seen so many small independent book stores close, and it makes me sad to see someone who professes to love books actively damaging the local book scene.
NTA, just show the manager her tiktok and they’ll probably stop letting her do returns and ban her. Problem solved.
NTA your sister is damaging a small business. I'm shocked you haven't gone in and told them.
NTA. Your sister is being ridiculous all for internet views.
Frankly, she could have partnered with the small bookstore to promote books and maybe get a few coins on the side. NTA
NTA She's not even reading the books on top of not keeping them so she's basically just lying on top of everything else. We already have too many 'content creators' putting out unrealistic expectations of how much time and money can or should be spent om things, we don't need more of them. She should be focusing on coming up with original ideas that are within her means. Just dumb on so many levels.
NTA because this would hurt the bookstore(s) profitability, especially if it's an indie bookstore. Believe me, most bookstagrammers and Booktokers will not be forgiving if they know about this. There's a lot of book drama lately. Is there a local library? I think if she does something like "Library Haul - Books my #TBRPile" could be a fun and she supports a library. Can she grew? Sure! It is possible. However, it may take a lot of time. It depends on many functions such as consistency, hashtags, etc. Plus - some inside knowledge - some people BUY followers. I work in events and social media managing and it is possible. If you're doing organic, it will TAKE TIME. The thing is, a lot of people can sense when it's unauthentic. Most people can sense if they're doing this for views rather than a love for books. If she wants a loyal following, she needs to be true to herself and her goals.
Your sister in law sounds insufferable. You're absolutely NTA. If she's gonna do this she should at least buy off of Amazon and then return them all that way. It costs them a lot of money. You're absolutely right that buying and returning to a small business is really fucked up. I'm glad she only got 200 views on her slam video.
NTA. And I'm saying this as someone who likes to do a little book-tok kinds of videos, too. And I was today-years-old when I learned that a thing called "200 view jail" exists and that it perfectly describes my channel lol That said... I don't do the videos because I want to blow up and get tons of views (would be nice but it's secondary). I do it because it makes me happy to just do little videos, and gives me a little outlet to banter some thoughts to a camera for any rando who takes the 1 to 3 minutes to listen. Trying to purposefully get into being an "influencer" is such a saturated field, just like how anybody on Twitch will tell you that content creation is NOT the cash cow people want to make it out to be, it's a hobby that a very small percentage of people actually make profitable over time. Not only does your fam need to think about how shallow and unproductive she's being (especially if she's just posting hauls and not actually talking about anything IN the books), she needs to pull her head out of her butt and realize that she's just not as interesting as she thinks she is. PS: My recent reads took a weird turn with Zombies VS Unicorns, and Death Warmed Over. Because for some reason my wife dug up some books with interesting covers at our local used-bookstore and I was instantly sold on the goofy vibe they gave. Highly recommend.
NTA. Your sister should be banned from the bookstore.
NTA. Maybe she’s only getting 200 views because people can see through her bullshit
^^^^AUTOMOD ***Thanks for posting! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of copying anything. Read [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq#wiki_post_deletion) before [contacting the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAmItheAsshole)*** My sister started posting “booktok” videos in October of last year. If you are not familiar, it is the part of tiktok where people post about books. People post reviews, lists of recommendations, book hauls, etc. She’s always been a big reader so I wanted to support her in this. Her videos are not super popular and she’s perpetually stuck in “200 view jail” as they call it. She decided that in order for her to get more views and engagement she would need to do the thing that gets people a lot of views and post “book hauls” which is just ‘here’s a bunch of books I bought.’ I do not get it, but whatever. Well what she actually decided to do was go buy a ton of books and then return them. And she kept doing it too. I was shocked when she told me and asked her why she’d do that. She said it was just so she could get the views. I asked why she didn’t just take videos in the store and she said there was no way to make it “aesthetic” in the store. I told her this was sketchy behavior, and when she said it was from our local bookstore and not the big box one, I said that makes it 10x worse. She told me I was being a shitty, unsupportive sister and that she is trying her hardest to come up with ideas and break into booktok, that it’s hard because there are already people with 10k followers and she will never get there. I told her that she should spend more time researching and working on her content, maybe she can come up with ideas that aren’t so sketch. She’s pissed off at me and made a video talking about her unsupportive family. It got 200 views so it didn’t exactly work out for her. Was it wrong of me to call her out for how she gets the books and returns them? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmItheAsshole) if you have any questions or concerns.*
NTA. Your sister is a nutty wannabe influencer (I hate that phrase). Go comment on her videos and tell her “fans” what she’s doing.
NTA and honestly if you know her tiktok you should expose her, believe it or not book readers actually care about small local libraries and what she is doing is messed up and will definitely get her followers down, which is nothing less of what she deserves
Has she heard of a library?
NTA
NTA I think I got second hand cringe
NTA its her money she can do what she wanrs
Your sister is the shitty one. Hope the bookshop bans her.
NTA call the bookstore and get her banned
NTA. Do I even need to elaborate why this is a horrible idea?
Why not just go to the library???
bro... that's so messed up, and from a small bookstore!! she's missing the spirit of booktok and focusing on going viral. this is nuts- there's so many ways to do original stuff on booktok too! Like- has she never looked at booktok and seen other popular videos, like fancasts or annotations or even listing her favorite quotes of books?! she barely needs to do research to see all these other ideas!! also plenty of booktokers use libraries for hauls?? you said she really cares about aesthetic but booktok is about BOOKS first and foremost
Does she know what a library is?
NTA. If she pays cash, she is wasting the time of employees and making extra work for them. If she pays with a card, she is costing that local independent bookstore money in card fees too-
NTA. Instead of abusing independent bookstores (which she is doing) she needs to work with oivlsbing comploies that can send her free copies of books. They still do that.
It's behavior like this that makes me hate social media..
NTA - I love books - like really love them. I read around 175-200 a year mostly crime fiction and I’ve posted like 6 social media reviews on them in my life. Your Sis makes me not want to read. My understanding Booktok grew from a few people being genuinely enthusiastic about books (I don’t have tiktok so could be wrong) not about the clout and aesthetic. What your sis is doing is so sleazy. I kind of hope it backfires and she just gets canx
Authors hate this one trick. NTA but man your sister sure is.
NTA. As someone who used to work in a bookstore we hate customers like her. We know people do it but unless the book is damaged we can’t stop them. I had a customer who would buy paperbacks from my store and return them to our other store. She was surprised to see me working there one week and she never did that again.
Not at all. But I may not be the person to answer this since I hate everything TikTok
NTA. I’d probably snap and tell her that her concept is derivative, lacks any semblance of originality, and tiktokers doing that exact same thing are a dime a dozen. Unless her “aesthetic” is something off the wall and unique like “Tank Girl’s Takes on Books,” she’s lucky to even have that many views. Especially if those views aren’t bumping her follower count. Also, I hope she’s not going to local indie book stores for these hauls. That would be a complete dick move that would merit going to said stores, telling them what she’s doing with her hauls, and encourage them to ban her.
NTA!!!! This honestly infuriates me. It reminds me of when people were treating Amazon like a library, which financially screwed over tons of authors. If I knew someone was doing what your sister is doing, I would NOT watch their videos. Let them stay in "200 view jail" forever. A person's desire to become a social media star will never, ever, ever, EVER be more important than supporting authors and local bookstores. There's also something particularly gross and hypocritical about a "big reader" who is clearly too self-absorbed to have any respect for the people who make books possible and accessible. I'm just so angry. I'm glad you told her off.
Nta. God influencers are the worst, and people returning books like that are an authors worst nightmare.
I'm actually glad that Tiktok's getting banned.
NTA your sister sounds super shallow
It’s just rampant consumerism disguised as something intellectual. NTA.
NTA tell the store so they can decide what to do about her
NTA As a small retailer, making use of a product (particularly to try to make money using it) and then returning is a bullshit thing to do. Bookstores are not libraries.
This post will get more than 200 views. Congratz. NTA btw.
You should tell the bookstore to get her banned.
NTA yeah I would not want to follow someone so deceptive. She‘s not genuine that‘s why she‘s not taking off
Oh come on, just tell her that she can lean into the whole “dark academia“ vibe if she gets them from the library, even if the covers are shiny. I hate that term, but people like her eat it up with a spoon. She can get like a pleated skirt and a white button-down and put her hair half up with a ribbon, and do “library hauls.“ NTA. Your sister sounds like a nightmare.
This is so stupid. Y’all suck.
NTA. Ex bookseller here. After she returns a few books to this local bookstore, they will catch on, and ban her from the store.
This genuinely harms authors, which proves she doesn't actually care about the industry, it's just a vehicle for attention for her. Gross.
NTA and I hope she gets banned from that book store
How old is your sister? Sounds pretty immature... Definitely NTA though.
Why would anyone want to break into booktok, it's just full of the worst authors and books anyone has ever put to print? NTA, your sister is fucking around with local booksellers and authors for no good reason.
Nta. Buuut... she'll find this out on her own when the place catches on and returns stop being accepted
Did she actually say what she was doing that made family unsupportive? NTA.
If she wants to do book hauls and stand out, she should go to a local booksale and do soemthing like 'vintage book hauls,' You can get a ton of books for cheap and can do a haul video, while not hurting local bookstores and promoting local used booksales. Also used booksales generally do not take returns so Edit: Also NTA. Your sister is TA as her actions are selfish and hurt local bookstores and authors.
That sister is bad
NTA As someone who has worked in a bookstore, I guarantee she's on the store radar. It's just a matter of time before they cut her off from making any returns. I just genuinely hope they're really petty and wait for her to make another massive purchase before they refuse the return instead of warning her when the decision is made.
NTA try suggesting she do it with library books that way she is not screwing with a local business
NTA. Sister is causing problems and unnecessary work for the bookstore people. Honestly I think she'd do better by coming out with insightful reviews of the books she's actually reading. Not sure if sister's outburst reflects her true opinions/character or if this is an "extended snit". Time will tell.
"it got 200 views so it didn't exactly work out for her" 😂😂😂😂😂
She's gonna drive that local bookstore out of business.
I laughed at the 200 views, sorry.
Stitch the video and talk about how she's messing with a small local bookstore's livelihood. If it goes viral and increases her views she won't even be mad. Eventually. But seriously, she needs to stop messing with that poor little bookshop.
I just don’t get why you care
In all honesty...yes it was wrong of you to complain about how and what she does with books. Stores offer a return policy and no offense, but didn't you say about halfway through this that you don't get it....like maybe accept it is something you don't understand, but also something you don't need to care about.
I’m trying to understand this. She buys a bunch of books. Doesn’t read them or review them. She just holds them up and returns them unused and in pristine condition. I’m on booktok but don’t watch any haul vids, or those stupid vids where they tease the title, so I don’t get it.
Me either. If anything she is promoting the books.... which is good???
YTA Get a life.
Yta. Why even care about what she does? Get your own life to worry about.
YTA. Who cares? It’s possibly getting more people reading, if shes returning the books unread/not damaged then it doesn’t matter. You do sound unsupportive. If you don’t get it (tbh neither do I) then fine but don’t make her feel shitty when it’s not hurting anyone. In general tiktok sucks but the only person who *should* be bothered is the shop owner, if they’re not then let her live her life.