Reader Anxiety: The Psychology Behind Hyped Books and Shelf Saturation

I've found myself in a familiar predicament time and time again, where I buy a book that I've been wanting for months, weeks, years – however long – only to let it sit on my shelf for an extended period before finally picking it up. It's a phenomenon that's both frustrating and relatable, as I'm sure many of you can attest to. The problem is that when I get a book that's so hyped, like one that's been recommended by multiple people or has garnered a significant amount of buzz on social media, my excitement often turns to anxiety. This fear of disappointment can cause me to put off reading the book for an inordinate amount of time.

This phenomenon is especially true when it comes to books that have been highly anticipated and built up with hype. I recall one particular example, The Young Elites by Marie Lu, which was a major release at the time. I remember doing a review of the book shortly after finishing it, and while it received generally positive reviews from many readers, my own experience with the book was vastly different. In hindsight, I can see that my high expectations for the book due to its hype likely skewed my perception of it. If I hadn't had such high hopes for the book beforehand, I might have enjoyed it more than I did. This realization has led me to wonder if I'm simply too sensitive to hype, or if there's something else at play.

The pressure to enjoy a book that's been highly recommended by others can be overwhelming. As someone who values their relationships with fellow readers and bloggers, I feel a sense of responsibility to recommend books that I truly believe in. When I don't enjoy a book as much as I thought I would, it can be disappointing not only for me but also for those who may have trusted my recommendations. This fear of disappointment is what often causes me to put off reading a book, even when I know it's been eagerly awaited by many others.

Furthermore, social media plays a significant role in this phenomenon. When I see books being highly recommended and discussed on platforms like Twitter and Instagram, it can create unrealistic expectations for myself. I start to feel like I need to love the book just as much as everyone else does, which can lead to feelings of anxiety and dread when opening the cover. This isn't to say that social media is inherently bad – many people use these platforms to share their passion for reading and discover new books – but it can definitely contribute to the pressure to enjoy a highly anticipated release.

In recent years, I've found myself struggling with this issue more than ever before. My Christmas book haul, which included several highly recommended titles, was a prime example of this struggle. As I looked at my shelf, I couldn't help but feel a sense of trepidation about tackling some of these books. It's not that I didn't want to read them – I had been eagerly anticipating many of them for months or even years – but the hype surrounding them made me nervous.

So, what can be done to alleviate this reader anxiety? For myself, it comes down to finding a balance between excitement and caution. When I'm considering reading a highly anticipated book, I try to take a step back and assess my expectations. Am I going into this book with too much hype or pressure? Can I approach the book without preconceptions and enjoy it for what it is? By doing so, I hope to minimize disappointment and maximize enjoyment.

I'd love to hear from you – have you ever struggled with similar feelings of anxiety when reading highly anticipated books? How do you deal with the hype surrounding a new release? Do you find that it's easier to just dive in and read the book immediately, or do you take your time before starting? Your thoughts are welcome in the comments below!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys it's Sam and today I want to do a book chat on hype disappointment and apprehension so I've seen a number of people talk about hype and things involving book because book is a source of a lot of hype for books there are people that get books to review to cause hype for their releases there are people that just love books a lot and hype them such as myself there's just a lot of hype whenever you discover a new book you want to share it with everybody else I am guilty of this obviously it's why I started a book Channel I wanted to share sh my love of books with other people and I'm not apologizing for that any way I think that I have excellent taste in books but I do understand that book hype can cause some disappointment and some problems potentially sometimes and I am sometimes even a victim of that so there are a lot of books on my shelf that are very hyped books and that I have bought because of the hype because of recommendations because people I trust have recommended them but I find that a lot of times when I buy a book that I've been wanting for months weeks years however long A lot of times I will let it sit on my shelf for a while before I pick it up and you'd think that once I got a book that's so hyped like that and that I've been wanting for so long that I would pick it up immediately but I tend to put it off for a long time this happened with some of my favorite books like the kiss of deception the Winter's curse the night circus all those were books that sat on my shelf for up to a month or longer the night circus was on my shelf for about 3 months before I picked it up the Winter's curse was on my shelf for about 2 months the kiss of deception was on my shelf for like another two months I think like usually when I get a book that I I really am excited about I put it off for a while and I was thinking about this a lot because of my recent Christmas book haul because all those books are books that I've wanted for a very long time and I actually don't know what I'm going to get to most of them the reason for this and I'm sure most of you are like this too is that when I really really hype a book I get really nervous that it's going to disappoint me because books that have been really hyped for me have been disappointing in the past and I've noticed a lot of times with those books that if they hadn't been so hyped I might have enjoyed them a little bit more a good example of this is the young Elites by Marie Lou I did a review on this right after I read it and you can go and check it out down below if you would like to I will link it for you but this is a book that I feel like if I hadn't heard all the hype for it because it was going around blogs and it was all over Twitter and just people were talking about Marie Lou's new book and I was really really excited for it for sure it was going to be a f star book in my opinion it ended up being about a 2 or 2.5 star and I think that's mostly having to do with the fact that it was so hyped that I was expecting so much more from it than I actually got and it would actually have been a book that I might have enjoyed like given a 3.5 or even a four star if I hadn't had the hype building up in my head for months before I got this book there is no quicker way for me to give a book a low rating than to be disappointed by it so that leaves me with a lot of apprehension for numerous reasons one I don't want to read a book that I'm disappointed for two if a book has been really recommended to me or people have really been pushing it on me I'm nervous that if I don't like it people won't so much get mad but people will get disappointed I know that people don't like a book that I recommend I get a little dis disappointed I'm not personally offended by it like some people can get but I I feel a little bad that I recommended it and I would hate for a friend to recommend me something and then for me to be like I didn't like it and I so I just put it off for a long time which probably creates even more hype in my mind and is even worse so there are so many books on my shelf I just need to bite the bullet for and just read but that is why sometimes I put off books for so long I know a lot of you guys are like you've had some of these books forever why haven't you read them and for me it's just like I get nervous about them and even though most of the time I love books that recommend it to me like the majority of the time nine out of 10 times I'm going to love the books to recommended for me because I follow people that I really trust their recommendations and they typically don't steer me wrong so I'm usually fine but I'm always worried about that little small group that I maybe I won't like them and I get really nervous so comment down below and let me know if you have these similar feelings of apprehension how you feel about the hype that generated by book and just the social media community and how you kind of deal with it as soon as you buy a book do you just automatically read it cuz otherwise it'll pile up I wish I could do that but I buy a lot of books at one time usually books that are highly recommended and hyped so I can't exactly do that but I just wanted to share my little feelings of reader anxiety with you so thank you all for watching and I will see all of you guys soon byehey guys it's Sam and today I want to do a book chat on hype disappointment and apprehension so I've seen a number of people talk about hype and things involving book because book is a source of a lot of hype for books there are people that get books to review to cause hype for their releases there are people that just love books a lot and hype them such as myself there's just a lot of hype whenever you discover a new book you want to share it with everybody else I am guilty of this obviously it's why I started a book Channel I wanted to share sh my love of books with other people and I'm not apologizing for that any way I think that I have excellent taste in books but I do understand that book hype can cause some disappointment and some problems potentially sometimes and I am sometimes even a victim of that so there are a lot of books on my shelf that are very hyped books and that I have bought because of the hype because of recommendations because people I trust have recommended them but I find that a lot of times when I buy a book that I've been wanting for months weeks years however long A lot of times I will let it sit on my shelf for a while before I pick it up and you'd think that once I got a book that's so hyped like that and that I've been wanting for so long that I would pick it up immediately but I tend to put it off for a long time this happened with some of my favorite books like the kiss of deception the Winter's curse the night circus all those were books that sat on my shelf for up to a month or longer the night circus was on my shelf for about 3 months before I picked it up the Winter's curse was on my shelf for about 2 months the kiss of deception was on my shelf for like another two months I think like usually when I get a book that I I really am excited about I put it off for a while and I was thinking about this a lot because of my recent Christmas book haul because all those books are books that I've wanted for a very long time and I actually don't know what I'm going to get to most of them the reason for this and I'm sure most of you are like this too is that when I really really hype a book I get really nervous that it's going to disappoint me because books that have been really hyped for me have been disappointing in the past and I've noticed a lot of times with those books that if they hadn't been so hyped I might have enjoyed them a little bit more a good example of this is the young Elites by Marie Lou I did a review on this right after I read it and you can go and check it out down below if you would like to I will link it for you but this is a book that I feel like if I hadn't heard all the hype for it because it was going around blogs and it was all over Twitter and just people were talking about Marie Lou's new book and I was really really excited for it for sure it was going to be a f star book in my opinion it ended up being about a 2 or 2.5 star and I think that's mostly having to do with the fact that it was so hyped that I was expecting so much more from it than I actually got and it would actually have been a book that I might have enjoyed like given a 3.5 or even a four star if I hadn't had the hype building up in my head for months before I got this book there is no quicker way for me to give a book a low rating than to be disappointed by it so that leaves me with a lot of apprehension for numerous reasons one I don't want to read a book that I'm disappointed for two if a book has been really recommended to me or people have really been pushing it on me I'm nervous that if I don't like it people won't so much get mad but people will get disappointed I know that people don't like a book that I recommend I get a little dis disappointed I'm not personally offended by it like some people can get but I I feel a little bad that I recommended it and I would hate for a friend to recommend me something and then for me to be like I didn't like it and I so I just put it off for a long time which probably creates even more hype in my mind and is even worse so there are so many books on my shelf I just need to bite the bullet for and just read but that is why sometimes I put off books for so long I know a lot of you guys are like you've had some of these books forever why haven't you read them and for me it's just like I get nervous about them and even though most of the time I love books that recommend it to me like the majority of the time nine out of 10 times I'm going to love the books to recommended for me because I follow people that I really trust their recommendations and they typically don't steer me wrong so I'm usually fine but I'm always worried about that little small group that I maybe I won't like them and I get really nervous so comment down below and let me know if you have these similar feelings of apprehension how you feel about the hype that generated by book and just the social media community and how you kind of deal with it as soon as you buy a book do you just automatically read it cuz otherwise it'll pile up I wish I could do that but I buy a lot of books at one time usually books that are highly recommended and hyped so I can't exactly do that but I just wanted to share my little feelings of reader anxiety with you so thank you all for watching and I will see all of you guys soon bye\n"