Hey guys, today I’m coming at you with a new discussion post and today I’m talking about book hauls! In 2018 I stopped posting monthly book hauls and this year I’ve started them again because I wanted to see how I felt about the two experiences and today that’s what I’m chatting to you guys about!
Last year I decided to forego monthly book hauls and instead I posted a book haul in December showing every book I had received and bought all in one post which you can find here. But, in 2019 I decided to change it up and catalogue my hauls monthly – showing the books I buy and receive, as well as the movies, library books & merch I get in a month, like my January/February Haul you can find here.
THE PROS
I really enjoy reading book hauls and being able to actually catalogue my books. I love being able to look back on past months and see exactly how long I have owned a book and how long it took me to actually read the book.
You get to talk about all the book you’ve bought/borrowed/received recently and you get to be excited about them and maybe you can talk abt them in the comments and chat with other bloggers about the books
THE CONS
I stopped doing monthly hauls at some point in 2017 and ended up just doing a big haul at the end of 2018. I stopped making hauls on my blog mainly because I felt guilty. Hauls are a great way to show people just how privileged you are, and honestly, they just make me feel guilty. Hey, guys welcome back look at how many books I got this month! Aren’t I great?!! But, at the same time I also can go months at a time without purchasing a single book/movie/graphic novel etc. so from an aesthetic, organised pov that annoys me.
Content-wise, book hauls are a relatively easy blog post to write. There’s very minimal writing required so I can listen to an audiobook or watch videos in the background. I also do my book hauls only every two months and can add to them throughout that time, so they’re not something I do all at once. They’re also wayy easier to write because you don’t necessarily have to have read the books in order to add them to the blog post.
I sometimes feel like book hauls or hauls, in general, come off as “flexing my muscles”. I don’t ever want people to think I’m showing off or flaunting my privilege. But, at the same time, I love reading book hauls and seeing people’s fresh excitement for a book, especially when they haul one of my favourites!
So, is it flexing or excitement? Why do we post book hauls? I post them because I enjoy categorizing my books and I love reading them. Do you like book hauls?
DO YOU LIKE BOOK HAULS?
DO YOU VIEW HAULS AS A SHOW AS PRIVILEGE OR AS A WAY TO TALK ABOUT ALL THE NEW BOOKS YOU’RE EXCITED ABOUT?
I HAVE I HAVE
allonsythornraxx 
Very interesting discussion! This is why I started doing posts about books I recently added to my tbr. I figured it’s a good way to talk about books I’m interested without the elements of bragging or privilege. I get to show books I want to read but don’t necessarily own!
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Thank you, it’s a topic I’ve been thinking over for a while! That’s a great way to do it! I don’t add enough books to my tbr to do that, but I have started doing library hauls with my normal hauls because I feel like that’s less braggy?
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I see them as excitement!! Especially for some bloggers/booktubers/etc, you get so many books that it would be impossible to read them all, but it is nice to see them at least once in case the premise sounds interesting to me as a reader/viewer!
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That’s amazing to hear! I agree I do like seeing what people bring to their tbr!
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I must admit, I very rarely look at people’s book hauls. There are only a couple of bloggers/youtubers whose book hauls I would actually read because I know their reading tastes are similar to mine. Most of the time, I look down a book haul and don’t know ANY of the books and I’m not interested in any of them, so they’re not really aimed at me anyway.
This was an interesting discussion though. I do think it is important to remember that not everybody can afford or access all the new releases.
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I feel the same way, I usually only look at some hauls like you, I mostly don’t look at them because they’re usually new releases or books I know nothing about. Yes, I think it’s really important to recognise that not everyone can afford to go to the bookstore/ not everyone has access to a library.
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I personally don’t tend to look at people’s book haul posts because in the past it has made me feel quite sad to see some people getting/buying so many books when this isn’t possible for me. However, since I’ve been blogging for almost 2 years I feel a lot more confident in myself as a blogger and don’t feel like I have to compare myself to other bloggers, so don’t mind the posts as much as I used to? I don’t post haul posts myself just because I don’t buy enough books and include any ARC hauls in my monthly state of the ARC posts anyway 🙂
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I can completely understand that – how do you feel about library hauls? Yes, I feel like book hauls are a really easy way to compare yourself toother bloggers but once you can get around that they can be really interesting to read!
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This is such an interesting discussion post! I’ve honestly never seen them as a flex. Honestly, I only really start getting jealous when I see a review copy that I want, but the point of review copies is to showcase the book as much as possible so people will read it when it comes out!
As someone who buys very little books of her own I’m always excited to see the huge piles of books people acquired. It makes me happy to see people growing their collection, and it also introduces me to a lot of new books! I think that as long as you aren’t bragging or shaming there’s no harm in showing off all the new editions you acquired.
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Thank you! 💕 I feel the same way, I mostly only get jealous over review copies but, it does sometimes make me feel a bit sad whenever I see book hauls with 3-+ books per month and I certainly don’t have numbers anywhere near that which is probably a good thing for my wallet tbh.
I agree, as long as it isn’t bragging I think book hauls are a great way to show how excited about the new books you’ve acquired!
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Love this discussion post, I definitely agree with your pros and cons. I personally don’t do blog posts on hauls just because I can get lazy lol, but I do keep write them down in my notebook for myself so I can keep track of how many books I buy and how long it take me to read them. I totally agree that book hauls can show your privilege, but I personally don’t have any problem with people sharing because most of the time they share because of their excitement about books and not to show off how many books they bought/received that month. Great post, it really made me think about book hauls in a way I haven’t before!
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Thank you! I think there was a discussion late last year about books and privilege which spurred a lot of unhauls but, I do enjoy seeing hauls and doing mine because I do enjoy being able to look back on them.
💕💕
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Book hauls are a sticky thing and I’ve been having a lot of the same thoughts lately. Because I’m a college student who’s spending next semester abroad, I’m trying to cut expenses as much as I can; that means a lot less book-buying. I’ve gotten the chance to explore local thrift booksellers and I’ve been using my university’s library. As a reader, I don’t enjoy hauls because they feel fluffy and they sometimes don’t pull their weight, but they are quick content that gets good stats. However, just because I don’t like hauls doesn’t mean that people should stop doing them. Sometimes they are fun to see even though they can flaunt privilege, but maybe creating them with a conscious mind about how your content can be perceived is important.
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I’m a Uni student so I completely understand where you’re coming from! The only books I bring into my collection are review copies or ebooks and I really don’t get many of them anyway!
I agree – hauls are quick posts that don’t carry much weight but I think it’s okay to post like that occasionally! Yes, I think as long as you’re conscious of your privilege it will show with your viewers!
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I love your humble spirit in this post. I think it’s good to be aware of how things might make others feel. I think if you enjoy writing the book haul posts though, you should stick with them! You could even mention that you’re posting for the sake of record keeping and fun, not to brag. ❤️ Great post!!
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Thank you! I agree that we should always account for how others will feel! I think I’ll add a little disclaimer to my hauls from now on! 💕
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