Just Found Out Books Publish Playlists Now

[powerplantanimations]

Was on Twitter and found out that books are publishing playlists. Specifically teen books:

I thought this is a cool way of setting the mood. Hopefully I get a chance to do this too lol.

UPDATE: SO APPARENTLY IT TURNS OUT PEOPLE ARE ANNOYED BY THIS LMAOOOO. I did some reading in the comment sections and it has to do with the fact that fanfic writers leaking over to mainstream literature? People also mention that it'll date the book as quickly as possible.

[joannekwan]

Oh I saw this!
I think it's a neat concept, but can see how it leads to preemptive judgment of a book and its author's tastes, since music can be so personal.

[margodraws]

I can see why people might think it's weird/cringe in a printed book. An adult author picking songs for a YA book seems a bit Hello Fellow Kids to me, and will age much faster than the story itself.

Buuut I also started building a playlist for my comic when I started writing the script, so 🤷 I guess I can't judge haha.

EDIT: Playlist link. Still updating every once in a while!

[KSlinger]

That's cool! Tapas used to let plug creators plug songs onto updates back in the day. It was a nice little feature, I used it a few times, but like Joanne said, music is personal and I'm not sure I'd do it again.

[powerplantanimations]

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

Now I'm looking through these lists right now and they do seem a bit.... basic. Unfortunately certain choices give you certain impressions like you said.

The last one specifically. Shoot.... now I'm thinking "this is the chance to give shout-outs to indie creators who really need it or creators who're slowly fading away in obscurity because they weren't mainstream back in the day... WHY'RE YOU MAKING A LIST OF POPULAR SONGS?!?".

[Kelheor]

I think that's pretty cool, actually? I see how it may look weird in a book, but I listen to music literally all the time while drawing and some songs are absolutely my theme songs for the comics I make. Since this is just a list and not something that jumps in your face like unwanted music that you can't mute, you can choose to find those songs or don't. Actually, having a QR code for a ready list would be nice too.
And if having Queen song mentioned makes you feel like it will date the book, well boo hoo.

[cherrystark]

Honestly, I think the playlists are a little silly. It makes sense if you had a private website to have a link to a playlist for songs that inspired you or have it linked on your social media. But it kind of seems pretentious to add a playlist if the story quality doesn't match the songs.

[joannekwan]

Since these are in books aimed at teen audiences, I can see the appeal. Teenagers being teens and all that. Teen lit already gets a lot of crap from non-teen readers, but at least kids are reading!

Now if playlists are included in adult fiction, then I may raise some eyebrows.

[cherrystark]

Now if playlists are included in adult fiction, then I may raise some eyebrows.

I saw one in a BookTube video I saw for an NA novel. It was indie published but they even included a mood bored and "inspiration images" in the book.

[powerplantanimations]

Funnily enough, Queen is the only one on this list (imo) that I think will never fade to obscurity. At least, the only band that we know for SURE will be timeless (him and George Michael). When you hear music from them you don't really hear an era if that makes sense lol. Every other singer I'm like "90's, 2000's, that one's from the 90's...80's...". It's tricky doing something like this.

I don't see people remembering whoever the heck is in the second list except for like Swift but that's only because her fans are bordering on starting a religion.

@joannekwan Jojo is the best way of recommending adults new music. That ENTIRE story is one gigantic playlist :v