A Love Letter to the Online Book Community with author Lucy Powrie

Posted on 27 August 2025

Hi, I’m Lucy and I’m an author – but before I was an author, I was LucyTheReader: a book blogger, BookTuber and award-winning bookish content creator. I quite literally lived out my life in books online as a teenager – and with over 13 years’ experience of the online book community, I feel a little like a historian; I’ve been around for the excitement of big book releases, the dramas, the death of some social media platforms and the birth of others. But even though I’ve been around a long time, I still love the online book community just as much today as I did when I first stumbled across it. So with my Bookish Historian hat on, I thought I’d take you through my favourite Eras of the Online Book Community – and my space within them.

The Book Blog

Long before BookTok ever came into existence, it was the book blog that lit up the Internet. I discovered the world of book blogging when I was 12 through a group of teen and YA authors who ran their own collaborative writing blog. On one of their pages, they linked to other book blogs, and there I found out that there were lots and lots of cool teenagers who were sharing their opinions on books, interviewing their favourite authors, and making friends with each other. I was obsessed and knew I wanted to do the same thing, too. It was the perfect outlet for a book lover like I’d always been – and meant that even after I finished reading a book I loved, I was able to share that love with others. This was at the height of fandom culture, where bloggers shared the Teams they were on (Team Edward or Jacob, Team Peeta or Gale), cried over The Fault in Our Stars, and watched every new big YA adaptation. Everything felt so, so exciting.

Looking back now on some of my early posts is certainly cringeworthy, but I’ve got a perfect time capsule into my teen years. Running my blog also made me realise that authors are real people, and I was able to interview them and host their guest posts, and find out so much about their writing processes and the insider information on all their books. That was perhaps the moment where I first thought: I’d like to do this one day, too!

The Chat

As social media boomed, and my involvement in the book community grew, I became aware of the phenomenon of the Twitter chat. Although there were other chats elsewhere in the world, where readers would all join together to discuss bookish topics at the same time, nothing similar yet existed in the UK – and I’d become passionate about supporting YA authors from the UK, who were often overshadowed. So #UKYAChat was born! It was a weekly Twitter chat where anyone could log on at the same time each week, meet and chat with authors and fellow readers, and share their love for their favourite books.

I gave up the vast majority of my Friday evenings as a teenager to running the chat. From booking the guest spots, writing the chat questions, hosting and participating, it was a fun but intense job – one that I could quite imagine the main character of a YA novel doing! I’m still so proud of the legacy that #UKYAChat left, helping to put UKYA on the map and increase visibility of all the amazing UKYA authors and their books. Hearing the stories of participants becoming best friends, making and sending gifts across the world, and meeting in real life still warms my heart. And I miss it! My Friday evenings have never quite been the same.

The YouTube Channel

As a quiet teenager who didn’t like to speak up (like Effie in my book!), it was therefore surprising that the next step was to go from a blog to YouTube. But the thing was, when I was talking about books, I was loud. Or, at least, loud for me. I was able to be my most authentic self, rambling on as I showed my book hauls and did reading wrap ups. Before reading vlogs were a thing, everyone loved a bookish challenge video – and I’d spend hours watching booktube videos from my favourite creators, getting as many recommendations as possible and then reading the books myself.

Nowadays, I spend most of my time on YouTube talking about classics rather than YA, but just as with my blog, it’s amazing to be able to watch back my old videos and remember exactly how I felt about the books I was reading, a bit like catching up with an old friend. It’s a time capsule – and I must admit, sometimes I do pop a video from the archive on and watch as if I’m just a regular viewer, and not the person behind it all!

Writing My Own Books

Being so immersed in all things YA, it was a natural step, then, to start writing stories of my own. Each step of the way, as I posted writing updates and shared the joys and frustrations of what it takes to write a book, I felt like I had the support of the entire book community behind me. The magical thing about the UKYA community is that it’s all-encompassing: from authors and aspiring writers to bloggers and video creators, to librarians and booksellers – everyone plays a part in creating a supportive, welcoming space.

Although I dreamed of it, I never could have imagined when I took my first steps into the online book community as a teenager that one day my own books would be sitting on bookshelves, lovingly reviewed and discussed by the most enthusiastic members of the book community. There have been so many ‘pinch me’ moments when I realise I’ve done it, I’ve achieved my dream. Most of all, the response to my new book, Real When I’m With You, has been truly special. To see people sharing their reviews on BookTok – a platform that didn’t even exist when I first started! – and splashing my beautiful cover across their feeds never gets old.

In a way, the online book community raised me. I can’t imagine how different my life would look without it, and now that I’m on the other side, writing the books that people talk about, it’s even more special to be able to support the next generation of talent and look to what the future holds for this magical, wonderful bookish space lots of us call home. I feel so, so lucky.

– Lucy Powrie, author of Real When I’m With You