So I don’t really follow BookTok because TikTok is banned in India. Most of what I see comes through YouTube commentators, and if something’s interesting, I bring it to Pagebound to have an intellectually stimulating discussion. A few minutes ago, I came across a YouTuber talking about BookTok in 2026—specifically the drama surrounding Tracy Deonn. And it got me thinking about what content creators, authors, and entertainers actually owe their fans.

Here’s the situation: if you don’t know what happened, there was this woman named Samira who went up to Tracy Deonn at a signing with a bookplate. When she met her, she started going into a monologue about how much Legendborn meant to her, very personally. But Tracy interrupted her mid-sentence to ask where she should sign the bookplate.

Now, in my opinion, if you actually watch the video, it doesn’t feel like Tracy Deonn was being rude. It just seemed like she was confused about where to sign and asked a practical question—and honestly, she asked it pretty sweetly. But Samira felt it was rude and now fans are saying that Tracy should be “cancelled” over it. And that’s what’s bothering me. Do content creators really owe you constant warmth and enthusiasm every single time you meet them? Does someone deserve to be cancelled over a 20-second clip, especially when you don’t know the full context—like the fact that it was chaotic, it was a signing session and not a meet-and-greet, and things are naturally rushed in those environments?

It also made me think about the pressure we put on creators and entertainers to make us feel special every time we interact with them, as if we “made them famous,” so they owe us something. And then there’s another layer: gender. Why do we especially expect women to always be smiling, warm, and emotionally available? Like, “Oh my God, how are you? That’s so sweet!” all the time? And beyond that, she’s also a Black woman. There’s a long history of Black women being unfairly labeled as aggressive or rude. So when she behaves completely normally and it still gets interpreted that way, I think it’s worth questioning why.

If you truly love an author, there are so many ways to show it. But expecting them to stand there and absorb a full monologue in a chaotic, time-limited setting—it’s just not realistic. Maybe you expected her to accommodate you in that moment, but she didn’t, and that’s okay. Not everything has to center you. I think what’s happening here is extremely unfair to entertainers, to creators, and specifically to Tracy Deonn—especially when her work is genuinely loved by so many people. Meanwhile, there are authors with far more serious issues, like being transphones, rapists, or zionists who continue to receive—and I will be using a hindi slang here because it sounds fun—bhav (which means attention). But someone gets dragged over something like this?

It just doesn’t add up. So yeah, I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this whole situation with BookCon and Tracy Deonn, because right now it just feels deeply disproportionate and unfair.

Edit: Y'all I've accidentally been using the alternative version of her name's spelling "Samira" instead of "Sameera". Both are pronounced the same but my apologies. Please use Sameera from now on. Thank you 🫶

We do talk a lot about books, but how do you prefer reading said book? What is your ideal set up to read your book, regardless of which book you're into? Do you change the set up based on what type of book you read? Any snacks or drinks you also have while reading?

Do tell! I'm rather simplistic with having a cup of tea by my side, a nice little ambiental light and my trusty ereader.

I’m encouraging you this morning to be bold and take up space. Maybe that’s hard in real life so feel free to use this as a place to make space for yourself and shout what you maybe can’t about in person.

I can go first! 📢 Homeowners Associations (HOAs) suck and absolutely do not need to micromanage every little thing. I wish I could go tell mine this!!

Personally, the perfect audiobook speed for me is 1.5x but when I’m really in the zone I like to go to 2x. My husband’s is a strict 1x and I have a coworker who only listens to her audiobooks on 2x speed! I was just curious to see what other people’s perfect audiobook speeds are!