What Do Peppers Have to Do with Books?

If you’ve perused Instagram, Tik Tok or Threads in search of your next book you will be familiar with the usage of emojis when someone reviews their latest read. More often than not, especially when dealing with the genres of romance, fantasy, or what has become known as ‘romantasy’, you’ll find that a book will have a pepper (🌶) rating on top of the usual star (☆)  rating.

It’s become a recognizable motif for whether a book has explicit scenes, helpful for those who are either seeking to read more or to avoid those kind of scenes entirely. They are visually enticing, simple to understand, and they cater to the demographic of those who are seeking out reviews in the social media space. Long gone are the days where everyone is walking into a bookstore and just hoping for the best.  We could take a page out of popular ‘bookstagrammer’ accounts, which is to say, accounts on Instagram that focus on sharing book reviews.

Take for example, Haley and Megan of @fictionalsisters_ who regularly use emojis in their static images that recommend books to their followers. The emojis are not encumbering, they give the readers the right information in an easily consumed format. They should be utilized more in our own marketing campaigns to garner more attention from our audiences. 

Book Content Creators @fictionalsisters_