Today we’d like to introduce you to Basma Heda
Hi Basma, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up reading. Ever since elementary school, I was rushing through assignments to get back to my book faster. In middle school, I got to experience the big 2013/2014 age of dystopia and experience Hunger Games watch parties. That’s when I started feeling the urge to share my thoughts on books. I was still much too shy to venture into the public space so I dismissed the idea of a blog and quietly made my Goodreads account to at least get my ratings and thoughts down somewhere. High school and college zipped by without much reading- AP classes, getting a degree in mechanical engineering, part time jobs and internships didn’t leave me much free time. Then the pandemic hit and suddenly I had so much more time on my hands. I logged into my neglected Goodreads account and found some lists and before I knew it I had read multiple books in a week. It’s a rush to rediscover my first love and that’s it’s just as good as an adult, if not better. In 2020, I could do something younger Basma could not: I could find representation, both Muslim and Arab, in the books I was picking up. My explore page on Instagram eventually became a bunch of bookstagram suggestions and I toyed with the idea of creating my own. I had never been someone to have public social media, I preferred to keep my accounts and life private, but with a knack for social media and a history of journalism in high school, I decided to take the leap. That was four years ago. I now run my socials under “bookishbasma” across Instagram, Tiktok, and Youtuber. I do have a very inactive twitter as well but I don’t really count that. In the past four years, I’ve amassed a decent following, and I’ve been very grateful for all my success on my platforms. It’s led to brand partnerships, meeting some of my best friends and the creation of my book club, Barakah Book Club, which I founded with my friend @azantareads. It’s a book club where we focus on reading and uplighting Muslim authors, to continue to encourage diversity in reading and publishing.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Going from only private accounts to posting yourself publicly is a big jump. In the first year, it was something I struggled with a lot. Do I post my face, do I not post my face, should I stop using filters, is it okay to use this angle, but I don’t look that great today and so on. I had no issue being completely myself my accounts personality wise, but it was a while before I felt completely comfortable with myself online truly. There’s no right answer or key that fixed it, I just eventually stuck to the idea that my public accounts would be the most honest version of me and that means my followers get what I post. Becoming my own target audience and running my content by the idea of would *I* like it has changed the game for me.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I post about books I read. There’s a lot more to it but if you had to sum it up in one sentence that’s it. I’m a reviewer. I read books, post my honest thoughts about them. For the books I love, I have more fun with it, making funny videos from character POVs or doing a “matching outfits to book covers” video. For the books I didn’t love so much, I post my frank and honest thoughts and try to be constructive in my criticism. I’m fortunate enough to work with publishers to get my hands on early review copies of books before publication to provide my thoughts and even do paid promo videos to encourage people to pick up the book. While I’m not too narrow in any specializations, I do tend to stick to the YA genre, and I pay special attention to books that center my identity: Arab and/or Muslim. I mentioned Barakah Book Club earlier, the book club I co-founded to focus on Muslim authors. Reading diversely is SO important to the industry and what a lot of people don’t realize is that reading diversely needs to be INTENTIONAL. When you make an active effort to diversify what you pick up to read and find some of your favorite books in there, you tell the publishing industry that these books are in demand. Unfortunately, a lot of the first layer of “booktok” (I say with affection, as a part of booktok) doesn’t push diverse books as often as they should. Especially when diverse books are often better written than a lot of the super popular ones out there. Representation is incredibly important for a laundry list of reasons and anytime someone tells me they’ve read and loved a book because of me, especially when it is a diverse one, it’s something I’m incredibly proud of. Not to mention the creators who have reached out to tell me they’ve started their own accounts after seeing someone who looked like them in the platform, I’ve cried reading some of those. I’ve always held the belief that if I’ve helped or impacted one person, then I’ve done something worthwhile.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
It’s kind of up in the air. I mean, as I type this, TikTok is supposed to go away in January? While I don’t think the online book community will *ever* go away, TikTok has had undeniable impact on the publishing industry in book promotion and reviving reading culture. I think I’ll still be here either way. Instagram is my main platform anyway, even as I branch out to TikTok and Youtube. As long as someone is watching my videos and reading my posts, I’ll be here.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://barakah.binderybooks.com/about/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bookishbasma/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bookishbasma/videos
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bookishbasma?lang=en
