The Evolution of "The Book" and Its Marketing Effects on Knowledge Interpretation Upon Millennials and Generation Z
Advisor: Hal Hansen
Internship Location: Languang Co.
Onsite Mentor: Biao Xiang Zhang
How has the way we consume knowledge shifted due to the evolution of book marketing in America? We live in a digital world with thousands of social media outlets. While in the 1950s, most people would turn towards books as their primary source of entertainment; we now turn to icons on our phones. As seen in classics such as Great Expectations, Serialization has shifted to digital renditions such as ‘Webtoon’ Comics. Publishing companies know that it is vital to adapt to this rapidly changing world and have, in turn, shifted the way books are marketed to coincide with the digital. I examine how this has affected the human population and the individual. Do we consume knowledge differently now? As posters shift to short blurbs on TikTok, how do we look at the world change? How does our brain plasticity change from physical books to digital touchscreens? I am writing a research paper on this subject focusing on three spheres: the biological sphere, the psychological sphere, and the marketing sphere. Through surveys conducted on teenagers, authors, and Barnes and Nobles employees and quantitative statistics from Amazon and TikTok, I further explore the significance of this phenomenon.
Project Blog
Week 1: Biological Sphere (Annotated Bibliography)
Hello and welcome to my first blog post!
For this week, I am focusing on the biological sphere of how the evolution of book marketing affects knowledge interpretation of Generation Z. More specifically, I’m researching how the digitization of everything literary has influenced the brains and attention spans of the group mentioned above.
As I plan for my final product to be a research paper, I focused on compiling sources to create an annotated bibliography for the biological sphere of my project:
Source 1 (Literary): Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 (New York: Ballantine Books, 1978).
In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury conjures up a dystopian society that foreshadows what he fears the world is becoming as the digital increasingly replaces the physical. One character that stands out, in particular, is the main character Guy Montag’s wife, Mildrid. In contrast to her husband, who seeks a more ‘authentic’ world, Mildrid is physically and mentally damaged by electronic devices and artificial stimuli. One interaction between Mildrid and Guy is described as such, “Mildred watched the toast delivered to her plate. She had both ears plugged with electronic bees that were humming the hour away. She looked up suddenly, saw him, and nodded. “You all right?” he asked. She was an expert at lip reading from ten years of apprenticeship at Seashell ear-thimbles. She nodded again.” Mildrid’s ‘ear-thimbles’ (strangely reminiscent of the now-popular airpods) have physically changed her body and how she interacts with those around her. She has essentially lost a function she was born with because of society’s promoted lifestyle. Similarly, as on-screen media has changed Generation Z’s attention spans and brain structures, book marketing has followed suit, resulting in narrower and more shallow knowledge interpretations from Generation Z.
Source 2 (Theoretical): Baudrillard, Jean, 1929-2007. Simulacra and Simulation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994.
Jean Baudrillard presents his interpretation of the status of the world in Simulacra and Simulations, in which he argues that all of reality has been or is being replaced by simulations—and that other simulations are replacing those simulations. This process is repeated until nothing reflects anything, and there is no trace of reality everywhere. Baudrillard uses Disneyland as an example, “Disneyland is presented as imaginary to make us believe that the rest is real, whereas all of Los Angeles and America surrounding it are no longer real, but belong to the hyperreal order and the order of simulation. It is no longer a question of a false representation of reality (ideology) but of concealing that the real is no longer real, thus saving the reality principle.” Social media is presented as the ‘imaginary.’ It is promoted as an escape from everything real, which is why so many indulge in it. The stereotypes of social media and digital promotion being shallow and mindless are acceptable because they are seen as fake–confirming that Generation Z’s knowledge interpretation patterns are still normal and intact. However, like Baudrillard’s Disneyland, social media has entwined itself with Generation Z’s reading patterns, making the imaginary our reality.
Source 3 (Popular): Sudhakar, Shiv, New report reveals TikTok acts on children’s brains like a ‘candy store’, https://nypost.com/2022/04/08/tiktoks-impact-on-childrens-brains-likened-to-candy-store/
Much of book marketing has shifted to popular social media apps, most notably on the fast-growing platform ‘TikTok,’ which hosts short videos that average from 24-31 seconds. Journalist Shiv Sudhakar reports, “If kids’ brains become accustomed to constant changes, the brain finds it difficult to adapt to a non-digital activity where things don’t move quite as fast.” TikTok physically alters the structure of brains, especially as “the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until…age 25”, encompassing the vast majority of Generation Z. As attention spans continuously decrease, teenagers are less inclined to diversify their reading and engage in ‘deep’ learning through literary sources. This may be why authors like Colleen Hoover and Alex Aster have found so much success even when their books aren’t necessarily of the greatest quality. They know how to manipulate digital marketing with speedy mediums such as TikTok videos, Instagram reels, and Youtube shorts and can sell more.
Source 4 (Scholarly): Chen Dar-Wei and Catrambone Richard, “Paper vs. Screen: Effects on Reading Comprehension, Metacognition, and Reader Behavior”, SAGE Journals, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1541931215591069
In “Paper vs. Screen: Effects on Reading Comprehension, Metacognition, and Reader Behavior,” researchers Dar-Wei Chen and Richard Catrambone report results from a study analyzing how college students react differently to on-screen vs. paper texts. They found that “the participants reading text on paper tended to take more notes while reading than those in the screen conditions…On average, those in the paper conditions also spent more time studying than screen condition participants”. As the twenty-first century sees a world filled to the brim with technological advances and usage, physical books are also noted to be shifting to the digital. Kindles and ebooks are growing increasingly popular, and book promotion has largely converted to residing on the internet and various social media platforms. As popular apps such as ‘TikTok’ and ‘Instagram’ have narrowed teenagers’ reading palates, Chen and Catrambone provide a possible explanation for why–as it seems that paper texts (which grow increasingly rare) promote deeper learning compared to their on-screen counterparts. Generation Z are therefore encouraged to read in a shallower manner, especially because every promotion around them points to frivolous consumption, leading to a change in knowledge interpretation. Next week, I plan on expanding these sources by creating a quote outline. I also plan to prepare analysis for the psychological sphere of my project. Thank you so much for reading!
Week 2: Barnes And Nobles Case Study
This week, I decided to specifically analyze Barnes and Nobles and how they’ve taken advantage of modern social media to boost their business. According to journalist Russell Raath from Forbes, “Barnes & Noble has suffered from seven years of declining revenue as Amazon’s dominance in online retail grows.” As the digital takes the place of the physical, it’s no surprise that physical book retailers suffer in revenue and relevance. However, as examples of authors and books that go viral due to specific and well-placed marketing strategies on apps such as TikTok and Instagram increase, I’ve noticed that Barnes and Nobles has also hopped on this trend in hopes of increasing customer engagement.
For example, this is a picture I took of one of Barnes and Nobles’ many ‘cluster-bookshelves’:
This week, I decided to specifically analyze Barnes and Nobles and how they’ve taken advantage of modern social media to boost their business. According to journalist Russell Raath from Forbes, “Barnes & Noble has suffered from seven years of declining revenue as Amazon’s dominance in online retail grows.” As the digital takes the place of the physical, it’s no surprise that physical book retailers suffer in revenue and relevance. However, as examples of authors and books that go viral due to specific and well-placed marketing strategies on apps such as TikTok and Instagram increase, I’ve noticed that Barnes and Nobles has also hopped on this trend in hopes of increasing customer engagement. For example, this is a picture I took of one of Barnes and Nobles’ many ‘cluster-bookshelves’:
Here is another example of Barnes and Nobles directly aligning itself with popular social media. It is interesting how even physical book retailers increasingly rely on the digital to stay afloat. In the next few weeks, I will further analyze the consequences of this through surveys and interviews and create more quote outlines and annotated bibliographies for the three spheres I intend to focus on.
Thank you for reading!
Works Cited: Raath, Russell, Will Barnes & Noble’s Next Chapter Be Its Last?, https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkotter/2021/02/09/will-barnes–nobles-next-chapter-be-its-last/
Waterfield, Angela, “Barnes & Noble Embraces BookTok”, GoodEReader, 2022, https://assets.goodereader.com/blog/uploads/images/2022/03/18131613/2022-03-18-2.jpg.webp, Accessed 16 Mar. 2022
Week 3: Marketing Sphere (Annotated Bibliography)
Marketing Sphere Annotated Bibliography
This week, I worked on creating an annotated bibliography for the marketing sphere of my project. My section guiding question is: What types of authors are being promoted by social media apps, specifically Instagram and TikTok, and what are the effects of such promotion on consumers?
Source 1: McCall, Tyler, BookTok’s Racial Bias, https://www.thecut.com/2022/11/booktok-racial-bias-tiktok-algorithm.html
Social media operates on an algorithm in which they identify popular items and continuously push them onto more and more people’s feeds creating a sort of ‘echo-chamber’. TikTok and Instagram are perhaps two of the biggest culprits of this and are often accused of promoting anti-intellectual practices and contents simply because that gains the most engagement. Due to this ‘echo-chamber’ effect, white creators consistently gain more views, comments, and likes on average on TikTok and Instagram because they are seen as the ‘mainstream’ and therefore are pushed by the algorithm onto more feeds. This extends to ‘BookTok’ and authors who are active on social media. According to The Cut, “ Almost every author who has found life-changing success via the platform — six- and seven-figure book deals, weeks and months spent on best-seller lists, headline-making movie contracts — is white.” As TikTok and Instagram have a combination of over 2 billion monthly users, book preferences increasingly narrow as digital merges with literature and people draw recommendations from their favorite apps. This creates a danger for non-mainstream authors whose books don’t neatly fit into a marketable hashtag, genre, and/or demographic.
Source 2: Jaeger, Carla, The secrets of censorship: Key lines cut from Fantastic Beasts in China, https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/the-secrets-of-censorship-key-lines-cut-from-fantastic-beasts-in-china-20220413-p5ad78.html
Carla Jaeger reports on China’s censoring of homosexual scenes in the Fantastic Beasts film to preserve their outdated values. “The lines ‘because I was in love with you’ and ‘the summer Gellert and I fell in love; were deleted by Warner Bros.” While Dumbledore is an explicitly gay character, China refused to broadcast his coming out scene to Chinese audiences. In this case, China continues its long history of homophobia and LGBTQ+ existence denial by refusing to allow any of these communities to show up on the screens shown to the Chinese audience. Whole communities and movements are being squashed and looked down upon as China uses its power to shift the stories of American action films easily. In a similar manner, social media algorithms encourage artists not to follow their personal beliefs. In order to increase their book sales they must present themselves in a certain stereotypical manner so that the algorithm recognizes them as ‘marketable’. Like production studios who trade their creative freedom for monetary incentive from the Chinese government, authors must trade their creative freedom for monetary incentive from social media platforms.
Source 3: Gibson, Karen, “Influences on Diversity in Teacher Education: Using Literature to Promote Multiple Perspectives and Cultural Relevance”, ijsotl, https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1145198.pdf
Karen M. Gibson conducts a study with 120 children to test the effects of a diverse arrangement of literature on student learning abilities. Observing classroom discussions as well as homework and writing assignments, Gibson found that students are better able “to intelligently question, challenge and appreciate values and ideas within text” and generally develop more mature critical thinking skills as well as broader world perceptions. This positive analysis of diversity within literature brings more urgency to the phenomenon of the meshing of social media and literature. It may have the power to exacerbate already strongly-established echo-chambers and encourage people to actually develop narrower mindsets. Collaboration and intellectual and rational thinking will decrease.
Thank you so much for reading! Next week I will work on the third and final section of my project as well as start expanding and compiling all my sources.
Week 4: Alex Aster Case Study
Case Study: Alex Aster
Hi everyone, this week I focused on the case of author Alex Aster, whose success I primarily attribute to her savvy use of TikTok.
Who is Alex Aster?
Alex Aster is a New York Times bestselling author with three published books, most notably 2022’s Lightlark. She has over 1 million followers on TikTok and primarily posts promotional snippets of her books and experiences as a published author. The hashtag for her most recent novel, Lightlark, has 89.9 million views on TikTok and tens of thousands of reviews on Goodreads.
What is the ‘Lightlark Controversy’?
The publishing of Alex Aster’s Lightlark is fairytale-esque. After struggling for months to find a publishing house for her novel, Aster posted a short video online detailing a summary of the book, which subsequently gained over a million views and secured her a six-figure publishing deal and a movie contract with Universal Studios. The real story, however, is a little more complex. Aster already had a significant following on TikTok before she posted that video, indicating that she held an influencer’s powers in her back pocket. Aster had also posted tens of videos to promote her book beforehand until she discovered the perfect way to activate TikTok’s user algorithm. Posting short snippets, book quotes, and image reels, all according to a specific mold the BookTok audience loves, allowed her to reach millions of people and potential buyers. After Lightlark‘s release, however, many fans were disappointed as chunks of Aster’s promotion were not in the book. She did not include half of the plot points and quotes she spent so long promoting. Also, non-Booktok users who purchased the book due to recommendations from their friends discovered its ‘bad quality.’ Of course, one’s reading taste is subjective. Still, investigating the hundreds of disgruntled TikTok videos and Goodreads reviews, it’s safe to conclude that Aster’s book was quite generic and appeared empty outside its ‘BookTok’ flattering plot.
Why is this significant to my project?
Alex Aster’s success, whether deserved or not, represents a shift in the reading world. The basis of getting published has seemingly shifted from quality, freshness, and depth to popularity without regard to content. Many feel Aster’s book would be nothing without its views and her social media following. It also signifies a trend in the literary world where most published YA novels fit a specific mold. Book tastes are automatically narrowed as the only novels that get attention are the entirely non-unique ones, like Aster’s Lightlark. In the same vein, authors are forced to flatten their creativity and promote and write their books just like Aster did, resulting in the mass release of Lightlark-esque books, which I believe would be a travesty. Thank you for reading! Next week, I will focus on expanding my quote outlines.
Works Cited:
Cardy, Izzy, The ‘Lightlark’ Controversy: A Study In The Dangerous Influence Of BookTok, https://www.trillmag.com/life/social-media/the-lightlark-controversy-a-study-in-the-dangerous-influence-of-booktok/
Week 5: America’s Book Censoring Phenomenon
Hello, this week I analyzed an interesting phenomenon I’ve noticed occurring in the literature world.
Book censorship sounds like a horror of the past; From Qin Shi Huangdi’s furious book burnings to the 1933 Nazi book incinerations, the term book censorship brings forth outdated images of single mindedness, hatred, and oppressive regimes. So it’s hard to believe that in the 21st century, book censorship has once again gained footing no less in the most powerful and prosperous country in the world, the United States of America.
The classic works of famous deceased authors including the likes of Roald Dahl, Agatha Christie, Sylvia Plath, Dr. Seuss, and more have come under scrutiny for its apparently offensive language. Publishing companies have opted to delete such language and print and distribute newly revised versions, inciting a flurry of debates over the morality of such an action.
I personally believe this is an egregious and disturbing trend. By giving the power of modifying one’s personal work to a company without receiving his/her/their explicit consent feels archaic and wrong. Some of literature’s most valuable offerings as well as its foundations come from the works of the past. A good reader is able to read critically and soak up the expressed message of a piece of literature without letting its language influence them. By picking up a book of the past, a reader enters a contract with the author in which they understand that not all of the content will be up to date but the message may still assert its relevance. Not only are companies looking down on customers by modifying works, they also reintroduce a horrifying pattern of the past. With the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade, introductions of newly expanded gun laws, and Ron Desantis’ attempted Florida book ban, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to assert that the United States is sliding back to the past on many levels. Who’s to say that this book censorship won’t evolve into something more extreme?
How is this relevant to my project? TikTok and other popular social media apps are like swirling swimming pools in which consumers are consistently introduced to videos expressing the same types of content. Polarization has worsened on every level as people refuse to expose themselves to wide varieties of ideas. A popular topic on TikTok’s book platform ‘Booktok’ is the morality of consuming supposedly ‘immoral’ authors such as Sylvia Plath, Haruki Murakami, and Donna Tartt. Readers are shamed if they are found consuming books by the aforementioned authors and are even accused of being discriminatory in one form or another. While many of the criticisms of such “immoral” authors are reasonable and based in fact, it becomes a problem when one forgets the concept of ‘critical thinking’ and reverts back to viewing everything in a black-and-white lense, as TikTok encourages. Murakami, Plath, and Tartt all have contributed greatly to the world of literature, and while all certainly have their faults which can be seen reflected in their works, it would be unproductive and harmful to outright ban them. Instead, readers should be taught to consume critically and view content in shades of grey, as opposed to donning the stark perspective TikTok offers.
The popularity of TikTok and the emergence of the book censorship phenomenon in my opinion is strongly correlated. While the censorship may be done with well intentions, it ultimately causes far more harm than good.
Week 6: The Democratization Of Literature
Hi everyone, this week I explored the concept of the democratization of literature.
While meeting with my project advisor, Mr. Hansen, he explained to me the conflicting process of democratIzation, or in other words, giving the people what they want. I had expressed doubts about my project in that I felt I was being too critical about TikTok and its effects on literature. While I do believe it results in extreme polarization and a decrease in general book diversity, I also noticed how it encouraged people to read more and exposed younger audiences to various book titles. Therefore, I felt uncomfortable advancing upon the critical stance I had previously aligned with. Mr. Hansen advised that I analyze on a basis of overview, rather than on a basis of judgment, which I will try to do so from now on.
Giving the people the power to choose has a shiny and rusty side, in that on one hand it’s always good to deconcentrate power and knowledge, but on the other hand this may lead to unwanted consequences. For example, while more people have started reading because of ‘BookTok’ and more authors are able to self-publish because of ‘BookTok,’ making entering the literary world much easier, genres are abandoned and cliques formed as people follow their natural instinct of banding together. Because it is now completely up to the regular individual to determine which book tops the bestselling list and subsequently earns the most money, authors and publishing houses are starting to write following such trends, churning out thousands of low-quality, unoriginal novels all of the same formula and genre. Those who specialize in genres such as literary fiction and classical poetry are given the short end of the stick as authors such as Colleen Hoover and Rupi Kaur reign king. Because entering into the humanities is not a lucrative field by itself, many authors may become disillusioned as they find they may not be able to become published simply because their novel is not marketable in a digital world. I believe that while ‘BookTok’ may be beneficial as a casual source for book recommendations and for generally younger audiences, people should try to be aware of the types of media they consume and strive to diversify their reading habits and support ‘non-trendy’ book type, especially as they mature.
Ultimately, with the rapid advancement of all sorts of technology and the digitization of everything in sight, change within the literary world is inevitable. ‘BookTok’ is especially interesting because it is promoting an ‘intellectual’ activity that requires active attention on the very platform that eats away at the ability for one to focus. Because of its sheer popularity however, ‘BookTok’ is far from being the worst change to occur. Only time can tell how deeply it will affect writing and reading trends.
Next week I will focus on creating a quote outline for my final paper and analyze the case of Jonathan Franzen.
Thank you for reading!
Post 7: Project Slide Work Week
Hi everyone, this week I worked on wrapping up my project into a slideshow! It is still in its draft stages, but I’ve pretty much finished it. It will be what I will be presenting to everyone after I resolve the comments left by my senior advisor. Here is a link to the slideshow I worked on this week.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Hhgoy7Olx89neoFsXgrAX6sWhYuwpQMid36Co_Jm1RI/edit
I am also working on my final paper and will be sharing it in sections on here in the upcoming weeks!
Post 8: BookTok: Introduction And Body Paragraph 1
Established in 2018, the social media app TikTok has become a powerhouse, gaining over two billion monthly users making it the single most popular platform in the entire world. Consisting of short-form videos that last on average from 30-50 seconds, users are able to gorge themselves on content galore based on the sheer amounts of information thrown at them as opposed to previous long-form entertainment such as television, movies, and books. What’s fascinating, however, is that short and long-form entertainment has seen a merging with TikTok’s ‘BookTok,’ a subsection of the platform devoted to book recommendations and reviews. In practice, ‘BookTok’ sounds wonderful—as reading rates have decreased among the younger generation, a place where people are once again encouraged to read sounds like paradise. During America’s case against TikTok, TikTok’s CEO even lists ‘BookTok’ as a prime example for TikTok’s beneficial effects. However, humans don’t exist in a vacuum and in the modern world of rapid digitization, books are not able to keep the same form as they previously existed in on TikTok’s ‘BookTok’. While acknowledging BookTok’s benefits in its uncanny ability to encourage more to read, it’s important to also point out its not-so-desirable effects, namely its pigeonholing of authors and book genres and its encouragement of polarization and book-censoring.
With ‘BookTok’s hashtag on TikTok attaining over one hundred thirty-four billion views, it is evident it’s influence in the literary world. For example, Holly Black’s novel The Cruel Prince saw an almost four hundred percent increase in sales after going viral on said platform—indicating how fruitful rewards for author and publisher may be if viralness is achieved. Even in physical book stores such as those of Barnes and Nobles, shelves are being structured to fit the preferences of TikTok users, with viral books gaining priority in terms of shelving and visibility. The bottom line is that booksellers and creators serve to gain a lot from BookTok and therefore focus a lot of their marketing on or around it. Due to TikTok’s aggressive algorithm of similarity however, this can be harmful for diversity within books and an author’s freedom. The algorithm capitalizes on user interest by placing on feed videos that users previously engaged with. BookTok operates accordingly and therefore certain genres and authors prioritized due to algorithm structure. Therefore, some book-types are deemed ‘easily marketable’ and others aren’t. Those in the previous category are preferred by publishing companies as well as the easily manipulated user-base. This is why if one ventures on BookTok they will rarely see books outside the young adult fantasy and romance genre. These are after all, the ones that ‘make it’ in terms of social media due to easily consumable and understandable quotes and plots. One specific example is author Alex Aster who has over 1 million followers on her TikTok account. By strategically posting short snippets, book quotes & image reels, according to specific mold she built up significant excitement for her novel Lightlark and received six-figure publishing and movie deals. However, when her book was released many complained that the plot and writing was lacking, hinting that what works on TikTok often doesn’t translate in book form, and much of what was promoted was not included in the book. This is a Disturbing literary trend that quality and popularity no longer walk hand-in-hand and reminds me of the Hollywood parallel in which the Lines ‘because I was in love with you’ & ‘The summer Gellert and I fell in love” were deleted by Warner Bros during Chinese showing so that China could continue their long history of homophobia by taking advantage of Hollywood’s dependence on financial contributions. Just like how Vision of directors & writers discarded for promise of financial gain, On Tiktok, authors discouraged from writing freely due to being encouraged to present themselves in a manner algorithm approves of. As Albert Camus said on artists, “Artistic creation is a demand for unity and a rejection of the world…rebellion can be observed here in its pure state and in its original complexities.” True artists infuse rebellion into their creations; they express original opinions through their art. BookTok discourages authors from being ‘true artists’ and literature increasingly fades to the generic.
Post 9: BookTok: Body Paragraph 2
As mentioned previously, the TikTok algorithm causes a cesspool of affirming viewpoints due to its operating on a basis of similarity. People are desensitized to proper communication and discussion as they are consistently affirmed that they are right and move further and further to the extreme. One popular topic on BookTok is the Morality of consuming supposedly immoral’ authors such as Sylvia Plath, Haruki Murakami, and Donna Tartt, all very significant within their respective genres. Users are shamed if found consuming books by such controversial authors and even Accused of being discriminatory. This Common viewpoint that literature by such authors have no value Effectively promotes censorship. Another example of this is in the publishing world in which the Works of deceased authors have become under scrutiny for apparently offensive language. Publishing companies have opted to print & distribute newly-revised versions as a solution. However, this is not a solution but an egregious trend. Literature’s most valuable offerings & foundations come from older works and Readers should develop critical thinking skills to a level in which they are able to understand books within their respective contexts. BookTok encourages close-mindedness & eats up critical thinking skills.
Post 10: BookTok: Final Presentation, Importance, And Possible Solutions
Hi everyone,
This is my completed slide presentation:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Hhgoy7Olx89neoFsXgrAX6sWhYuwpQMid36Co_Jm1RI/edit
A Study conducted on 120 children tests effects of diverse arrangement of literature on student learning abilities and found they were Better able “to intelligently question, challenge and appreciate values and ideas within text”, Developed more mature critical thinking skills and Have broader world perceptions. This Exacerbates BookTok’s issue of de-diversification. Some solutions are getting book recommendations from variety of sources, Consistently checking and challenging one’s biases, and Reflecting more deeply & thoughtfully about one’s media consumption choices and patterns.
Thank you for reading!