Junior Emmy Nance loves to read and has a TikTok account dedicated to all things reading and books, with over 70,000 followers. 

She has been very into reading her whole life, but especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“During COVID I had nothing else to do and it helped me take my mind off things,” Nance said. “It gives me a break and makes me feel productive in a different type of way. It keeps your life interesting if you’re reading a good book.”

Nance stumbled upon her internet success by accident after being bored one day during quarantine. She said she was inspired by other ‘BookTokers’ to create her Tik Tok account emmyslibrary. 

“I guess what made it go places was that there were a bunch of authors reaching out to me to post about their books. That’s what kind of got it going because there was money involved,” Nance said. “It was mainly small authors, but you’d be surprised how much small authors profit from just one video, especially on a platform like that.”

Nance said she likes posting about reading on social media because she believes it is one of the only places on the internet where she can be passionate about books with a community that supports her love for reading. 

“Obviously everybody is prepared for everybody else to be opinionated, that’s the whole point of talking about reading books. You share your knowledge and what you think of it, and you can say stuff you don’t normally say because it’s about books,” Nance said.

Nance said she has gotten overall good feedback from her TikTok account.

“It’s just been good to connect with people who feel passionate about something genuine like literature. It sounds cliche, but in the 21st century we don’t have much else. Even to connect online is hopeful in a way,” she said. 

Nance said she reads about a book a week during the school year but can read one a day during the summer. Her favorite genre to read is usually fiction. She sometimes attends the library book club meetings at school, which happen once a month. 

“I write stories for creative writing. During COVID I did a lot more free writing but now when I write it’s usually more structured,” Nance said about writing. 

Nance’s least favorite book is The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemmingway. 

“I hate Hemmingway,” she said. 

Although she has favorite books in every genre, her favorite book of all time is The Waves by Virginia Woolf. 

“I’d recommend Virgina Woolf because she’s my favorite author ever,” Nance said. “Everybody has to start somewhere–one thing I really hate is the superiority dynamic between people who read more intense literature like classical/renaissance versus those who read lighter books like soft romance, fantasy, or young adult.”

Nance has a piece of advice for everyone out there.

“Everybody should read more!” she said. “People find purpose in lots of different ways, so as long as you’re reading something fulfilling or enlightening, it doesn’t really matter what it is.”