Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits, and it’s where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! Check out the March 2024 Topics if you want to join in the bookish discussion fun.
This week’s topic is actually a Freebie so I’m doing last week’s topic and answering:
Do Tropes Count As Spoilers?
Prompts: A lot of the time, books will be promoted on social media books with their tropes. For example, a book might be advertised as being enemies to lovers, having found family, or starring a ‘chosen one’. Can those tropes be spoilers, giving away parts of the plot? What do you think about marketing books based on tropes?
A lot of the time, books will be promoted on social media with their tropes. For example, a book might be advertised as being enemies to lovers, having found family, or starring a ‘chosen one’.
Can those tropes be spoilers, giving away parts of the plot?
The trope-ification of book marketing is a topic I’ve seen circulating on the bird app over the past few months. Admittedly, I don’t dive deeper into the threads when I see them, so I only have a very surface-level knowledge of how much this trend has infiltrated multiple genres across the book sphere.
I think I’ve seen tropes used to market romance the most, especially for books that are popular on the clock app and from there, other publishers/authors glommed onto the trend of using tropes to sell books. As someone who still enjoys reading blurbs and reviews of books that look/sound interesting, I don’t see tropes as a spoiler. I don’t necessarily think that knowing what tropes are in a book is much different to reading the blurb but if you don’t read blurbs, then I can see why tropes could be considered spoilers.
I do think this may depend on the genre though. Although, I can’t really speak much to using tropes to market in genres other than romance as I can’t recall the last time I saw it happen… Honestly, I don’t pay that much attention, friends! 🤣 If marketing for fantasy uses tropes like ‘found family’ or ‘the chosen one’, I’m more likely to pick up the former and I’m not particularly fussed either way with the latter. I can’t imagine thrillers being marketed with tropes though because that, I think, would definitely be considered spoilers.
I think romance is more formulaic in structure and you also know a HEA is guaranteed (otherwise it’s not the genre!), so I don’t feel like knowing what tropes are featured will give away much. Personally, I like knowing what tropes I’ll encounter before picking up a romance, especially if it has tropes I don’t like (love triangles) or don’t read often (age gap/forbidden relationship). I’m also more likely to pick up certain books if I love certain tropes like grumpy/sunshine, hate to love, etc.
Usually, the problem is when publishers mislead people with a certain trope and it turns out to only be a minor part of the story. Similarly, when people expect a trope to play a bigger role because it’s marketed as such and it only turns out to be a small role or section of the book.
What do you think about marketing books based on tropes?
I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with marketing books based on tropes. It’s an easy way to pique people’s interest in a book that they might not have looked at or even heard of. If tropes I like are mentioned, it’s more likely I’ll also read the synopsis to learn more about it.
However, as I mentioned above, the problem I can see is when books are marketed misleadingly using tropes. For example, if a certain trope is “hot” because of a very popular book, and publishers start marketing other books using that trope for other books when, in reality, the trope only plays a minor part in the story or it’s more relevant to the side characters. I think this tends to happen when marketing books that have the enemies-to-lovers trope, for instance.
Overall though, I wouldn’t say that I’m particularly fussed about this topic. I think tropes are an easy way for book bloggers to talk about their favourites without giving away the plot or characters, and still have it be enticing for other readers. I wouldn’t rely only on marketing books using tropes but I don’t see it being wrong to do.
What do you think about marketing based on tropes? Do you like it? Do you wish it never became a thing? I’d love to know your thoughts!
dinipandareads 
I agree that misleading readers by advertising certain tropes just because they’re currently ‘in’ is so annoying! The number of books I’ve been promised enemies-to-lovers that didn’t deliver 😤 I think you’re right that it depends on genre too. Genres or stories that rely on twists and mystery can really be spoiled if you know what tropes are involved. It’s also hard to search for book recommendations with some tropes because simply knowing that trope is a spoiler (for example, secret identity tropes)
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Yeah, misleading with tropes is such poor practice. I think enemies-to-lovers is the one trope that most people have a problem with cos it never delivers the level of enemy that people expect. I’ve honestly started going into stories that have the enemies-to-lovers trope expecting it to *not* be enemies-to-lovers so I’m rarely disappointed now, haha. I know it shouldn’t work that way but it works for me! 🤣 Ooh yeah, I didn’t even consider the secret identity trope but that’s definitely a huge spoiler.
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I don’t have a strong opinion on this topic.
I do kind of like the new trend of mentioning which tropes are in books, though, as there are a few tropes I really don’t like and try to avoid.
But I also don’t mind going into a book without knowing what will happen. So either approach is fine by me.
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I also felt like I didn’t have a strong opinion on this topic and yet I still seemed to write so much (oops)! 😬 I agree that it’s nice to know what tropes are in a book, especially if they’re ones you want to avoid. You save time and money knowing in advance! But I also agree that going into a book clueless is sometimes fun. I’ve been doing that a lot lately only cos my memory fails me, lol.
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Honestly, I haven’t thought much about this topic. I don’t think I see tropes as a spoiler either. The only one I can kind of see as one is surprise pregnancy. I also kind of like knowing the tropes beforehand. Sometimes it will make me pick up a book I might have passed on before. I also have to agree that I HATE when I book is miss marketed using a trope.
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I haven’t thought too much about it even though I’ve seen it mentioned a few times on the bird app. I agree with you re. the surprise pregnancy trope but I personally like if someone mentions that the trope exists in a book cos it’s not always my favourite to read! 😂 Tropes usually make me pick up a book though, especially if it’s a romance or in fantasy, if someone mentions ‘found family’ it’s almost a guarantee that it goes on my TBR. I also hate when books are mis-marketed using tropes!
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Hmmmm, I have to say, sometimes. I do feel like anything in the synopsis is fair game to discuss in a review, but I was in a situation where I wanted to talk about a trope in the book, but it seemed like a big wow! moment in the plot. It was an accidental pregnancy trope, but there was no mention in the synopsis, so I let it be. But, I agree with you that many tropes are not spoilers – found family for sure is no kind of spoiler. I do feel that many romance tropes are not spoilers either because the book is promising a romance, but it could be if, say, it’s a love triangle and you say “brother’s best friend romance”.
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Oh, that’s interesting. Accidental pregnancy not being mentioned in the synopsis but obviously having it be a big part of the plot is a choice! 😂 I’m not the biggest accidental pregnancy fan so I think I’d be appreciative of someone mentioning it in their review but in this case, I’d get why people would see it as a spoiler. I feel like when it comes to romances, I’m a lot less bothered by people talking in tropes though I’m not sure why. Like, I appreciate if someone tells me there’s a love triangle cos then I won’t read it, lol. 😝 Maybe cos I know ultimately there will be a HEA?
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I honestly don’t see tropes as a bad thing, as they can help readers manage their expectations and know what they are getting into. In a way, it’s similar with comp titles. I do hate the tropefication of everything though, because I feel like in some recent releases, the story is written based on the tropes so it’s not well written and just ~vibes~ rather than the other way around, where the story is written first and the tropes just used to inform readers.
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I think I struggle more with marketing using comp titles than tropes. I find that with comp titles it’s so easy to get wrong but with tropes it’s a little more straightforward and even if it’s a *little* misleading, it’s even worse with comps. 🤣 Yeah, I agree that when authors start writing based on tropes rather than plot, the story is usually written poorly. I thankfully haven’t read (m)any of those types of books (unless I’ve blocked it out of my head, haha) but I have heard people talk about it happening more often! I admit that sometimes, vibes are nice, especially when I’m looking for something I really don’t need to use my head to consume, lol.
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[…] Let’s Talk Bookish: Do Tropes Count As Spoilers? […]
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[…] @ Dini Panda Reads went last week’s topic all about if tropes count as […]
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I agree that it helps me decide if I’d like to read it based on what the tropes are – if it’s something I don’t like, I don’t read it. But I also hate the trend of using ones that are barely there just because they’re popular.
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What a great topic, Dini. This is something I never thought about, but I can see where identifying a trope in a review or marketing blurb could be a spoiler. For example, if an MC is struggling in choosing a partner and the blurb says, “enemies to lovers” then you will know which one they end up with before reading the whole book. Having said that, as you mentioned, most romance is pretty formulaic. I think it sometimes helps me choose a book, like when it talks about found family, as I love that theme/trope. I do get frustrated when it says found family, and that really isn’t what the book presents, so it can backfire as well. Something I will continue to think about now that it is in my mind. You raised some very good points.
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There’s a possibility, I missed when it became a thing to advertise books with tropes. I haven’t really understood it ’til today, on the other hand I can see why it’s helpful, tho. But I don’t usually check for tropes beforehand, more the genre. And it even happens more often of me not bothering to read the blurb – at least once it’s on my tbr because then I already know I’m interested. Court of Shadows for example, I didn’t focus on the blurb and afterwards, I even think it doesn’t do the book justice anyway.
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