YouTube calls on the court of BookTubers (including Haley Pham) to celebrate the latest ACOTAR release

The fae have found a new court on YouTube.

The latest installment of Sarah J. Maas‘ bestselling romantasy series A Court of Thorns and Roses dropped today, and YouTube appears to have partnered with publisher Bloomsbury to muster BookTube for the release.

“YouTube is here to help fans celebrate the release with special ACOTAR experiences on YouTube, new content from your favorite creators, and a custom Shorts effect that reveals which Court you’d be a part of,” Samantha Rose, who’s listed as a contributor for YouTube’s official blog, wrote in an announcement post.

For those unfamiliar, ACOTAR has been a BookTube (and BookTok) darling for years. The series follows 19-year-old Feyre Archeron, who, after killing a faerie wolf out of desperation during a hard winter, finds herself in peril with the fae royal court.

A Court of Splintered Harmony is the series’ sixth book, and delves deeper into existential threats faced by human and fae alike.

YouTube’s bid for readers’ attention includes bringing YouTuber/author Haley Pham (who, btw, is married to Ryan Trahan) on for an episode of its in-house creator profile series Channeling.

Pham famously churned through the first five ACOTAR books in just one week, chronicling the marathon in a BookTube vlog. Now her episode of Channeling peeks into her own author career, taking viewers to a fantasy-inspired photoshoot that has Pham looking court-ready in chainmail.

YouTube’s also getting a little BuzzFeed with a quiz that sorts viewers into their destined fae court. Instead of the usual landing-page, multiple-choice-answer format, though, YouTube makes people open Shorts and create a video to get their results.

Taking the quiz means opening Shorts on mobile, hitting the ‘Create’ button, and using an effect called “ACOTAR Quiz.” Then you have to start recording while you answer the quiz’s questions–and finally, you’ll be sorted.

It doesn’t seem like people have to post their quiz-taking Short, but the effect is definitely geared for sharing. We’re curious to track its results, and plan to reach out to YouTube for any resulting data.

Other ACOTAR x YouTube touches include a special Starfall progress bar icon on Maas-related videos (you can see it in Pham’s Channeling episode) and, more tangentially, an animated, themed background for Google Search.

As for why YouTube’s plucking this particular page, it cited data from NRG that showed 69% of 14-to-44-year-olds in the U.S. watched videos from “a niche community or online subculture” in the last 12 months.

“YouTube offers a unique home for communities–such as BookTube–to connect and dive deep on their interests,” Rose wrote.

We’re not sure the legion of ACOTAR fans constitute a “niche community” anymore, but either way, YouTube is clearly in good with the fae.

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