I was so happy to see these two sisters, Grace and Sarah Phua gain some recognition in the Straits Times, Singapore’s national newspaper. They are pastor’s kids and they grew up in World Revival Prayer Fellowship, the church I served as senior pastor, before I retired recently. I know them and rejoiced in the fact that their pictures and work were highlighted in the article about bookstagrammers.  

WHAT’S A BOOKSTAGRAMMER?

I learned a new word: Bookstagrammer -someone who loves books and reviews them on their Instagram account. Those with substantial followers, for example @jemmawei that the report featured has as many as 69,700 followers. If 10 percent of those followers read her book review and were motivated to buy the book, that would mean an increase of sales of about 6,970 books. Which publisher wouldn’t be eyeing this kind of influence? So these bookstagrammers do receive requests to review books which publishers sent to them for free. It is such a blessing if you love reading because when you love books you spend a lot of money on them. Besides freebies they also get acquainted with a virtual community of people who also love reading.

GRACE & SARAH PHUA

Both sisters are very talented in many ways including musically. Grace works in the media industry. She is the arty, aesthetic right-brainer. Sarah owns an accounting business and works part-time on the church pastoral team. She has strategic leadership skills, a good communicator with a sharp intellect, and contributes greatly to the church community. They have great parents who have faithfully served the deaf faith community in church. Their father was the pastor of the deaf church. He too, like me, has recently retired. 

If you love books and want to read their reviews on Instagram you can follow Grace at @curiousreviewer and Sarah at @bookandbriefcase. If you wish to read the full Straits Times article about how book sales have gone up during the pandemic and how book reviews on social media platforms are fuelling reading, click HERE.