Book Tabbing 101 ~ How & Why?
- Feb 2, 2025
- 3 min read
I found out about book tabbing through BookTok. I didn't understand its purpose and thought it would make reading feel like homework. The more I looked into it and understood why so many people do it, the more I thought about applying it in my reading, mainly as I now review all the books I read for YA Know It.
So, what is book tabbing?
Book tabs are colorful stickers that you can use to mark important moments in a book. It groups them by color-coding them, so each color has a different meaning. There are many different categories for your tabs, but these are the ones I use:
Plot development
Love & romance
Favorite lines
Made me mad
Made me sad
Made me laugh
Made me scared
Of course, depending on the book, you can use them to annotate other things, such as every time the point of view changes, if there's a time jump, lines that you relate to or can be life advice, etc. The sky's the limit. If you think of a tab topic that fits the book you're reading, well, there you go.
Do you tab your books?
Yes, I love it!
No, too much work for me.
Aside from how helpful it can be with my reviews, my favorite thing about tabbing is to match my tabs to the aesthetic of the book's cover. I get my tabs in bulk from Amazon. They come in a gradient or in colors that complement each other, making it easy to match which tabs I'll use for each book I read. I do not like using the bright neon rainbow tabs; they stick out like a sore thumb, so I prefer the muted gradient colors. Everyone is different, though, so if you start tabbing or do so already, use what feels and works best for you.
PRO TIP- I like to use my tab sheet as my bookmark. If I'm reading, I'm tabbing, so I rarely lose my bookmark when my bookmark is my tab sheet.
Why tab your books?
There are many benefits to tabbing a book. As I said, I review all the books I read on YA Know It. Tabbing makes things much easier to find for reference, mainly when I include some of my favorite quotes. It also helps me to go back and find relevant information about why I did or didn't like a specific part of the book.
Some people like to tab their books simply for the nostalgia of their own emotions. When rereading a book, you don't necessarily have the same reactions to things because you already know what happens. With tabbing, you can reread a book and remind yourself of how key moments made you feel the first time you read it.
Book tabbing isn't done just with tabs. You can use highlighters, pens, pencils, or anything else. It goes against my nature, but for others, writing in the books helps to set a little more context to work in conjunction with the tabs.
Either way, do what works best for you. Everyone is different, be it tabbing, annotating with highlighters, or both. I choose my tabs based on the book's cover, assign the meaning of each tab based on the color of the tab, and specify each meaning to save myself from having to write in my books physically. However, the skies are the limit, and I encourage every reader to try tabbing and find what they enjoy best!
Do you tab or annotate your books? Tell me in the comments below!
I'm just like you in the sense that it goes against my nature to write or highlight in my books! Book tabbing is a great alternative! It's interesting how you tab for different emotions! That's such a good idea, especially given that you could feel differently a second time you read the same work of art.😊