BookTok is a TikTok sub-community dedicated to books and literature. Mainly, those who appreciate literature, in particular, have claimed the name Booktok and the hashtag #BookTok. The genres of these works vary, although many authors specialize in young adult fiction, young adult fantasy, and romance. There are also sections of the community dedicated to discussing LGBT literature and works authored by persons of colour. The community has been credited with having an impact on the publishing industry and book sales. These individuals are also referred to as BookTokers in this group.
#Booktok is influencing the book industry from a variety of perspectives. The community was formed in the year 2020 when a video of a TikTok user went viral and gained popularity this encouraged more creators to start publishing and gain a following, including a number of accounts managed by publishing businesses. Several popular BookTok videos that summer fueled the community’s growth even further. By 2021, Publishers will begin to reach out to popular creators to work with them to promote specific titles or to provide free books. The #booktok hashtag has generated an impressive 69 billion views on the platform to date.
Other writers who use the BookTok hashtag in their posts have observed that their books sell more, and they can stay connected or directly target potential purchasers using the hashtag and other particular ones that correspond to their novels.
BookTok, in essence, amplifies something that has always been key to marketing a book: word of mouth. The trend has become so influential that it is often described as the “World’s Largest Book Club”. #BookTok is part of the EverythingTok meta-trend. And the trend has already helped several books (and authors) climb to the top of the Amazon charts.
#Booktok Impact on Sales & Publishing:
Authors and publishers began to observe an increase in sales as a result of BookTok. When it came to using BookTok to advertise their books, authors made their own accounts, while publishers set up corporate accounts and sponsored popular BookTokers. Large publishers would also buy the rights to publish books written by independent authors who were successful on the app.
Because of BookTok videos, some novels made it to the New York Times Bestseller list. Some of the books that experienced this sales spike were nearly a decade old, while others rose to fame before their release. Books can become famous on the app due to either real reader affection or to shock and jokes about the subject matter.
Influencing Bookstores:
Bookstores like Barnes & Noble have adopted BookTok into their stores after realizing its power to increase sales. Many Barnes and Noble shops have BookTok displays with popular books from the app, and the firm has a section of its website dedicated to these books.
Many retailers see BookTok as an organic marketing approach since readers discover what is hot through the posts and want to read the books in order to participate in the community. Some members of the community support the organic feel of community marketing since it offers users more control over what books are popular, but others believe that it may sometimes create an echo chamber over which books should be popular.
At Powell’s Novels, the world’s largest bookstore, 16 of their 42 fiction bestsellers may be classified as “BookTok books,” with four of the top five clearly falling into that category (They Both Die at the End, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, The Song of Achilles, and A Court of Thorns and Roses). Bookstores are even altering their storefronts to capitalize on BookTok’s success.
A manager at Houston’s Vanderbilt Square Barnes and Noble revealed why their store was dedicating its tables to BookTok. He stated that the corporate had noticed how popular BookTok had grown and pushed BookTok tables for the convenience of purchase and to satisfy demand. Book sales, in general, have surged since the start of the COVID-19 epidemic, owing partly to people finding new hobbies while in quarantine.
Famous BookTok Books:
“BookTok Books” are the most often discussed books on the site, and they frequently result in a significant spike in sales. These books consist of:
The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
How Do You Get on #BookTok?
- Follow some book-related accounts for book recommendations and hilarious book material!
- Favourite the #BookTok hashtag so that videos with that tag begin to appear on your FYP.(for your page)
- Like all of the book-related stuff you see and love, your FYP will then continue to display you similar property.
- Begin keeping track of your reading on Goodreads. It goes without saying that your phone is constantly monitoring your searches and updates. It is not uncommon for a book to appear on your FYP shortly after you mark it as “read.”
It’s not just one video that causes a book’s sales to skyrocket; it’s a grass-roots explosion of individuals making videos and then organically, by word of mouth, it expands from there.
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