More About BookTok
BookTok is the short form of ‘Book TikTok.’
So, what is BookTok? BookTok came into existence when TikTok and the world of books collided. It refers to a community of readers and authors passionate about literature and books, which typically interacts with the use of the hashtag. The readers on BookTok recommend, review, and discuss books by making engaging videos about them. And this community has had a great impact on other publishing and literary communities.
As a community, BookTok originated when a particular TikTok user began posting videos about their favorite books. Presently, most BookTok creators are either women or teens who post videos on different genres of books such as romance, young adult fantasy, young adult fiction, etc.
BookTok gained popularity when a large number of readers started sharing their book reviews and recommendations, and a huge number of TikTok users could relate to their recommendations and literary viewpoints.To date, BookTok has garnered more than 112 billion views on TikTok.
You can benefit from BookTok in various ways, as a reader or an author. The most prominent benefit that BookTok provides is that a user can control which book gains popularity through this community. If you own a bookstore or are a publisher, you can engage with other users on BookTok to discuss the literary tastes of readers worldwide.
Today, BookTok has a significant influence on the book trends that are followed. The young adult genre, for instance, saw a boom in sales after 2020. And the adult fiction genre saw a 25% increase in sales following its popularity on BookTok in 2021.
Several book titles have returned to the bestseller list repeatedly, following videos that went viral about them on BookTok, which led to readers purchasing physical copies. The popularity of BookTok has led to an overall growth of 9% in the US print book market.
For readers, the ease of finding literary recommendations on BookTok is very appealing. Many creators bring out easy-to-watch short videos to help readers shortlist their TBRs and DNF reads. You can also check the summary of certain books through BookTok to figure out if you would want to purchase a book or not. Generally, BookTok helps you in exploring your favorite genres as well as new ones.
The image below shows an example of a BookTok post that promotes a creator’s recommendations.
