Social media are crucial in every aspect of life, and although literature and TikTok may seem unrelated, this combination significantly impacts the book industry!

In recent years, a niche community known as BookTok has emerged on the TikTok app. This community consists of authors, readers and industry professionals. The content they create includes book hauls, reading challenges, book reviews, bookshelf decor and recommendations. BookTok’s popularity continues to rise, influencing both the reading world and the literary industry.

“I use BookTok every day. Based on the content I watch, I’ve incorporated new habits into my reading routine, such as making notes in books and keeping a reading journal,” says one of the BookTok users.

For many others, this book-loving community has become a part of daily life and even work. Authors actively create TikTok content about their books and the stories within them. Thanks to book-related media, fans can better understand writers and establish a closer connection with them.

“I would say that BookTok was the first source of interest in my work. I also receive many messages from readers who picked up my book because they came across it on social media,” says Hania Czaban, an author whose books gained popularity in Polish social media .“BookTok has also changed how readers get to know authors as people; they often hear their voice and see snippets of their lives on social media. This makes the connection much more personal than when readers discover authors only through purchasing a book where the author is just a name on the cover.” 

Promotional strategies on TikTok have a significant impact on the book market. According to the New York Times bestseller list, books that regularly top the charts are those by authors popular within the book-loving community. Writers like Jennifer Lynn Barnes, James Clear and Holly Jackson are notable examples of this. 

A particular instance of soaring book sales is Colleen Hoover’s story. Before the rise of BookTok in 2020, the author sold only 237,000 copies of her books. By August 2022, the number of copies sold had risen to 2.3 million, surpassing the annual Bible sales in the U.S. Total sales of her books reached 7.3 million print copies.

“We have definitely noticed an increase in sales for popular BookTok titles, particularly the ACOTAR series, Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing and Iron Flame books, and other authors such as Emily Henry, Taylor Jenkins Reid and Colleen Hoover.  We do try to make those titles easy to find by facing them out on the shelves” Maldon Books, a bookstore from Essex, shared with the News – “We think it’s great to see so many people wanting to read more books, and finding a genre they’re passionate about. Given its presence within the publishing industry, we imagine BookTok will have a lasting effect on book sales in the future.” 

Due to promotions on social media, certain genres have become more popular than others — romance, fantasy and young adult are leading the pack. These genres appeal strongly to the group of readers who use TikTok to discover new book titles. This trend is evident in the types of books that customers are choosing in bookstores.

“When it comes to customers looking for popular books on BookTok, the pioneering genres are Young Adult Fiction and LGBTQ+ Fiction. These genres focus on storytelling that centers around the experiences and emotions of characters who are similar in age to the potential readers—typically young adults, between the ages of 12 and 18. Less frequently, but still quite often, these customers also reach for titles in the Fantasy and Romance categories’’ said Paulina Wincencik from American Bookstore .

The hashtag #booktok had received 38 million views by August 2024.