The Influence of #BookTok

Within the last three years, people have become addicted to TikTok. There has been a rise in the number of trends throughout the app. TikTok has allowed for many people to be easily influenced to buy products quickly. This has led to an increase in sales in the global market.  An example where this holds true is in book sales. This is due to the fact that #BookTok has been on the rise.

The #BookTok has seen over 80 million views across the app world-wide, gaining more and more views every day. #BookTok has become a place where TikTokers can give their honest reviews on books they have read. #BookTok is bringing popularity to many books.  #BookTalk has piqued people’s interest in the love of reading due to wanting to join in on this trend and give their opinion on the app. 

Sidney Sparks, a junior at Carolina Forest added, “#BookTok books can be either good or bad, based on what you are looking for in a book.  It is really important to check the comments to see if other viewers believe the book is good. The books you find on #BookTok can either be the best book ever or the worst books that you won’t even finish reading.”

In years prior, we have seen a decline in bookstores due to the rise in technology. This is because people have a shorter attention span and like to receive fast pace entertaining content. #BookTok has changed this as more creators make content recommending books to buy creating a trend of reading. The sale of books has increased as more and more people go to physical bookstores to get their hands on the most trending book. This has also caused an unprecedented amount of people to head to bookstores and try to stay ahead of the trend by trying to  predict the next trending book on #BookTok. #BookTok has revived  many books stores such as Barnes and Noble, Books a Million and many local bookstores after previously seeing a decline in sales.

#BookTok has also created an increase of popular books on the app being turned into TV shows. Streaming services such as Peacock, Netflix, and Amazon Prime were quick to hop on the #BookTok trend and bring the magic of reading to life on the TV screen. Netflix has released shows such as Six of Crows and House of “Salt and Sorrows” after gaining much popularity on TikTok.  The popular book, “The Summer I Turned Pretty” became popular on BookTok and later became an Amazon TV series. This created an even larger fan base for the book and its characters. TikTok audiences were quick to pick sides for their favorite male character in the story or TV series.  The content creators then decided to create teams with the main characters The content creators began to ask who the better male character. An example of this is are you team Conrad or team Jeremiah? Peacock bought the multiple perspective narrative murder mystery of “One of Us is Lying” to life after the book gained its fame on BookTok.

Many authors have gained their popularity on #Booktok, increasing the sale of their books astronomically. Just this year authors such as Colleen Hoover have seen an increase of sales by 61% after her romance books went viral on TikTok. This has led to many publishers trying to cash in as TikTok has become the new way to publish a book. TikTok has such a wide range of audiences and is personally tailored for your pages for its uses. This makes TikTok the ideal tool to spread the word about books. With its algorithms it sends the correct book to the right audience.  

All and all #BookTok has had a positive impact on bookstores, publishing companies, authors, TV series, TikTok, and the minds of people wanting to connect with others through books. #BookTok has revived the love of books, and this is a positive thing brought on by TikTok.