Last issue I covered tweens and TikTok, but as a big reader I spend a lot of my time on the book side of the app. Or as it is, colloquially known, BookTok. This side of the app is characterized by creators reviewing and doing deep dives on their favorite books and series. It has been a popular place for people to get their book recommendations.
What fascinates me about BookTok is how it has influenced how books are sold. If you walk into any Barnes & Noble you will find a table showing off all of the popular books on the app. The article “BookTok Helped Book Sales Soar. How Long Will That Last?” from Publishers Weekly Jim Milliot writes,”In the first six months of 2023, adult fiction was once again the only category to register an increase, with sales up 4.2%. The biggest driver of those gains, of course, has been books that have the backing of BookTok.”
Bestseller lists like The New York Times are filled with the most talked about books on TikTok. For example, “Fourth Wing” and its sequel “Iron Flame” by Rebecca Yaros are number one and two on the Combined Print and E-Book Fiction. These two books are also on the NYT’s Hardcover Fiction list also at number one and two.
More BookTok famous books can be spotted on the NYT Paperback Trade Fiction: “Icebreaker” by Hannah Grace (number one, the book also shows up on the number six spot Combined Print and E-Book Fiction), “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara (number three, can be found at number 13 on Combined Print and E-Book Fiction) and “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reed (number eight).
The way BookTok functions very much reminds me of BookTube. Both have book reviews and the same popular authors. Two authors that come to mind that have had crossover success on both platforms are Colleen Hoover and Sarah J. Maas.
I remember when I was watching BookTube on a regular basis they would always come up in the videos. Hoover and Maas books showed up a couple times on the NYT lists.
BookTok in many ways reminds me of a virtual book club, a place where people can commune and talk about their new favorite books. It is no wonder that it boomed in popularity during pandemic. The creators that populate the app gave the viewers a sense of community in a time where many of us were stuck in our houses. Our only connection to each other was our screens.
In a time where most of our reading is done on our phones and laptops the book influencers have shown the physical book will not disappear anytime soon. Creators proudly waved their copies as they talked enthusiastically about it. As someone who prefers holding a book than an e-reader, I appreciate that a physical copy has not gone out of style.
Now there has been criticism leveled against BookTok which is understandable when something gets popular.
One of the critiques that is brought up is if the books that are getting the most attention are good?
Is the writing of good quality? If the only same five books ever get mentioned on BookTok creating an echo chamber of praise how can up and coming authors ever get their books talked about?
I think when it comes to determining if a book is well written it is up to the reader and their personal taste. There are a few popular books I have read that I didn’t particularly like, but those books are probably someone’s favorite.
Some of the criticism I do agree with is the whole culture of how many books you can read in a month or in a year. The more books you consume in a short amount of time the better a reader you are. I disagree with this viewpoint. I consider myself a slow reader. I like to sit and think about what I have read. If you read books at basically the speed of light are you comprehending anything you have read?
Another criticism that is worth mentioning is BookTok’s tendency to overconsume. You scroll through enough video book hauls will pop up on your For You page where the books being shown off feel more like trophies and not pieces of paper being held together by glue. Buying the book has become more important than actually reading it.
Former BookTuber Barry Pierce in the article “In the shallow world of BookTok, being ‘a reader’ is more important than actually reading” draws upon his experience on BookTube and how he sees many similarities between it and BookTok.
Pierce writes, “They’d receive boxes upon boxes of books that they’d then “haul” (basically, just to show off) and then you’d never see those books mentioned again.
The act of reading became replaced by the act of being a reader. Actual reviews became few and far between and many of the smaller, genuine readers on the platform jumped ship. It feels like BookTok has got to the same place, only much faster.”
BookTok is a place I do have hope for in terms of encouraging people to read, but it is also a place that will evolve with time.