TikTok's book-loving community, known as BookTok, is driving significant sales for publishers and bookshops, with teenage influencers wielding considerable power over reading trends. The social media platform's recommendations have become a major force in the publishing industry, launching authors' careers and reshaping what books get promoted.
At Waterstones in London's Piccadilly, a dedicated 'BookTok recommended' table helps customers spot trending titles. A sales assistant noted the platform's impact, saying: 'I can't stress how much BookTok sells books. It's driven huge sales of YA and romance books, including titles such as The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and authors such as Colleen Hoover.' The demographic is almost exclusively teenage girls, but their collective influence is substantial.
Literary agent Caroline Hardman of Hardman & Swainson agency observed: 'It's driving the appetite for romance and "romantasy" in a really big way, so it's having a strong effect on what publishers look for too.' BookTok was established in 2020, but this year brings new developments, including the inaugural TikTok book awards, with winners to be announced this month.
The shortlist for BookTok Book of the Year includes Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola, Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood, Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart, and Maame by Jessica George. Other categories include Best BookTok Revival, which has brought older novels like One Day by David Nicholls, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four to new audiences.
In April, TikTok's parent company ByteDance filed a trademark for a book publisher, 8th Note Press, appointing Katherine Pelz from Penguin Random House as acquisitions editor. According to the New York Times, the new publisher will focus on digital books until TikTok launches an online retail platform in the US later this year. Some in the industry worry BookTok could become focused on books from ByteDance's own publishing house, potentially affecting independent bookshops.
However, Alice Harandon, owner of St Ives Bookseller in Cornwall, expressed scepticism about TikTok's ability to replicate organic success with its own products. 'When traditional publishers try to muscle in on the BookTok market, it never seems to work out quite the same way as an organic, viral recommendation,' she said. 'It works best when a good book that has already been out in the world finds its audience naturally.'
