Author Biography

Leah Taylor is a dedicated student at Utah State University, where her passion for music shines as she proudly plays the trombone in the Aggie Marching Band and Aggie Pep Band. Beyond her musical pursuits, Leah cherishes time with her family and indulges in the joy of reading books. Her commitment to academic excellence and love for both literature and the arts define her multifaceted journey at USU.

This essay was composed in December 2023 and uses MLA documentation.

You open up TikTok, and a new video pops up from your favorite BookToker. They are recommending their top reads from the last month, and of course they have read over twenty books. Based on the book’s covers and the four and five-star ratings given to the books, you decide you need to read them. You had discovered some of your favorite books because of this platform, so there was thought to be no risk in buying more, because you are sure to enjoy them. You jump off the couch, grab your keys, and drive over to Barnes & Noble to secure your own copies. Your purchase ends up being about a hundred dollars for five books, but it is worth it to read them. After driving home, you start reading immediately.

After about two weeks of reading, you close the last book with a sigh. Of all the ones you bought, you only enjoyed two. You walk over to your colorful bookshelf filled with all kinds of books, and find an empty space, though there aren’t many, to fit the books in. You are disappointed that you have to add these books to the beautiful spread when you didn’t enjoy them.

Sitting back down, you cross the titles off your to-be-read list, your eyes roaming over the long list of books that has grown over the past few days. Despite your previous positive experiences with BookTok, these recommendations have fallen short. You aren’t sure BookTok has any more potential for good ones, even if the influencers give them a high rating. You open up TikTok anyways, hoping this time you might discover your next five-star read.

BookTok is a social media group that is part of TikTok, “…where people discuss books they have read and give book recommendations and reviews” (Zabski). It has gained the most traction in recent years following the pandemic. When people were discovering new hobbies and sharing them, TikTok quickly became the space where people could “…keep up on popular trends, find new music, watch ‘hot takes’ on any number of topics, and, of course, laugh” (Jerasa). Subcultures emerged, and consumers were able to create a personalized experience on TikTok geared towards their interests and hobbies. Reading was one of the hobbies shared on the platform. In only a few years, BookTok has been able to make its way into TikTok’s complex algorithm, which has introduced thousands of people to the joy of reading and greatly influenced bookselling and publishing industries. Because of its far-reaching impact, readers should be aware of the usefulness and benefits of BookTok, like its close community with diverse readers and books, but also be aware of what downsides the platform has as it pressures people into habits of consumerism and conforming to others in their outlook on reading.

In its short existence, BookTok has created a reading community that many people flock to because of its uplifting and diverse nature. Although BookTok is available to all TikTok users, there is a certain demographic that it has been geared towards and consumed by. In her dissertation for her Master of Arts, Elisavet Rozaki discussed that young adults and teens are engaging on the platform the most, which explains why young adult and teen literature is shared the most. As it has developed, BookTok has also become a very diverse community. Trevor Boffone and Sarah Jerasa, both Doctors of Philosophy with extensive research on TikTok and social media, collaborated to write an article titled “Toward a Queer Reading Community: BookTok, Teen Readers, and the Rise of TikTok Literacies.” They observe that “BookTok inherently is a queer-friendly space in which LGBTQ+ teens and allies can find their digital community and learn about their intersectional identities” (Boffone). This diversity has been instrumental in creating such a positive community on the platform, because people will come and interact where they feel accepted and wanted. BookTok is one of those places where they can come to feel that, and they can in turn help others to feel accepted as well, creating an uplifting community overall. In the videos posted on BookTok, all types of people are celebrated as everyone shares their love for reading. Boffone and Jerasa describe the result of this when they share that the nature of the platform “…offers a sense of welcome, security, and shared sentiments.” This diversity has made its way into the breadth of consumers, influencers, books, and authors that are all integral parts of BookTok’s community. Allowing people to feel welcome and secure in an online community is crucial, giving them a positive experience each time they log on. Laura Serrano and Hanna Zabski in their research about the effects of BookTok agree that the platform has “created a safe space to be real” (Serrano). Zabski shares that “BookTok can feel like your own mini book club at times, and it makes the reading experience feel more like a community”, and an “unbreakable” one at that. This helps reading become more enjoyable and an uplifting experience as well. Because it is known for its tight and welcoming community where anyone is welcome, more people flock to BookTok’s platform each day. In research done by the Publisher’s Association, sixteen percent of respondents, ages 16-25, reported that they made new friends through BookTok (BookTok 1). BookTok has created an uplifting, diverse community of readers and authors, where they can share their thoughts and views while feeling safe, supported, and celebrated. This community is drawing in established readers, as well as many new readers to its inclusive circle.

Many different aspects of BookTok have drawn readers to the platform, and helped new people discover the joy of reading. Sarah Jerasa and Trevor Boffone share one aspect in another piece they wrote together. They observe that, “[BookTok] makes reading “cool” by introducing potential readers to culturally relevant [young-adult] texts” (Jerasa). Much of the younger generation keeps up on new trends, so making reading “cool” or “trendy” has largely contributed to BookTok’s success. This trend seems to be one that will last much longer than chart-topping songs and dances, because reading and literature are so timeless. Nancy Herther, in her research about BookTok concludes that “‘[Because] BookTok elevates the social position of books and reading, young people could be more likely to build and maintain a reading habit.’” This has proven true, as more and more young people are entering the world of BookTok and creating those reading habits that will last, rather than sticking with the trend until a better one comes along. BookTok has drawn in readers new and old not only for the trend, but also because it has changed what it means to be a reader. Serrano states, “It has given the reminder to all that reading is supposed to be fun!” It shouldn’t only be something done at school, where students analyze and take apart each chapter and scene so much that the book is no longer enjoyed. Instead, on BookTok, reading is presented in a “youth-friendly” way that draws in teenage and young-adult readers (Serrano; Herther). In the Publishers Association’s poll, almost two-thirds of respondents said that BookTok or book influencers have helped them discover a passion for reading (BookTok). This shows that the community being built is bringing in new readers and helping new and seasoned readers to experience the joy that comes from reading.

This widespread community of BookTok isn’t limited to readers, however. It has begun to impact author’s lives as well. BookTok has helped new and backlist authors and their books become more well-known. While readers interact with each other on the platform, there is also a place for authors to promote their work and interact with readers. Rozaki shares why authors are positively impacted by BookTok. She explains, “Because BookTok users place a strong emphasis on community building, this allows authors to cultivate a loyal following of readers who are interested in their work” (Rozaki 7). The authors then can talk and post about their books and interact with readers, who in turn read their books and post about them on the platform as well, creating a cycle that lets readers find out about newer books because of the many posts. Having this platform as an element of their marketing is very helpful for authors because they can easily promote their books to an interested audience. Social media may be an author’s only source of marketing, for a few reasons. Rozaki believes that “TikTok can be especially beneficial for emerging or self-published authors who may have limited access to traditional marketing channels for financial reasons” (Rozaki 7). Without the support of an established publishing company, it can be hard for those authors to promote their books to a large audience and become a well-known name in the world of literature. Authors have the potential to become popular much faster and easier than before with the aid of social media, and especially BookTok. Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, wrote fanfiction before her debut novel. This was her only experience with writing before she decided to try and publish a book (Hazelwood). This novel, The Love Hypothesis, and Hazelwood herself have both gone viral on BookTok. Hazelwood has written six more books since then, and all have been popular on the platform. Some books published years ago have also come out of the woodwork and been made popular again on BookTok, sometimes even more than when the book was originally published. For example, The Song of Achilles, written by Madeline Miller, was published in 2011 and received the Orange Prize for Fiction the following year. Not much happened until it was featured in a viral TikTok video ten years later and made popular again (Song). As is seen by the examples, BookTok has aided authors in both kickstarting careers and bringing new awareness to established works, and it has done so in a fairly quick and simple way. Much of what makes these authors and their books go viral is the genres and diversity in writing.

In a world with a myriad of genres, BookTok often presents a limited scope of the potential types of literature to read and enjoy. Various articles share that the genre featured on BookTok is primarily romance, while there are also thriller, fantasy, and sci-fi books mixed in, and most are young adult literature (Serrano; Tomasena; Jerasa and Boffone 222). This shows what genres most readers on BookTok are interested in, although readers may not know what other genres are out there if they only get recommendations from BookTok. Even within the few genres the platform highlights, “…the breadth of commonly mentioned book titles is quite limited” (Herther). A reader that may possibly enjoy historical fiction books the most, probably won’t be exposed to that genre on BookTok, causing them to miss out on a potentially favorite genre. Although it isn’t necessarily bad for a limited number of books to be popularized and featured on BookTok, the Publishers Association reports that over half of respondents say they turn to the platform for book recommendations (Publishers Association 1). This means that all the recommendations they are getting are from these few genres. There are so many books and genres that readers are missing out on if they are solely influenced by BookTok.

Despite the fact that the genres are limited, the diversity in books on BookTok is immense. Boffone states, “As BookTok has cemented itself on the platform [of TikTok], so too has queer YA literature, especially titles written by authors of color” (Boffone and Jerasa 11). This has been helpful for all readers on BookTok as they are seeing diverse characters in main roles and accepting those minority groups in the books they read. This is also helpful for those that are part of the minority groups as they feel well-represented in literature, making the community on BookTok even stronger. Even though there are not many genres featured, the diverse characters and themes discussed on BookTok have helped to build the community and normalize different stories and ways of living.

BookTok and its impactful community has also heavily affected the publishing industry and the way it operates. Publishing companies have changed the way they are advertising and marketing, with one change being an increased investment in advertising on BookTok (Serrano). This helps them and the books they have published to be promoted even more on the platform, so they can continue to sign new contracts and publish more books. Herther is wary, though, that publishers may start giving book contracts to what they think will do well on social media, which may lead to unwanted consequences. A similar trend is seen in book covers, as they are now being designed so they are more likely to appear on social media (Herther). Although this approach is successful now, social media and its trends are constantly changing. It is hard to know what will do well on each platform in future months, or even weeks, so it may become difficult for publishers to keep up their strategy. A book or book cover that they think will do well, could have the potential to not be received well by the public on social media by the time it is released.

Along with publishers, bookstores are experiencing drastic change as well. Laura Serrano shares the statistic, “Print book sales have increased by 9% from 757.9 million in 2020 to 825.7 million in 2021, the highest since they started tracking in 2004.” Bookstores have had to change how they market and display books to keep up with demands from buyers. Barnes and Noble Booksellers, one of the most popular bookstores in the U.S., is adapting well to the changes brought on by social media. “Almost every Barnes and Noble location now has a section dedicated to books that have gone viral on BookTok, which shows how much this platform has affected bookstores and their sales” (Zabski). As new books go viral, the store changes out the display, so readers coming in can easily find the most popular books. As of now, publishing companies and bookstores are adapting well to the new platform, but as the months go by, it will be interesting to see how they continue to change and develop their strategies.

Although the community, diversity, and effects on authors and publishers are all positive, there can be too much of a good thing. The more BookTok and reading becomes widespread and more tight knit, some people feel the pressure to conform to what their fellow readers are doing on the platform. This has led to overconsumption of books as more people feel the need to buy and read many, many books. Jess Bacon, a writer for London-based Dazed Media, puts it this way: “what started as a wholesome community has quickly snowballed into a hotbed of competitiveness, where readers feel pressured into religiously monitoring how many books they’ve read in a month and encouraged to splurge on extravagant hardback hauls.” Many feel the pressure to create the “reader aesthetic” in their lives, which is not attainable for the average person. This lifestyle involves reading hundreds of books a year and buying upwards of fifty books a month to keep up with all the recommendations floating around the app (Bacon). Some are slow readers and can’t get through many of the large series made popular. Others don’t have the money to create their own personal libraries of brand-new books. And many don’t have the time in their schedule to dedicate hours upon hours per week to just reading. The culture around reading that has been created makes it seem like a race against other readers, which takes the joy out of reading when one feels like they have to skim, or find other ways to get through books faster, instead of taking the time to relax and enjoy reading. The same article shares different techniques people on BookTok have shared to get through books faster. One recommendation given is “‘stop buying books that are too hard for you’ and choose ‘easier, quicker stories’”, suggesting that it is quantity, not quality, that reigns supreme on the app (Bacon). Although it is true that the community is very close and diverse, and that more people are discovering the joys of reading, it is important to realize that there is a negative stigma as well, pushing people to keep up with others’ unreachable standards.

This pressure has reached many readers on the app, and they try their hardest to be like the influencers with giant bookshelves filled to the brim with hardback copies of the newest, most popular books. This has created a problem of overconsumption and consumerism in the book world. Holly Allwright of the University of Southampton’s entertainment magazine, The Edge, published an article about BookTok’s overconsumption. It reads, “It appears on some level that the influencers spend more time buying books than reading them purely so that they can show them off to their followers” (Allwright). The author shares that she herself has been influenced to buy books just to own them, and now has at least seventy books that she has yet to read, many that she purchased just after seeing the covers on her TikTok. This same scenario has happened to many people, which has contributed to this overconsumption of books. They feel that the more books they own the better, which keeps them frequenting bookstores like Barnes & Noble. There are solutions for this problem, though. Libraries keep up with what books are popular, so anytime someone wants to try out a book they have seen on BookTok, they can go check it out for free. If they decide they want to buy the book, there are smaller bookstores that need support from buyers, as well as stores where people can buy secondhand books. These are simple solutions to the large problem of consumerism. As the mindset overall needs to shift, each individual reader can make decisions that benefit themselves as they can read books for free or a lower cost, still enjoying what those online do, without contributing to the problem.

As BookTok continues to grow, its community is becoming more tight-knit. It welcomes readers from all walks of life and gives them a safe space to share feelings and views openly, while also providing a “book-club” type place to share their love of reading with other readers. Authors have seen the benefits of BookTok as they can easily market and promote their books, and as older books become popular again. Although there is a lack of different genres, the genres that are made popular are enjoyed by readers across the platform. The community has welcomed books with diverse characters and topics, which has made the platform even more open and accepting to everyone. Publishing companies and bookstores have changed how they advertise and sell books, which is benefiting them for now. However, readers have felt the pressure to read all the popular books in a short amount of time, while buying them brand-new, which has created a problem of competitiveness and consumerism. Simple solutions like checking out books from a library can be used to combat the issue. Though it should not be the only source of recommendations for books, readers should feel free to explore the many facets of BookTok to find books they have never imagined reading and to discover other readers they can relate with. And to the avid reader swamped by overflowing shelves, unable to bear fitting another unread copy in, or the penniless teen interested in the newest books, without the funds to purchase sleek, new hardbacks, I think it is time to take a trip to the public library to discover anew the joys of reading, without enduring the pain of another expensive trip to the bookstore.

Works Cited

Allwright, Holly. “Booktok: A Platform of Overconsumption That Has Amassed More Power than a Religion.” The Edge, 15 Mar. 2023, theedgesusu.co.uk/culture/2023/03/15/booktok-a-platform-of-overconsumption-that-has-amassed-more-power-than-a-religion/. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.

Bacon, Jess. “Is BookTok Sucking the Joy out of Reading?” Dazed, Dazed Media, 7 Sept. 2023, www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/60751/1/is-booktok-sucking-the-joy-out-of-reading-tiktok-competitive. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.

Boffone, Trevor, and Sarah Jerasa. “Toward a (Queer) Reading Community: BookTok, Teen Readers, and the Rise of TikTok Literacies.” Talking Points, vol. 33, no. 1, 1 Oct. 2021, pp. 10–16, https://doi.org/10.58680/tp202131537. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

Hazelwood, Ali. “I HAVE a BOOK DEAL!!!” Ali Hazelwood, 18 Sept. 2020, alihazelwood.com/book-deal/. Accessed 27 Nov. 2023.

Herther, Nancy K. “BookTok Part 3: COVID, Reading and the Future of Apps.” Charleston Hub, 18 Apr. 2022, www.charleston-hub.com/2022/04/booktok-part-3-covid-reading-and-the-future-of-apps/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

Jerasa, Sarah, and Trevor Boffone. “BookTok 101: TikTok, Digital Literacies, and Out-of-School Reading Practices.” International Literacy Association, Wiley, 8 Oct. 2021,     ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jaal.1199. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

Rozaki, Elisavet. “Reading Between the Likes: The Influence of BookTok on Reading Culture.” Utrecht University Student Theses Repository, Utrecht University, 2023, studenttheses.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/20.500.12932/43888/0962619-rozaki-e-master-thesis.pdf?sequence=1. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

Serrano, Laura Quintero. “The Extraordinary Effect of #BookTok.” University of Melbourne       Students’ Union, umsu.unimelb.edu.au/news/article/7797/The-Extraordinary-Effect-of-BookTok/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

“The BookTok Generation: How Social Media Is Transforming Gen Z Reading Habits.” Publisher’s Association, Nov. 2022, www.publishers.org.uk/wp-   content/uploads/2022/11/BookTok-for-WEBSITE.pdf. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

“The Song of Achilles.” Wikipedia, 19 Sept. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_of_Achilles. Accessed 27 Nov. 2023.

Zabski, Hanna. “The Pros and Cons of ‘BookTok’: Is This Social Media Phenomenon Actually   Beneficial?” MARIST CIRCLE, MARIST CIRCLE, 10 Feb. 2023, www.maristcircle.com/opinion/2023/2/10/the-pros-and-cons-of-booktok-is-this-social-media-phenomenon-actually-beneficial. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.