Abstract
TikTok has created a space where authors can gather traction on self-published work with little to no financial burden, which ultimately makes self-publishing a more viable option than ever before. Depending on which ‘side’ of TikTok you are on, you may have come across the BookTok community, which is built on users who create, watch, and engage in content around not only books but the act of reading itself. While self-publishing has been an option for a significant amount of time, with features like Amazon’s free self-publishing service, unless the author has some money behind them to promote their work, it isn’t likely to reach to sales volumes of work that has been traditionally published, that is, through a publishing house. Since the app’s creation in 2016 under the name ‘A.me’ in China, it came through as TikTok to the rest of the world in 2017 and has gained intense amounts of popularity ever since. So, while the phenomenon that is BookTok is one that is fairly new, it’s impact and collective reach cannot be understated, as it has helped bring new readers to older work, but more importantly it has helped newer books have soaring sales. BookTok helped authors to sell 20 million print copies of books in 2021 and again in 2022, with print sales rising over 50% in this time. According to Bookscan who collected this data, there has been no other instance of sales being so dramatically affected by a social media platform (Harris, 2022). This essay will explore the cultivation of these passionate communities that follow authors who engage through social media.
Case Study 1
On the 8th February 2023, TikTok user @stonemaidens posted a video about her father’s crime thriller novel, Stone Maiden, which he had previously self-published through Amazon in 2012. This short, 16-second video, in which she details how her father, Lloyd Devereux Richards, spent 14 years writing the novel in between his full-time job and being father. In the video, text is overlaid to clips of Richards and his daughter states that while he is simply happy to be published, she would like to see some sales of the book. Almost two months later that video is now sitting at 53 million views. The video went viral and continues to show up in user’s feeds as there are comments as recent as a day ago, with many users commenting their support. This whirlwind of attention led to Richards’s book hitting the number one bestseller on Amazon and has generated almost 4,000 reader reviews on the platform. Considering that ten years had passed since Richards first published Stone Maiden, it can be said that without the use of TikTok to promote it, the book wouldn’t have hit such a high number of sales and publicity within the general media. Now with over 400,000 followers, Richards’s daughter posts videos frequently detailing Richards’ gratitude and his plans to work on a sequel. This intense call to the BookTok community to support someone is shown to its full extent here, as people responded to the initial video and bought the book immediately. It can come back to this idea of belonginess theory, in which when an individual can fulfill this sense of belonging, they can experience heightened positive emotions (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). The power of social media cannot be underestimated when it comes to fulfilling this sense of belonging, as readers want to be a part of phenomenon’s, they want to be able to also discuss the book that everyone else is already discussing. TikTok provides a low-risk option for authors to promote their books as there is no financial aspect required, they have control over what they can post, and they can make use of hashtags to reach their target audiences.
The advent of digital publishing has revolutionised the self-publishing industry and it is now easier and more accessible than ever before. For authors to have the option to easily self-publish, through print on demand services, allows them to achieve the core aim of their work; “to be seen, to be heard, to have their work disseminated” (Price, 2022, p. 10). Previously the need for financial backing was necessary if an author wanted to self-publish, as authors had to pay out of pocket to printers for their book and were either in charge of hiring someone to handle marketing and sales aspect, or more commonly, do it themselves. Now with the emergence of these print-on-demand self-publishing services, like the one Amazon provides, authors need only upload their book online and then all the production proceeds at the point of sale. By eliminating the need for authors to pay upfront to self-publish, the only requirement that is on the author, if they wish to boost sales, is to promote their books. It is also worth noting that self-publishing is a fantastic option as data from a 2012 study found that women were largely unrepresented in the traditional publishing space and that the rise of self-publishing was on the way to diminish this significant gender inequality in the industry, as it allows authors to have agency over how they publish their work (Weinberg & Kapelner, 2018). With this choice back in the hands of the author whether to pursue traditional publishing or try self-publishing, the appeals to the latter cannot be understated. The need for spending money on promoting their work is mostly obsolete. The extent that authors may have to go to is sending copies of books out to influencers in order to generate an online discussion with potential readers. This again links back to the importance of social media as a key player in circulating the book with potential readers. Further reducing effort even more is the option for authors to publish exclusively as an e-book. A large section of users in the BookTok community continually advocate for e-books due to their accessibility and reduced cost. There is minimal risk in an author publishing their work as an e-book because they don’t stand to suffer a financial loss but instead have the potential to reach a niche audience. There has been previous discussion about e-books potentially pulling away from print sales, but research has found this isn’t the case. Hui (2021) discusses that by utilising multichannel management, print and e-books, the two platforms can easily work together to enhance sales across both, by having readers who can feed off of one platform and as a result find new content on the other.
Effects of COVID-19
When majority of the world was being plunged in and out of lockdowns from 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the main way to live and connect was in the online sphere and TikTok was a critical component of that time. Given that one of the main motivators for users to engage with TikTok is to fulfill a need for social interaction (Unni & Weinstein, 2021), it’s no surprise that the app saw it’s usership increase drastically in this time as people utilised their spare time to feel connected via these social media communities. Engagement with these platforms and subsequently the communities that exist on them, such as BookTok saw engagement in reading soar around the world. Despite the closure of physical bookstores during the lockdowns around the world, book sales were on the rise. Book sales in the United Kingdom grew by 16% during 2020 (Publishers Association, 2021). This increase in these dedicated reading communities made reading approachable for those that previously didn’t engage in it or felt intimidated by the hobby. With tailored recommendations and an algorithm that contributed to users’ involvement, users on the app were bombarded with options to enter into the reading sphere. Authors were one of the few roles that were able to continue with minimal disruption during the pandemic and those who chose to engage with the online book communities were able to not only boost sales but become a critical part of these communities. It helped to bridge the gap between reader and author and provide an opportunity for readers to gain an insight into an author’s process and thoughts. This personal connection between reader and author fosters that sense of community and makes readers more inclined to purchase an author’s work. It is not only a form of support but a sense of belonging.
Cultivating a community of readers
By being a present figure online, authors are also presented with the opportunity to better understand their readers. By being able to analyse the behaviour and preferences of their target audience, authors can tailer their work and promotional content to the demands of the market and therefore reach a wider audience (Abidin, 2018). Having the ability to alter their content and connect with readers in a way that is on their terms, encourages this relationship between the two parties. Readers that are more engaged with the author and have the ability to follow them on not only TikTok, but on other social media platforms ensures a sense of loyalty to the author. This sense of loyalty results in readers who are dedicated to consume whatever content the author releases and to follow them from platform to platform, to avoid the risk of missing out on something crucial in their online sphere. If a creator, in this case the author, is consistent in their posting and engagement with their audience, it encourages the reader to interact with them in every way possible (Abidin, 2018). They will follow them not only on to other social media platforms but will fulfill this desire for connection by interacting with the author’s published works. The followers fear of missing out on crucial content ensures this, and considering the published works can be considered the most crucial part of an author’s content, loyal followers will engage back and forth, ensuring an all-encompassing experience for the reader and a loyal fanbase for the author. By fostering this personal relationship and connection, followers of the author are more likely to make recommendations to other people based on their fierce loyalty (Zhang & Choi, 2022). This online discussion and open recommendations can easily put the author in the position where they are growing their fanbase and have more exposure to their work.
Case Study 2
Alexene Farol Follmuth is a bestselling author of nine books and writes under the pen name Olivie Blake for most of them. Despite having previous books published through traditional methods with publishing houses, Blake self-published her book Alone with You in the Ether in 2020 and it was a step away from the genres she had written previously. A sense of mania generated from this book and was swept up in the TikTok book communities. A notable mention is users who make content claiming that this book inspired intense emotional reactions, which seem to be the type of books that generate lots of attention. A year on from it’s initial release, Alone with You in the Ether, was picked up by an imprint of one of the largest publishing houses around, Macmillan. This almost hysteria over the book and the spreading of it on TikTok was intense and caught the attention of publishing houses and almost little to none of the promotion came from Blake herself. Blake herself doesn’t have a TikTok profile, so the hype surrounding the book on BookTok was purely reader generated. The hashtag of the book currently has over 36 million views. The reason the book gained such popularity was readers discussion of it and recommendations to each other. This desire to be part of an online discussion, despite the millions of other voices already engaging in it, links back to the idea that having a solid social presence on social media can positively impact how much an individual feels that they belong (Gao et al., 2017). The popularity of this book negated the need for Blake to even have a strong author presence on the platform because she became a TikTok sensation regardless and this changed the trajectory of the book’s time as a self-published piece.
Conclusion
While various social media platforms have had a transformative impact on the world of publishing by making self-publishing a more accessible and financially viable option for authors, TikTok stands to be the largest stakeholder in these changes over the last three years. TikTok not only provides authors an opportunity to promote their book on their own terms, but to also utilise influencers and creators engaged in the BookTok community to their advantage as well. This online community, which welcomes users, regardless of the niche genre they may enjoy, to discuss, share, and recommend books. This engagement, and often hype that can generate from enjoyment of a book, transcends above how the book was published. Self-published or traditionally published makes no difference to readers, the work itself is the focus and this reiterates why the popularisation of self-publishing has come about, in which authors can achieve publication status without sacrificing significant time or money to see a measure of success.
References
Abidin, C. (2018). “From Internet Celebrities to Influencers”, Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame Online (Society Now). Emerald Publishing Limited. Bingley. pp. 71-98. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78756-076-520181004
Baumeister, R.F., & Leary, M.R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117 (3) (1995), 497-529. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497
Gao, W., Liu, Z., & Li, J. (2017). How does social presence influence SNS addiction? A belongingness theory perspective. Computers in Human Behavior, 77, 347-355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.09.002
Harris, E. (2022, July 1). How TikTok Became a Best-Seller Machine. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/01/books/tiktok-books-booktok.html
Hui, L. (2021). Are e-books a different channel? Multichannel management of digital products. Quantitative marketing and economics, 19(2), 179-225. https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=12d94a52-8947-4823-bd10-f2384e3973c4%40redis
Price, L. (2022). Fanfiction, self-publishing, and the materiality of the book: A fan writer’s autoethnography. Humanities, 11(4), 100-120. https://doi.org/10.3390/h11040100
Publishers Association. (2021, April 27). Publishing in 2020: resilient in the face of Covid. Publishers Association. https://www.publishers.org.uk/publishing-in-2020/
Unni, Z., & Weinstein, E. (2021). Shelter in Place, Connect Online: Trending TikTok Content During the Early Days of the U.S. COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Adolescent Health, 68(5), 863-868. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.02.012
Weinberg, D. B., & Kapelner, A. (2018). Comparing gender discrimination and inequality in indie and traditional publishing. PLoS One, 13(4). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195298
Zhang, X., & Choi, J. (2022). The Importance of Social Influencer-Generated Contents for User Cognition and Emotional Attachment: An Information Relevance Perspective. Sustainability, 14(11), 6676. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116676
Hi L, The thing is the paper is mainly concentrated on the African continent particularly.If you make an analysis of…