Communities around books and reading have existed online across multiple online social media platforms. BookTube – a YouTube sub-community – and Bookstagram – a hashtag community on Instagram – emerged online in 2010 and has seen immense growth (Martens et al., 2022). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the popular social media platform (TikTok) fostered the creation of a new book community known as ‘Booktok’ (Martens et al., 2022). TikTok allows users to create short form videos that are combined with text, sound bites, music snippets, and hashtags (Martens et al., 2022). TikTok’s engaging content differs from the type of content that online book communities have been exposed to by other platforms (such as lengthy YouTube videos or aesthetic images and shelfies on Instagram) and the personalisation that it offers explains how communities like Booktok have come about. This ties in with the idea of networked publics – that online social media platforms influence users and allow online communities to exist as separate places where interaction and information exchange occurs (Boyd, 2010). Booktok is an inclusive community that allows readers to interact with each other and share information about books and reading. This has been facilitated by TikTok’s affordances that support content creation and the platform’s intuitive interface that promotes the strengthening of social ties. TikTok is used as a third place by readers to bond over shared interests, to share information about books, and strengthen ties within the BookTok community.
Searchability and virality
Readers utilise TikTok’s affordances to share book recommendations, reviews, and book hauls, to the sub-community on the platform known as ‘Booktok’. On social media platforms, like TikTok, content has the potential to become highly visible (Boyd, 2010). Content that achieves visibility and receives mass attention is usually as a result of amplification by audiences (Boyd, 2010). This idea of scalability within networked publics is reinforced by the Booktok community; it has become one of the most popular ‘sides’ of TikTok and the hashtag #booktok has received over ninety-two billion views (Coleman, 2022). Booktok’s establishment as a prominent sub-community on TikTok is as a result of readers manipulating the platform’s affordances to enhance their visibility (Abidin, 2021). Affordances such as sound bites, song snippets, and hashtags are used to categorise videos and connect them to other users (Martens et al., 2022). Booktok content creators copy popular hashtags used within the community (such as #booktok, #wrapup, #bookhaul), trending songs, and sounds in order to achieve and maintain visibility within the Booktok community. The searchability of the platform and ease of use demonstrates how videos can quickly go viral and achieve high visibility (Martens et al., 2022).
The virality and proliferation of the Booktok community has also had an immense impact on both authors and the publishing industry alike. Alex Aster, author of Lightlark, posted a TikTok video about the book (still a work of progress at the time) and went viral. The video amassed over one million views and Aster received a six-figure book deal for Lightlark to get published (Nichols, 2022). Booktok content has pushed books onto bestseller lists and, inadvertently, act as extensions of publishers’ marketing materials (Martens et al., 2022). In 2023, Rebecca Yarros’s novel Fourth Wing blew up within the Booktok community; Booktok content creators latched onto the novel and, as a result, Fourth Wing remained on the New York Times bestseller list for more than six months and sold over two million copies (Mendez, 2023). Publishers have been quick to ride on the coattails of Booktok’s success. Booktok content creators are being sought out by publishers to make content about upcoming new releases and promote their books (Nichols, 2022). Additionally, viral videos, Booktok trends, and the opinions of micro celebrities within the Booktok community influence book sales and see a resurgence of books that have been published years ago (Martens et al., 2022). Local bookstores saw an unexpected high demand for the novel The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue in 20021 after Booktok content creator @aymansbooks posted a video recommending it on TikTok (Nichols, 2022). Within a week of the video being posted, the novel made an appearance on the New York Times bestseller list, it stayed there for over forty weeks, and V.E. Schwab (author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue) posted Ayman on her Instagram story thanking her for what she was able to achieve (Nichols, 2022). Not only does Booktok have the power to sell new books, but it has the power re-introduce and popularise older books. Upon its first release in 2017, Adam Silvera’s They Both Die at the End spent two weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Three years and overwhelming popularity on Booktok later, They Both Die at the End reappeared on the bestseller list and stayed there for over eight months (Nichols, 2022). The popularity of Booktok and high visibility of content creators within the community facilitate an increase in book sales, resuscitates books that have been published years ago, and has influence over authors and publishers alike.
BookTok as a third place
Online communities, like Booktok, connect users based on shared interests. Booktok makes it easy for readers to find others with similar interests, taste in books, and feelings about books by transcending space and time and through the affordance of commenting. Within virtual communities, the limits of space and time do not exist (Boyd, 2010, as cited in Martens et al., 2022). Social media platforms offer users (and in the case of Booktok, readers) a place to interact with each other and connect. Papacharissi (2010) suggests that these places are similar to physical places such as libraries where face-to-face interactions would occur. Booktok allows readers to find others that feel the same way about certain books and fosters a sense of connection between readers with the same interests; readers can maintain connection without physical proximity. In an interview about Booktok, literary agent Alex Adsett states that sharing passions and interest is characteristic of media consumption and that the sharing nature of Booktok is what has caused its success – “it works to make others want to read and have those emotions as well” (The University of Queensland Australia, n.d.). Additionally, interaction and connection within online communities are largely facilitated by comments on social media platforms. Comments act as a performance of social connection and allows users to gather around shared interests and interact with each other (Boyd, 2010). Booktok videos are usually flooded with comments from other readers about their own opinions on the books featured. Comments also expand on the content. For example, the comment section of a recommendation video might see other readers mention and recommend additional and/or different books that were shown in the video. Persistent contact and the features of social media platforms allow readers to share their interests and facilitates interaction and connection.
Pervasive awareness and audiences
Social ties within the Booktok community are strengthened through the utilisation of the platform. Hampton (2016) suggests that social media platforms allow person to network communication. Social media platforms facilitate the broadcasting of passions and interests to anyone – the barriers of finding like-minded individuals offline are removed (Hampton, 2016). Hampton (2016) also suggests that pervasive awareness (constant awareness of others on social media platforms) creates a sense of belonging and facilitates the strengthening of social ties. Pervasive awareness also influences how Booktok creators wish to present themselves online and the audiences’ they wish to reach in their desire for belonging. Booktok content creators often feature bookshelves or stacks of books in their videos to confirm their identity as readers and appeal to the larger Booktok community. Additionally, Booktok creators may adjust their behaviours to fit into the norms of their community (Boyd, 2010). This looks like posting videos to trending sounds and/or songs and reading books that are trending on the platform. Social ties are also strengthened within the Booktok community through the perceived authenticity of content. TikTok is unique in that creators rarely (if ever) receive financial compensation for their content (Martens et al., 2022). Although unfair, it can be beneficial to creators within the Booktok community in that their content is perceived to be more authentic and created for the purpose to gain, maintain, and strengthen social connections (Martens et al., 2022). Content is not driven by profit but is made out of the love creators have for books and for reading (Martens et al., 2022). Social ties are strengthened through content creator’s pervasive awareness of their audience and their drive to create authentic content.
The Booktok community acts as a third place for readers and allows readers to bond over shared interests, share information about books, and strengthen social ties. Booktok has become an extremely popular sub-community on TikTok. Booktok content creators manipulate the platform’s affordances – such as trending sound bites/song snippets and hashtags – to achieve and maintain high visibility. The popularity of Booktok and high visibility of content creators within the community, in turn, facilitate a steep increase in book sales and resuscitates books that have been published years ago. Many new authors, like Alex Aster, can accredit their success to the Booktok community and the publishing industry has utilised Booktok to their advantage as well. Publishers have sought out Booktok content creators to make content about upcoming new releases and promote their books. The Booktok community overcomes the limitations of space and time and allows readers to connect and interact with each other without physical proximity. The ability to bond over a shared love for books and how they make readers feel is a huge factor in Booktok’s success. Bonding is facilitated through comments and commenting – these online interactions allow readers to have discussions about books and reading. Additionally, social ties are strengthened through content creator’s pervasive awareness of their audience and their drive to create authentic content. The constant awareness of others within the Booktok community creates a sense of belonging. This awareness also influences how creator’s present themselves for the audience they wish to reach through their content. Booktok content is often created to appeal to the wider community and, as content is usually not financially compensated, it is perceived to be more authentic and made out of the desire to share interests and strengthen social ties. It is interesting to consider how Booktok could influence the dissemination of books in the future based on what is considered ‘trendy’ or not. It cannot be denied that the Booktok community has, and will continue to have, an impact on book and reading landscapes.
Abidin, C. (2021). From “networked publics” to “refracted publics”: A companion framework for researching “below the radar” studies. Social Media + Scoiety, 7(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120984458
Boyd, D. (2010). Social network sites and networked publics: Affordances, dynamics, and implications. In Z. Papacharissi, A Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites (pp. 39-58). Taylor and Francis Group. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/curtin/reader.action?docID=574608&ppg=48
Coleman, T. (2022). #Booktok: Is TikTok changing the publishing industry. The Week. https://theweek.com/feature/briefing/1018899/booktok-is-tiktok-changing-the-publishing-industry
Hampton, K.N. (2016). Persistent and pervasive community: New communication technologies and the future of community. American Behavioral Scientist, 60(1), 101-124. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764215601714
Martens, M., Balling, G., & Higgason, K. (2022). #Booktokmademereadit: young adult reading communities across an international, sociotechnical landscape. Information and Learning Sciences , 123(11), 705-722. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-07-2022-0086
Mendez, M. (2023). How Rebecca Yarros’ novels became a romantasy Booktok phenomenon. Time. https://time.com/6332608/iron-flame-rebecca-yarros/
Nichols, A. (2022). Booktok: When TikTok met the book industry. Business Review at Berkeley. https://businessreview.studentorg.berkeley.edu/booktok-when-tiktok-met-the-book-industry/
Papacharissi, Z. (2010). Conclusion: A networked self. In Z. Papacharissi, A Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites (pp. 319-319). Taylor and Francis Group. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/curtin/reader.action?docID=574608&ppg=48
The University of Queensland Australia. (n.d.). Booktok: The next chapter for booklovers. Contact Magazine. https://stories.uq.edu.au/contact-magazine/2023/booktok-the-next-chapter-for-booklovers/index.html
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