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The Unlikely Rise of BookTok
For any given hobby—painting, pottery, woodworking, biking—there are a host of creators making content all about it. But few creator niches have impacted the industry they cover more than BookTok, the corner of TikTok passionately devoted to literary pursuits. It’s changed the game for publishers, authors, bookstores, and other creators growing a following on TikTok.
It seems like an unlikely story—but some of the best stories are just that. Here, we’ll uncover how a short-form, short-attention-span platform became the primary forum for book lovers.
“There’s something about words on a page that makes you feel like you know someone more deeply,” Emily Delgado, creator of the account BookofEmily said. “It’s a special community that’s unlike any other on TikTok.”
We talked to Delgado to get a picture of how this creator genre has affected all the key players in book publishing.
Publishers: Remember book trailers? That was as multimedia as publishers got in book promotion until 2020, the year we all got on the clock app and BookTok started affecting sales. Last year, the British publishing house Bloomsbury saw a profit growth of 220%, which its CEO Nigel Newton credited to the “phenomenal impact of TikTok.”
The key difference between the old methods of book publicity and BookTok is that modern promotion is from the reader’s perspective. Publishers reach out to creators to read and review their books, a ritual once reserved for only news editors and critics.
“Since I went viral, I’ve been sent books from countless publishers,” Delgado said. “Typically brands and publishers will send me a book and ask for a review. None of it is forced. I’ve been compensated before, but that’s not typical.”
At the core of BookTok is a simple passion for books. Few set out to be full-time creators in the genre; they’re instead making content out of sheer love for the material. When you’re passionate about something, it’s hard to keep quiet about it—that’s organic marketing 101 (and why promotion has been so effective).
On the flip side, that same passion can be applied toward books that creators didn’t like. That, ironically, can also make people want to read the book—no publicity is bad publicity when it comes to BookTok.
Authors: The BookTok community skews female, with most prominent writers emerging from the romance genre—Colleen Hoover and Emily Henry, for example. According to NPD BookScan, which tracks the sale of most printed books in the United States, Hoover has written four of the 10 best-selling books so far this year. She has similarly dominated the Amazon best-seller’s list.
“Colleen Hoover was my gateway into BookTok. Before I was reading Sci-Fi like Divergent,” Delgado said. “Now I’m obsessed with the romance genre.”
From a popularity and sales point of view, BookTok has been a force, but many have questioned its blind spots—like diversity.
“I do my best to highlight independent publishers and authors from different backgrounds within the genres I’m passionate about,” Delgado said. “And I like videos that feature books written by diverse creators so my feed doesn’t look like more of the same.”
Creators: TikTok is known as one of the least creator-friendly platforms when it comes to achieving long-term success, given its controversial monetization tactics and community-building challenges.
But that’s where BookTok most clearly deviates from the platform it calls home. “Thanks to BookTok I really came out of my shell. I used to be really shy and hated public speaking, but now I’m more confident,” Delgado said.
Through BookTok, Delgado has forged friendships around the world, many of which thrive off-platform too. She’s involved in group chats and heads up a book club of over 100 members.
As a 23-year-old working a full-time job, Delgado posts 1–2 times a day and reads two books a week (before BookTok she averaged two books a month).
But in Delgado’s case, the story doesn’t end there. “BookTok has inspired me to go to a writing class. I recently got engaged and posted the story on TikTok and people asked when the book was coming out. Maybe there’s a story there that I could write about.”
Our Take
We’ve often been skeptical of the possibility for creator longevity built on TikTok, but BookTok proposes an interesting path—through low-stakes duets, comments, and quick videos, creators can find a quick touch point to go deeper, faster. We’re interested to see what hobby creators can shake up next—maybe car restoration or golf?
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🤝 Creator Support
Publish Press readers share a problem they're facing and creators Colin & Samir respond with their advice.
Q: I run Christmas Songs & Carols - Love to Sing. We are a Christmas music channel with over 1 billion views and just over 1.8 million subs.
Over the last two years we have seen a lot of imitator channels pop up, which is great as it drives us to be more creative with our content. However, we are seeing more and more channels with 50-200 subs and 3-7 videos gaining traction on brand new videos on all our big keywords.
We have come to the conclusion they are using bots by paying for views to trick the algorithm into thinking the videos have a great CTR and view time, therefore ranking their videos higher for big keywords.
How can we tackle these imitator channels? Is there any way we can turn this into a positive for our channel?
A: If TikTok Now’s rip off of BeReal shows us anything, it’s that copycats are a when, not an if—especially if the original is successful.
One creator who handled this well: Casey Neistat. His channel spawned a whole new era of vloggers toting electric longboards and drones who adopted his editing style.
In response, Neistat didn’t implement any radical changes, but focused more on storytelling and the parts of his life that naturally made his videos stand out. Others can copy the technique, but the outcome will always look different.
Your perspective that competitors can be a driver to improve your own content is a great place to start. You can’t really do anything about the imitators, but you can lean into what makes your content uniquely yours. Focus on the thumbnails, music, and imagery.
For a seasonal niche like yours, it’s great to find ways to post regularly so the algorithm is receptive when your busy season rolls around. And a livestream countdown is an awesome way to grow a community. How else could you serve those looking forward to Christmas?
Facing a creator problem you want help with? Share it here→
🔥 Press Worthy
How one creator resurrected an old YouTube channel.
Why Washington Square Park feels like a TikTok studio.
Khaby Lame reveals how much he charges for a sponsored post.
Teachable is bringing together course creation and entrepreneurial experts for their free 3-day summit: Journey to Create.*
Prepare to see more custom voter ads on YouTube and TikTok.
The reason PewDiePie hasn’t quit YouTube.
*This is sponsored advertising content.
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