The World's Biggest Book Club

If you’ve been to a bookstore recently, you’ve likely seen a #BookTok sign atop a pile of novels popularized by the internet community. With over 130B views, this corner of the web is where creators and their audiences share book reviews, recommendations, and drive meaningful sales of the titles discussed. According to a recent study, 62% of TikTok users reported they read a book based on a TikTok recommendation. Forbes and NPD Bookscan have published that the US print book market has been up 9% since BookTok first emerged in 2020. But this trend transcends a single social channel. YouTube has its own bookish community, aptly named BookTube, where creators make videos highlighting their favorite authors and titles; they share “book hauls,” providing lengthy descriptions of their favorites in the long-form video format YouTube allows.

But social media’s tremendous impact on book sales has applied equal counter pressure to the traditional literary publishing industry. A fascinating substack from 2022 illuminates just how transformative this movement has been. The writer investigates why and how a self-published author, unnoticed by the industry, was able to maintain her top five spot on Amazon’s best seller list for weeks – discovering, in the process, how meaningfully creators’ recommendations can drive discovery and conversion. A power reversal unfolding in real time.

BookTok/Tube’s power comes, in large part, from the enthusiasm of the creator and the engagement of their viewers. The creator performs an in-depth analysis (worthy of a school book report), and the users participate actively in the comments. In fact, the substack author remarks: “I may never have read a book that closely. I’ve met writers who don’t put that much effort into their own work.” This new standard for reviews not only appeals to existing bookworms, but may also whet the appetite of latent readers. The Guardian claims nearly 59% of surveyed users said BookTok helped them discover a passion for reading. Most importantly, the community offers a sense of identity; users share opinions, recommendations, and proudly (and unironically) exclaim their favorite genre or author (often appended to “girlie” or “stan”).

For publishers trying to sell books, the response may seem simple: seed books with popular creators. Unfortunately, attempts to pay for content in this category will likely prove unsuccessful. Creators’ highest converting recommendations are usually organic, and they cover new and old titles alike. But the early signs of industry disruption have not gone unnoticed. ByteDance has taken steps to launch its own publishing house, focusing first on digital books and hoping to expand into an online retail platform thereafter.

Ultimately, the rise of BookTok shouldn’t be surprising: reading is increasingly becoming a shared experience, and one that deserves more than just a binary up/down vote. As we witness BookTok/Tube electrify readers and begin to upend traditional publishing, we are reminded of the massive opportunity hobbyist categories present. Like in beauty or outdoors, we know book creators will generate massive value – it’s simply a question of where that value will be captured and by whom.