What are Booktokers?
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2025 6:33 am
What are Booktokers?
Booktokers are TikTok influencers who create and share content related to book recommendations. They are users who use this platform to share reviews, talk series, make book trailers and create reading-related content. Through the platform's short videos, they generate interest in reading and even viral challenges, which have promoted the popularity of reading in recent years.
How to start or join Booktok club?
First of all, the basic step to join a BookTok community is to have an active TikTok account. With this TikTok account, you will be able to explore book-related content using popular hashtags such as #BookTok, #BookRecommendations, or #BookReview. This will allow you to find a wealth of videos and influencers dedicated to sharing their passion for reading.
You might be interested in: A guide on how to use hashtags on TikTok
Participating in reading-related challenges and trends is also another great way to integrate yourself into the Booktok community. In addition to TikTok’s social network, you can also explore online book clubs on other platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook groups . These clubs usually organize joint readings and book discussions between users, allowing you to deepen your connections with other readers and expand your reading experience.
LGBTQ Fiction: Riding the BookTok Wave to Become One of Its Most Popular Genres on TikTok
With 1.63 billion views and counting, #BookTok is one of the most active communities on TikTok, according to the platform. Not one to miss an opportunity, TikTok has built on the phenomenal success of literary content by promoting bookTok challenges, reading recommendations, TikTok Book Club — the online equivalent of a traditional book club — and naming popular literary leaders as “BookTok Laureates.”
Spanish creators such as @esperanzalruz , @goikobooks , and @fantasyliterature have joined this trend, sharing their favorite titles from their own profiles and from the TikTok Spain account ( @tiktok_es ).
BookTok recommendations have not only catapulted a number of unknown authors and titles to fame and sold thousands of copies, but have boosted entire literary genres previously ignored by publishers. Sales of LGBTQ fiction in the US, for example, grew 11% during the year ending May 2023, according to Circana, representing a 173% increase compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Recommended reading: Inclusive influencer marketing: best practices
One of BookTok’s most celebrated hits is Madeline Miller’s “The Song of Achilles,” a love story between two young people. The book was published in 2011 to critical acclaim, but it didn’t catch on with the public until it went viral on TikTok in 2021. It has since sold 2 million copies.
“Growth in LGBTQ fiction has outpaced the overall fiction sales market, including adult, children’s and young adult fiction combined, which remained relatively flat,” says Kristen McLean, book industry analyst at Circana. “This comes at a critical time when reports of book bans have increased, predominantly targeting books written by or about the LGBTQ communi vp risk email database ty and people of color.”
Norman is one of many literary influencers who decided to share their love of books on TikTok during the surge of activity generated by the pandemic. Selected as one of TikTok’s LGBTQ Pioneers of 2022, now rebranded as Visionary Voices, Norman decided to focus his content on queer and diverse literature to create an “ online resource ” for queer people looking to come out, learn about their sexuality, or find stories that represent who they are.
“I made a video about Call Me By Your Name (by André Aciman), posted it, went to dinner with my mother, and the next day it had 50,000 views,” Norman tells Kolsquare. “I’ve never had anything like that happen before. It made me realise that people are interested in this, so I started making more videos.”
Booktok and Bookstagram: Reaching the public where they are
The success of BookTok and literary content on social media in general has forced the publishing industry to question the preconceived notion that young people are not interested in books and reading. It has also broken down the elitist ideas that previously held back categories such as romance, young adult and fantasy fiction, which dominate influencer and social media content in the category.
Booktokers are TikTok influencers who create and share content related to book recommendations. They are users who use this platform to share reviews, talk series, make book trailers and create reading-related content. Through the platform's short videos, they generate interest in reading and even viral challenges, which have promoted the popularity of reading in recent years.
How to start or join Booktok club?
First of all, the basic step to join a BookTok community is to have an active TikTok account. With this TikTok account, you will be able to explore book-related content using popular hashtags such as #BookTok, #BookRecommendations, or #BookReview. This will allow you to find a wealth of videos and influencers dedicated to sharing their passion for reading.
You might be interested in: A guide on how to use hashtags on TikTok
Participating in reading-related challenges and trends is also another great way to integrate yourself into the Booktok community. In addition to TikTok’s social network, you can also explore online book clubs on other platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook groups . These clubs usually organize joint readings and book discussions between users, allowing you to deepen your connections with other readers and expand your reading experience.
LGBTQ Fiction: Riding the BookTok Wave to Become One of Its Most Popular Genres on TikTok
With 1.63 billion views and counting, #BookTok is one of the most active communities on TikTok, according to the platform. Not one to miss an opportunity, TikTok has built on the phenomenal success of literary content by promoting bookTok challenges, reading recommendations, TikTok Book Club — the online equivalent of a traditional book club — and naming popular literary leaders as “BookTok Laureates.”
Spanish creators such as @esperanzalruz , @goikobooks , and @fantasyliterature have joined this trend, sharing their favorite titles from their own profiles and from the TikTok Spain account ( @tiktok_es ).
BookTok recommendations have not only catapulted a number of unknown authors and titles to fame and sold thousands of copies, but have boosted entire literary genres previously ignored by publishers. Sales of LGBTQ fiction in the US, for example, grew 11% during the year ending May 2023, according to Circana, representing a 173% increase compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Recommended reading: Inclusive influencer marketing: best practices
One of BookTok’s most celebrated hits is Madeline Miller’s “The Song of Achilles,” a love story between two young people. The book was published in 2011 to critical acclaim, but it didn’t catch on with the public until it went viral on TikTok in 2021. It has since sold 2 million copies.
“Growth in LGBTQ fiction has outpaced the overall fiction sales market, including adult, children’s and young adult fiction combined, which remained relatively flat,” says Kristen McLean, book industry analyst at Circana. “This comes at a critical time when reports of book bans have increased, predominantly targeting books written by or about the LGBTQ communi vp risk email database ty and people of color.”
Norman is one of many literary influencers who decided to share their love of books on TikTok during the surge of activity generated by the pandemic. Selected as one of TikTok’s LGBTQ Pioneers of 2022, now rebranded as Visionary Voices, Norman decided to focus his content on queer and diverse literature to create an “ online resource ” for queer people looking to come out, learn about their sexuality, or find stories that represent who they are.
“I made a video about Call Me By Your Name (by André Aciman), posted it, went to dinner with my mother, and the next day it had 50,000 views,” Norman tells Kolsquare. “I’ve never had anything like that happen before. It made me realise that people are interested in this, so I started making more videos.”
Booktok and Bookstagram: Reaching the public where they are
The success of BookTok and literary content on social media in general has forced the publishing industry to question the preconceived notion that young people are not interested in books and reading. It has also broken down the elitist ideas that previously held back categories such as romance, young adult and fantasy fiction, which dominate influencer and social media content in the category.