Original. Unsettling. God tier. Addicting.
These are some of the words and phrases you’ll hear thrown around when scrolling through the #BookTok hashtag on TikTok. Boasting over 53.8 million videos and encompassing a broad range of trending sounds, the BookTok community has skyrocketed the careers of authors like Rebecca Yarros, Ana Huang, and Sarah J. Maas, all of whom have become #1 New York Times bestsellers.
When videos go viral on TikTok, millions of views correlate to commercial success not only for the content creators themselves but also the authors they’re reacting to. On BookTok, viewers have a direct call to action: Buy the book I recommend. Like FashionTok, BookTok promotes the “see and buy” content that’s become even more popular with the introduction of TikTok Shop.
But this process doesn’t end after readers hear a dramatic review and immediately check out an online shopping cart. With the rise of BookTok, new bookstores are opening across America, and a rising community of readers has a forum to connect.
Young Women Drive BookTok Sales
Like we saw during 2023’s BarbieMania, BookTok sales rely mostly on the influence and purchasing power of young women. One report published by The New Americanist found that age negatively correlates with the number of print books bought each month, meaning the younger you are, the more likely it is that you’ve bought a physical print book in the last month. 32% (predominantly millennials) of participants bought a book from Bookstagram (book-centered Instagram), and 31%(predominantly Gen Z) bought a book from BookTok. Overall, those in their 20s and 30s are highly influenced by bookish social media.
And scrolling down #BookTok or any of its related hashtags (#Reading with 5.5M videos, #BookRecommendations with 5.1M videos, or #Bookwork with 6.2M videos, to name a few), both videos and comments are primarily posted by women who appear to be in their 20s or 30s.
In the same vein, many of the books being reviewed on TikTok are in genres primarily consumed by women, but dismissed by heady literary snobs, like romance and fantasy. However, as commercial indicators, those snobs would be missing out big time.
According to Publishers Weekly, Emily Henry’s romance novel Great Big Beautiful Life leads bestsellers, with 137, 474 units sold since its publication date at the end of April. Dark romance Lights Out is also a top seller, with 227, 798 units sold. While these books are nestled amongst books by juggernauts like Mel Robbins and Suzanne Collins, their numbers place them near the top of the list.
Great Big Beautiful Life and Lights Out also top the New York Times Best Sellers Fiction List, with Rebecca Yarros’ latest book in The Fourth Wing romantasy (romance and fantasy) series in fourth place after fourteen weeks on the list.
These sales numbers appear to directly correlate to BookTok engagement, with #EmilyHenry, #FourthWing, and #LightsOut at 99.2K, 648.6K, and 86.5K videos, respectively.
Jane Nutter, a Senior Communications and Marketing Manager at independent publisher Kensington Publishing Corp, told Worth that BookTok is led by younger generations. Readers seek out recommendations from both content creators and authors themselves.
Nutter explained, “Readers are increasingly turning to peer to peer reviews rather than more traditional coverage. This is particularly true for younger generations like Millennials and Gen Z.”
‘BookTok’ Is an Entirely New Genre
Despite its influence on romance, fantasy, and romantasy, BookTok surpasses any sort of individual genre and serves as its own definer.
A BookTok read is something that’s trendy. It can be high-brow, low-brow, short, or long. It can be a new release or a classic. But a BookTok read gets people talking—and it gets content made.
In anticipation of popular BookTok author R.F. Kuang’s upcoming release, Katabasis, which spins Dante’s Divine Comedy on its head, several creators have even published reading lists to prepare. BookTok creator @piasreads’ list includes books like The Iliad, Antigone, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and, of course, Divine Comedy itself.
At this point, BookTok starts to look less like a medium to talk about your so-called “guilty pleasures” and more like a university reading list. The platform has given literary creators the chance to democratize the type of analysis that often only happens in formal institutions.
Although there’s only a limited amount of time in the typical 60-second video and BookTok tends to follow the influencer pattern of showing and telling rather than sparking debate, there is plenty of engagement for creators who do just that.
Although it’s also a place to show off a book haul or a book-themed outfit, BookTok has surpassed the influencer jail that had Gigi Hadid reading Camus at fashion week and Jacob Elordi filling each cargo pant pocket with a different feminist read. Instead of vague bookish aesthetics, BookTok has become a forum for real engagement about literature.
And who better to trust for your book recs than your peers? If an author is active online or builds a community surrounding their work, it’s considered in the marketing and acquisitions strategies. The organic content being churned out by BookTokers serves as genuine word of mouth—this isn’t your everyday Amazon reviewer; it’s a trusted member of your online peers.
Nutter explained, “Authors who create engaging videos and are responsive to reader comments and feedback are particularly good at cultivating a fandom which turns out readers to buy their books in droves. Buying a book just to support the author and to have them succeed can be just as [valid a] reason to purchase than simply because it’s a book they want to read.”
Brick and Mortar Bookstores Are Rising from the Dead
You might draw the conclusion that since BookTok is primarily an online community, its consumer influence extends exclusively to online retailers. You’d be wrong.
In January, Barnes & Noble announced its plan to open at least 60 new bookstores in 2025, a record-breaking number just surpassing its former high of 57 new stores in 2024. This follows decades of bookselling declines and store closures that led many to believe physical bookstores were dead.
And large booksellers like Barnes & Noble aren’t the only retailers seeing a bump in sales—The American Booksellers Association told the Associated Press that their membership increased by 200 members in 2024, and 190 stores are set to open within the next two years.
In a twist of how we’ve come to think of the in-person-to-online-community pipeline, BookTok is bringing the online discussions to physical places– and giving enthusiasts the opportunity to make face-to-face connections and spend their money in so-called “zombie” retail spaces.
BookTok Represents a Larger Financial Trend
BookTok’s success really serves as a case study for a bigger theme: When young women are interested in something, their purchasing power is strong. From Barbie to The Eras Tour to The Renaissance Tour to BookTok, media that’s geared toward and created by young women has broken box office records, streaming records, ticket sales recordings, music tour records, and now bookstore opening records.
When publishers decide to invest in women, their chosen media may skyrocket past virality and come to redefine the media landscape. And considering the mythical influence of the BookTok community, it seems that they will.
