First we had BookTube, then Bookstagram and now BookTok. All three are book communities created by book lovers from all over the world on various social media platforms where people can share their thoughts about books they have read, create theories, and make recommendations to other avid readers.

At the very beginning of the pandemic, due to the self-isolation at home, many people picked up the habit of reading again. And naturally, with the increase of TikTok users, new communities were formed, one of them being the BookTok community. What’s so special about TikTok is the fact that it is catered to today’s generation in which the average attention span has significantly reduced. BookTokers create content that is around 60 seconds which holds the viewer’s attention. It is also what has made scrolling through the hashtag and the app itself so addictive: viewers would get short, bite-sized reviews or content of the books they’re looking for. The BookTok hashtag has accumulated more than a hundred billion views so far.

Within the BookTok community there have been hundreds of smaller communities specific to standalone books or book series called fandoms. BookTokers share quotes, fan art, or simply aesthetically pleasing images and videos of their favorite books. And once you have fallen into the rabbit hole of a specific fandom it’s hard to get out. BookTok communities aren’t only separated by fandoms, however, they are also created around tropes or aesthetics such as ‘dark academia’, ‘fairycore’, ‘enemies to lovers’, etc.

Heavily promoting specific fandoms or series have made non-readers want to try out reading a book or two from BookTokers most favorite picks. Because of this, bookstores all over the world now have a ‘as seen on BookTok’ section, thus book sales have rapidly increased world-wide, making the market more desirable for upcoming authors.

An author I’m sure many have heard of is Colleen Hoover. They reached fame on BookTube and Bookstagram first before eventually being put on blast on BookTok, which has now made her one of the most talked about, reviewed, and bestselling authors in the world. The new BookTok community is almost a lagged version of BookTube and Bookstagram’s favorite books, a lot of the recommended books on BookTok are books that have previously garnered fame on other platforms long before the existence of BookTok. Because of mass interaction and the nature of bite-sized content, BookTok can be a great opportunity for authors to promote their books, even ones that have not previously had a large following. For example, Lloyd Richards is an attorney who spent 14 years of his life writing a book, and when his daughter posted a 16 second TikTok expressing her hope of it getting more sales, the video blew up, making Richards an Amazon bestseller in only a matter of days.

Some argue now that with the rise of BookTok reading has become less authentic. Many people see it as reading becoming an ‘aesthetic’, or a way people would define themselves, making being a reader a personality type instead of it simply being a hobby. While there might be some truth to the concern about the authenticity of reading, does it really matter? Doesn’t everyone have the right to spend their money the way they would like? Hobby communities should be places where everyone is welcome and included, not a place to gatekeep and be suspicious about others wanting to only use reading as an aesthetic.