Analysis: The rise of TikTok has rocked the publishing world as millions of #BookTok videos have flooded the platform since it exploded in popularity in 2020, writes Ruth McGann.
The rise of short-form content about reading has fundamentally changed the way Gen Z are consuming literature, bombarding them with endless recommendations and reviews from bookish influencers.
So great is the power of #BookTok that booksellers are creating whole shelves of 'BookTok Books,' grouping titles that would never normally be shelved together, from romances to thrillers, self-help and fantasy. With the recent release of the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s popular romance novel It Ends with Us, publishers are looking for the next author to take the app by storm. But while books are more accessible than ever, is the "TikTokification" of reading reshaping the literary world?
Online reading communities are nothing new, with creators on Tumblr, Youtube and Instagram reviewing books since the early days of social media. TikTok’s powerful algorithm and short-form style have condensed this content into 15 second videos recommending titles that fit into a certain genre, theme or "aesthetic." Much of the content explores reading not just as a hobby but as an identity, discussing what it means to be "a reader." Young TikTok users find comfort and community in these videos, relating to the experiences of their favourite creators.
One such popular creator is Jack Edwards, a bookish influencer from the UK who currently has 1.4 million subscribers on YouTube and over 600,000 followers on TikTok. In February 2023, the Philosophical Society of Trinity College Dublin awarded Edwards an honourary patronage for his contribution to literature. It is the highest honour the society can bestow and previous recipients include Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett. Edwards, who has a degree in English literature from Durham University, rose to fame on YouTube in 2020 when he began posting book reviews during the first of many lockdowns. When accepting the award Edwards said, "I think the pandemic made us go back to our roots, to what we really, actually care about, and for me that was books."
Edwards and creators like him have had a significant impact on the publishing industry, influencing book sales globally. In 2024, Edwards was asked to join the judging panel for the TikTok Book Awards, curating a shortlist that was then voted on by members of the #Booktok community. The winner of the International Book of the Year Award, announced in July, was Rebecca Yarros for her bestselling fantasy novel Fourth Wing. Yarros said of her success on the platform, "It has been a wild ride, and none of it would have happened without TikTok! Huge love to the #BookTok community."
While BookTok has had an undeniably positive impact for writers like Yarros, the algorithm can be a fickle friend to aspiring authors. Notoriously unpredictable, the metrics used to recommend content continue to perplex marketing teams in every industry. According to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal in 2021, TikTok’s algorithm mainly recommends videos based on watch time, or how long a user spends watching a video.
This means that whether or not a book will go viral is determined by how quickly it can capture users’ attention, on an app where 15 seconds feels like a lifetime. Due to the over-saturated nature of the platform, creators need to engage viewers within the first five seconds to ensure they don’t scroll past.
As a result, content must be visually engaging, with snappy captions that instantly convey a book’s themes and any popular tropes it utilises.
While some creators are still posting more in-depth reviews and analysis, the videos with the highest view count are usually less than 30 seconds long.
This new focus on visual content is changing how readers discover books, often pushing them towards the trending eye-catching covers. While books have always been a commodity - beautifully bound editions have existed for hundreds of years - some users worry that this emphasis on aesthetics could lead to badly written or even harmful books becoming popular on the app.
However, because the popularity of a book is determined by user engagement, rather than marketing campaigns by publishers, users can influence what kind of books become successful, allowing publishers to understand what their audiences are looking for.
Ultimately, the rise of #BookTok indicates that reading is just as important to Gen Z as it was to the generations that came before it, and the publishing industry must now adapt to the trends it dictates.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
