Reading may be a deeply personal, individual activity but TikTok has crafted a community that overcomes those boundaries.
There have always been newspapers, magazines and websites that make book recommendations, interview authors and promote new and upcoming writing to their audiences. Even Goodreads defies the traditional format by putting the recommendations into the hands of the everyday reader who is much closer to the intended consumer. And yet nothing has quite captured the zeitgeist like TikTok where views multiply and books fly off the shelves, even if they were initially published back in 2017. In fact, TikTok and the publishing industry have become so wrapped up in each other that the reading oriented corner of the platform has developed its very own moniker, BookTok.
BookTok has in particular given fantasy loving readers a space of their own on the Internet and created a way to share the experience of reading with others, whether it was the way the book made them feel, the way a book aesthetically appeared, or simply what their opinion was of the book. Whilst this community has spread further into other genres, the initial world it focused on was the fantasy genre, where books such as ‘A Court of Thrones and Roses’ (ACOTAR for the BookTok fans) by Sarah J. Maas and ‘Shadow and Bone’ by Leigh Bardugo were recommended.
The creators who belong to this corner of the internet finally have a place to express themselves in a way they never had before. A common thread that comes up when they’re interviewed is that they didn’t have anyone to talk to about the books they were reading so turned to TikTok to see if anyone else wanted to chat! It’s an incredible phenomenon, especially when led by a predominantly female base as it allows them to claim space and legitimacy for their preferences and opinions.
For successful creators who both read and write, BookTok presents the opportunity to gain renown through proximity to their readers. Stacy McEwan is one of those creators who's fantasy debut 'Ledge' garnered huge attention when she announced she was writing and self publishing it back in April 2021. Her followers' pre-orders managed to push 'Ledge' to the number one position in Amazon Australia and meant she was awarded a B&N online bestseller sticker. The aclaim meant she received the attention of an agent and, just before self-publishing, she signed a deal with British independent publisher Angry Robot instead! Similarly Abigail M Hair was a creator who's debut 'From The Mouths of Sirens' ( a high fantasy retelling of 'The Little Mermaid') was a passion project that she started in her free time, not expecting anything much to happen. To her surprise she was able to self publish, receiving thousands of pre-orders via Amazon and Barnes & Noble, which pushed her to 15th in the new YA Fantasy releases on Amazon. Both authors found success based on an interest in epic fantasy plot and romance which was shared with their online book community on TikTok, proving their books would be successes before they were even published.
Some of the other most followed creators, such as @abbysbooks and @moongirlreads, pepper in fantasy book recommendations and reviews, whilst others such as @zoranne, a self proclaimed “fantasy nerd”, solely focus on fantasy books. Zoranne even hosts a ‘Fantasy and Frens’ community book club where she invites her followers in, ensuring that the dialogue is never just one-sided. This is an important turn ensuring that a variety of tastes get validated as opposed to the way in which Fantasy publishing has frequently been looked down upon as just “popular” genre fiction, compared with more realistic literature that usually claims far more prestige. This development is very welcome and the overall positivity and enthusiasm for reading that emanates off BookTok is helping to challenge and overcome common attitudes where people were disrespectful and felt superior for reading certain kinds of books.
As the BookTok community grows (and it’s already pretty huge - #BookTok has 37.2 billion views already) it will definitely be exciting to see which books capture the collective imagination!
Comentarios