Culture

How TikTok Helped Make Reading Cool Again

Bookworms all over the world are rejoicing because reading is now no longer something that just nerds or awkward middle schoolers do for fun. You heard it here: Reading is officially cool again.

By Meghan Dillon5 min read
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Shutterstock/Nastyaofly

From the rise of celebrity book clubs (Reese Witherspoon has the best one) to #BookTok, BookTube, and Bookstagram, reading is no longer looked at as something we used to dread in school. Social media has not only made reading a trendy and popular thing "it girls" do, but it has also given influencers book-based platforms and turned some authors into superstars. 

The Pandemic and Rise of #BookTok

Remember in March 2020 when everyone downloaded TikTok due to lockdown? A lot of people decided to pick up reading during lockdown too (which can be seen in the rise of book sales during the pandemic), so it was kind of inevitable that a book community would form on TikTok.

While the book community on social media has been around for years through BookTube (YouTube creators who post book content) and Bookstagram (Instagram creators who also post book content), the rise of TikTok and the pandemic created the perfect opportunity for a new book community, and #BookTok was born.

While a lot of #BookTok content focuses on book recommendations and book reviews, it has also led to the rise of literary aesthetics like the dark academia aesthetic and the hot girl aesthetic. If you search “hot girl books” on TikTok, you’ll find a wide range of books like memoirs of famous women and books by authors like Sally Rooney, Joan Didion, Sylvia Plath, and Eve Babitz. While there is a wide range of books that fit this category, what all of these books have in common is that they’re stories about women, are almost always written by women, and often have themes related to coming-of-age and sexual discovery.

Most videos on #BookTok are book recommendation videos, often sorted by genre or a good season to read them (think beach reads for summer and thriller or horror books in the fall) and books to read that are similar to the most popular books on the platform. Many genres are represented on #BookTok, but some of the most popular are contemporary fiction, thrillers, fantasy, and romance.

If you feel like #BookTok keeps recommending the same few books, you’ll see diversity in recommendations if you let the algorithm work its magic. Nicole Pearce is a Pilates instructor and #BookTok creator who started her TikTok account, @nicolepearcebooks, in December 2022 and has 29.8k followers on the platform.

Her favorite part about the platform is finding new recommendations. “BookTok is now my go-to for finding my next read. I find new books not just from other creators, but also within my own videos' comments sections,” she tells Evie. “I don't think BookTok necessarily favors some genres over others, but when you first start seeing book content on your FYP, it will probably be a lot of romance, fantasy, and thrillers. BookTok goes way beyond that, though! There are creators for every reading taste, you may just have to put some initial effort into finding them via search and engaging with the content that fits you. Soon enough, your feed will be filled with awesome book recommendations that are a match for your preferences.”

When I asked Pearce what her favorite part of #BookTok was, her answer was no surprise to anyone who follows #BookTok. “Nothing puts a bigger smile on my face than when I get a comment saying, ‘I read this book because of your recommendation and loved it!’” she says. “Helping someone find their new favorite book or encouraging someone to get into reading is the best feeling.”

The best part of #BookTok is that it’s an uplifting community where you can learn about new books, and it’s not only pushed books onto best-seller lists but has led some authors to a supernova level of fame.

How #BookTok Made Some Authors Superstars 

If you’ve been to Barnes and Noble recently, you’ve likely seen the #BookTok table. As the name suggests, this table is full of books that are popular on TikTok, like The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas, A Good Girls’ Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Mass, and Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score. These books have blown up on TikTok to the point where booksellers are taking notice and highlighting them in their brick-and-mortar stores. This viral effect also happens to authors; two authors whose careers have skyrocketed due to TikTok fame are Taylor Jenkins Reid and Colleen Hoover.

While both Jenkins Reid and Hoover were publishing and popular before the rise of #BookTok – Jenkins Reid’s first novel was published in 2013 and Hoover’s in 2012 – it’s no secret that TikTok helped boost their careers. Reid is most famous for books like One True Loves, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones & The Six, Malibu Rising, and Carrie Soto Is Back. Daisy Jones & The Six and One True Loves both received on-screen adaptations in 2023, and Netflix is currently working on an adaptation of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, so it’s safe to say that Jenkins Reid’s career is thriving.

While Jenkins Reid has written books in genres ranging from romance to historical fiction, what makes her books unique is that her protagonists are often flawed but likable. She turns the archetype of a strong female character into someone much more complex, and I can’t help but love her for that.

Even if you’ve never been on TikTok, you’ve probably heard of Colleen Hoover, who has written wildly popular books like It Ends With Us, It Starts With Us, Verity, Ugly Love, and Reminders of Him. Her most popular book, It Ends With Us, is set to become a movie starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni

According to the New York Times, “Hoover’s books are now dominating the best-seller lists years after they were first released. Her top-selling book, It Ends With Us, a drama about a florist who falls for a brooding, abusive neurosurgeon, came out six years ago, but reappeared on the best-seller list in 2021 and has remained a fixture there: It’s currently No. 1 on The New York Times paperback list and has sold four million copies.”

The article continues, “Hoover’s deft use of social media, where she has 3.9 million followers across platforms and posts goofy, self-deprecating videos, helped grow her audience. So did timing: While she built a strong fan base early in her career, her sales soared during the pandemic, when her books became a sensation on TikTok. To date, the hashtag #colleenhoover has amassed more than 2.4 billion views.”

After selling 14.3 million print copies in 2022 alone, it’s safe to say that Colleen Hoover is on top of the world, and TikTok was a significant contributor to her success.

Criticisms of #BookTok

While the #BookTok community is thriving and encouraging millions to fall in love with reading, the community is not free from criticism. In February 2023, former Booktuber Barry Pierce wrote a scathing piece about #BookTok for GQ that was titled, “In the shallow world of BookTok, being ‘a reader’ is more important than actually reading.”

The article is as condescending, elitist, and annoying as the title sounds. Pierce’s main gripe with #BookTok is the romanticization of reading, consumeristic book hauls, users annotating their books with sticky notes, the limited amount of books recommended on the platform, and the identity of the “reader” being aesthetic.

When I asked Nicole Pearce what she thought of his article, she told me, “While the author of it talked about the hours and hours spent on BookTok, it actually seemed to me he hadn't spent much time on it at all. Or I should say, hadn't put much effort into venturing beyond his FYP. When you first start stumbling upon BookTok, I agree, you will see a lot of the same books over and over again, and a lot of them are the same couple genres. But there is so much beyond that! All it takes to find creators matching your reading preferences is some exploration with the good ol' search bar. With a little searching and curation, you will find your preferred corner of BookTok.”

Pearce continued, “The conversation about promoting overconsumption on social media is an important one – there is some valid criticism to be had there – but I have a hard time putting books into the same category as, say, fast fashion. Even if a creator has bookshelves full of books, it doesn't mean their audience is going to do the same. There are so many different ways to consume a book: borrowing from the library, Kindles, the Libby app, listening to the audiobook version, thrifting used books. Not only are these options sustainable, but many are free.”

As an avid reader, I couldn’t agree more with Pearce’s assessment. There are valid criticisms of #BookTok, but the only fair way to criticize it is if you actually spend time on it. It’s like saying a restaurant is bad because you didn’t like the chips and salsa you got as a free appetizer, and it’s very clear that the author of the article didn’t give the platform a chance.

Other criticisms of #BookTok are that the books most often recommended are more likely to be a romance than a lengthy Russian novel that will make you rethink your perspective on life. As someone who equally enjoys cute romance books and Tolstoy, I’m a firm believer that the best part of #BookTok is that more people are reading.

Research shows that reading (no matter the genre) is good for your mental health and can lower your heart rate. One study shows that “reading as little as six minutes per day can improve your quality of sleep, reduce stress, and sharpen mental acuity.” These are all objectively wonderful things, so why do some feel the need to mock those who choose to read Colleen Hoover over Ernest Hemingway? The rise of #BookTok has taught millions that reading isn’t just for kids going to school, but a hobby that you can enjoy at any age.

Closing Thoughts

#BookTok has not only made reading cool again but has created a community of readers to talk about their favorite books and get recommendations for what to read next. It has also boosted the careers of authors like Taylor Jenkins Reid and Colleen Hoover, proving that #BookTok has the power to change the publishing industry.

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