CYBERPSYCHOLOGY, BEHAVIOR, AND SOCIAL NETWORKING
Volume 25, Number 3, 2022 EDITORIAL
ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2022.29240.editorial
BookTok Made Me Do It:
The Evolution of Reading
Brenda K. Wiederhold, PhD, MBA, BCB, BCN
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A s bestseller lists were posted in 2021, publishers
began to notice a confounding trend: some of the most
popular books on the lists were not new releases. In fact,
many had already been on the market for several years. This
defied conventional knowledge and experience. Typically,
books sell best soon after publication, and barring a presti-
gious award or media scandal, interest dwindles as time
passes. But the 2021 lists featured quite a few of these
atypical bestsellers, and publishers soon identified the source:
the new social media enclave referred to as BookTok.
A subdivision of the rapidly expanding social network
Tiktok, BookTok is the newest way for people to share their
love of books with fellow readers. On BookTok, creators
post micro vlogs featuring their experiences and opinions on
their latest reads. Rather than the traditional point by point
analytical reviews that appear in newspapers or on Good-
reads, BookTok posts usually highlight the reader’s emo-
tional reactions to the plot and characters, often featuring
evocative imagery and dramatic soundtracks. On BookTok,
viewers expect to come away with a taste of the full expe-
rience of reading the book, all neatly packaged in a video clip
of a minute or less.
When TikTok was released several years ago, it rose
quickly in popularity to become one of the dominant social
media apps in the United States, especially among young
people. As of 2021, TikTok had a total of 78.7 million users
in the United States, 37.3 million of whom belong to Gen-
eration Z (Gen Z; currently aged 9–24). This segment of their
audience is projected to reach 48.8 million by 2025, sur-
passing Instagram’s Gen Z population and nearly matching
Snapchat in total number of Gen Z users.1 Its global usership
has also increased, with 1 billion active monthly users
worldwide in 2021—a growth of 45% over the previous year.
With users filming and posting moments from pretty much
every aspect of their lives, it is no stretch to imagine that
content about a common hobby such as reading would make
its way onto the app. The BookTok section of TikTok grew
from 3.4 billion views in February 2021 to 10.3 billion in
June 2021,2 and its popularity does not seem to be waning,
even now that bookstores and libraries have reopened. It is
safe to say that the sudden exponential growth of BookTok
has been unexpected (and unprecedented).
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At first glance, especially to those older than 25, ap-
praising a book—an item an author likely spent years
crafting—with a hastily produced video clip may seem
frivolous, even disrespectful. After all, a book is concrete, a
thing of consequence. It has a gravitas that the ephemeral
medium of a hastily recorded video just does not. However,
the concept of book as object is not as unchanging as one
might think. It has evolved over millennia, from stone tablets
to papyrus scrolls to loose-leaf and hand-bound tomes to
printed books to e-books that readers now consume on
e-readers, tablets, or even their phones.
Neither is TikTok the first social networking platform to
host book critiques and communities of readers. BookTube, a
collection of YouTube channels featuring book-related
videos, was created in 2010 for users (at one time numbering
in the thousands) to share their passion for all things literary.3
There is also #Bookstagram, both a hashtag and a community
within Instagram in which users create bookish content to
share with others with similar literary affinities.
Particularly because these communities are initiated by and
composed of a younger demographic, it can be tempting for
outsiders to dismiss social media engagement of this type as
superficial, immature, or attention seeking. However, apps such
as TikTok are allowing users to build a ‘‘sense of generational
culture and identity.’’4 People use these platforms not to be
narcissistic, but rather to be seen by and to connect with their
peers. In a way, with its widely accessible, authentic, and en-
tertaining content, TikTok in general—and BookTok in par-
ticular—brings storytelling full circle, back to its oral roots. It is
the gathering around the campfire, the town square play, the
monthly living room book club reinvented for today’s world.
There are many things that have contributed to BookTok’s
success, not least the timing of the COVID pandemic. Ac-
cording to the UK’s National Literacy Trust, when lockdowns
began in March 2020, indicators of reading for pleasure in
young people was at a 15-year low.5 However, when it con-
ducted another survey later in 2020, children’s enjoyment of
reading had increased from 47.8% before lockdown to 55.9%
after lockdown, with a third of young people saying that they
were reading more during lockdown. In another survey,2 a
notable spike in reading was found in those aged 18–24, over-
lapping significantly with the age groups that use TikTok most.
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BookTok coalesced at a unique time of social and physical
upheaval. As the ‘‘real world’’ closed down, we relied on
digital spaces to connect with friends, family, work, and
school. While this digital shift was abrupt and unsettling, in
truth, most people already had experience with these spaces,
and the transition to using them for social purposes was
natural. Digital spaces provided environments where people
could interact with like-minded individuals without fear of
spreading illness. Like participants in other online commu-
nities, BookTok users found solace in the unity the platform
could provide within what is otherwise a solitary hobby.
Yet, if it was simply the pandemic that led to the BookTok
phenomenon, why did the same fervor not result in the lit-
erary communities on other social media sites? It appears
that TikTok has unique attributes that lend themselves to
supporting this community. Rather than the curated, picture-
perfect aesthetic of Instagram, TikTok fosters messy
authenticity. Instead of the preachy screeds making the
rounds on Facebook, TikTok users tend to upvote honest,
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personal experiences. TikTok doesn’t require the same time
commitment that content on YouTube does. Instead, TikTok
combines some of the best facets of other networking plat-
forms—humor, interactivity, genuine ‘‘experiences’’—to
create a common culture in which users feel at home and can
easily connect with compatible peers.
With BookTok influencing book sales so significantly, it is
no surprise that publishers are taking notice. Recently pub-
lished think pieces have predicted the death of books (again)
in their traditional form, and the renewed popularity of reading
them is an unforeseen change of direction. The publishing
house Bloomsbury recently reported record sales and a 220%
rise in profits, which they attribute, at least partly, to the
BookTok phenomenon.6
Though it appears that most of the sales growth directly
tied to BookTok is focused on the young adult and con-
temporary fiction genres, some publishers are rethinking
their marketing strategies and budgets, adjusting them to try
to include the type of organic growth that having a book
featured on BookTok provides. This includes offering
BookTok creators free copies of books or even sponsorship
incentives or monetary compensation for creating related
content. One wonders: if the authenticity of creators’ content
is called into question, will BookTok continue to thrive?
Regardless, it is clear that BookTok is reigniting an en-
joyment of reading, especially in young people. It is giving
EDITORIAL
new life to quality books that may have missed their chance
at popularity the first time around, and it is influencing
publishers to think creatively and view new media and ad-
vanced technology as potential partners for ensuring the
continued growth of the industry.
In the end, if we are willing to let books evolve as they
have for millennia, how might technology continue to en-
hance the reader experience and fuel the passion for reading?
Why not offer books that arrive paired with virtual reality or
augmented reality software so that readers can enter the
characters’ world and continue the story? Or provide access
to an author’s fictional land via the metaverse, allowing
fellow readers to interact organically? The opportunities for
cooperation and (virtual) collaboration are compelling; the
possibilities, limitless.
References
1. Statista Research Department. (2022) Distribution of TikTok
users in the United States as of September 2021, by age
group. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095186/tiktok-us-
users-age/ (accessed Jan. 30, 2022).
2. Duffield C. (2021) ‘‘BookTok is our way to escape reality’’:
the TikTok trend that’s helping Gen Z share their love of
reading. https://inews.co.uk/culture/booktok-is-our-way-to-
escape-reality-the-tiktok-trend-thats-helping-gen-z-share-
their-love-of-reading-1038560 (accessed Jan. 30, 2022).
3. Doggett JA. (2019) What is BookTube and why should you
be watching (and reading)? https://www.huffpost.com/entry/
what-is-booktube_l_5cc06c21e4b01b6b3efb45ec (accessed
Jan. 30, 2022).
4. Jerasa S, Boffone T. (2021) BookTok 101: TikTok, digital
literacies, and out-of-school reading practices. https://ila
.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jaal.1199 (accessed
Jan. 30, 2022).
5. National Literacy Trust. (2020) Children and young people’s
reading in 2020 before and during the COVID-19 lockdown.
https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/
children-and-young-peoples-reading-in-2020-before-and-dur
ing-the-covid-19-lockdown/ (accessed Jan. 30, 2022).
6. The Economist. (2021) BookTok has passion—and enormous
marketing power. https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/
2021/11/06/booktok-has-passion-and-enormous-marketing-
power (accessed Jan. 30, 2022).
Brenda K. Wiederhold
Editor-in-Chief