#BookTok has taken both the virtual and physical book lives by storm. For those who don’t know, #BookTok is a trending hashtag on TikTok. It’s the newest way for book lovers to share their favorite stories; it also helps content creators to encourage others to read. 

When it comes to advertising books, creators make book trailers for the #BookTok community. To some, these are hit or miss.

Sophomore Carrie Proudfit said, “I think #BookTok is a perfect way to advertise some unpopular books or artists. It can also bring a lot of people into reading more, which is a great thing.”

Junior Emily Wickham disagrees, “the reviews of some of the books can be unreliable, and the book recommended isn’t that interesting.”

Creators tend to use images in a TikTok to help the viewers visualize what the book is about before actually reading it. Alternatively, creators and authors post a single page for the fifteen-second clip then show the title of the book at the very end, kind of like a commercial. 

#BookTok first made its first appearance in August of 2020, and since then, many bookstores have noticed a big boom in the industry and sales are better than ever. 

While #BookTok mainly focuses on young adults and teens, it’s not all fiction and lovey-dovey stories. The different genres include fiction, romance and science fiction. 

Unlike the other genres, fiction has a total of four sub-genres including historical fiction, thrillers, literary fiction and LGBTQ+ fiction.

Depending on what side of #BookTok slips into each reader’s “For You Page,” it can lead to a rabbit hole that opens endless possibilities for genres of #BookTok to come on the screen.

Proudfit claims that she’s on the more romance and thriller side of #BookTok, whereas Junior Emily Wickham isn’t on a specific side. 

Some popular authors on #BookTok are Colleen Hoover, Sarah J. Maas and Taylor Jenkins Reid. These authors give the readers the feeling of gut-wrenching heartache, or a spine-chilling sensation. The authors highlight how to make the readers feel like they are the main characters. This newest community has led authors to reboot their careers and their older works to flourish, even to fans at Trinity High School.

Hoover targeted many readers, including Proudfit, with one of her bestsellers, “It Ends With Us.” However, Wickham isn’t particularly a fan.

Reid is famous for her story, “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” which is what book Wickham prefers over Hoover and her title.

Book stores throughout the country have at least a table or shelf to intrigue readers with a #BookTok and to pull them in if they are unaware of the community.

Don’t be shy, look around at the local bookstore, and who knows, maybe the next best book might just be in stock!

Click here to see Barnes and Noble’s #BookTok collection!

Click here to see Books-A-Million’s #BookTok collection!