In partnership with TikTok Shop
Have you heard? Reading is cool again. After consecutive years of decline, print books saw a rise in sales in 2024, totaling over 782 million books sold in the U.S. The literary fervor is taking other forms, too, with book clubs catching on among Millennial and Gen Z Americans and independent bookstores seeing surprising growth across the country. A key factor to much of this success? Having a personalized book recommender in your pocket.
I’m talking about #BookTok, the thriving space within TikTok devoted to literary discourse. Led by an ever-growing group of book influencers who have built massive followings on the social media app, the online community shares everything from videos discussing their favorite recent reads and hot titles they think are overrated, to tours of their local bookstores and reaction videos after reading pivotal chapters in viral books. Together, they’ve found common ground with other readers in a pastime that, otherwise, is mostly a solitary pursuit.
To give you a sense of the scope here, in the first three months of 2025 the #BookTok hashtag was used in 53 million posts, an 80% increase from the same period last year. The sheer size and influence of this corner of TikTok has already resulted in a transformative shift in the publishing industry. Authors, publishing houses and bookstores are all finding new readers, new customers and new fans within BookTok, and the result is quantifiable: According to Circana Bookscan, 59 million print book sales in 2024 could be tied back to BookTok videos and creators.
While BookTok seems primed for continued organic growth, TikTok is beginning to boost the community and tap into it in new ways. Through TikTok Shop, the e-commerce arm of the app, it’s hoping to be not just the place where you find new books, but where you buy them, too.
The most recent push came during a multifaceted campaign called #BookRecs, which ran from April 23 to 29, kicking off on World Book Day and intersecting with Independent Bookstore Day. On the #BookRecs page, users were served up the normal stream of enticing recommendation videos alongside deals on many of those titles, available exclusively through TikTok Shop. Hear about a salacious mystery you want to check out? Select books were up to 50% off. Want to pick up a few new novels? The platform also offered a 20% off coupon on orders over $35. TikTok was getting the word out: We’re not just a digital hub for book lovers, we’re our own bookstore.
Over 4,000 creators participated in the TikTok Shop #BookRecs event, and the final footprint came out to over 54 million impressions. But it wasn’t just readers in their living rooms filming themselves. HarperCollins Publishers hosted livestreams of conversations with authors such as Tessa Bailey (It Happened One Summer), Aditi Nerurkar (The 5 Resets), Ava Reid (Fable for the End of the World) and Ethan M. Aldridge (Deephaven). Authors, bookstores, libraries, celebrity book clubs and readers themselves joined in on the fun, too, posting videos recommending must-reads, dressed as their favorite literary characters and going on local bookstore shopping sprees.
Efforts like these not only bring the BookTok community closer together, but enrich the larger online conversation around reading, which is immensely beneficial in an era when the future of publishing can feel murky and uncertain.
As we’ve already seen, BookTok has been responsible for helping authors become best-sellers, including Hanya Yanagihara, Rebecca Yarros and Emily Henry. TikTok has also become a resource for up-and-coming authors, helping them build platforms, connect with other authors and promote their books ahead of their release dates. It’s even helped authors who self-publish, like Colleen Hoover, who you’ll recognize as the writer behind It Ends With Us (though that particular title was released through Atria Books).
Outside of the confines of the app and the halls of publishing houses, BookTok has even contributed to the resurgence of bookstores across the country. As people, especially younger generations, become more interested in reading through the online community, they’re frequenting their local bookstores far more often — whether it’s a Barnes & Noble (which, after years of decline, is planning to open over 60 new locations this year) or an independent shop (over 190 new indies were forecasted to open between 2024 and 2025).
BookTok has been a shot in the arm to publishing at the time it needed it most. Book sales are growing, bookstores have become sought-out destinations and, even more importantly, a new generation of book lovers is accepting more members into its voracious ranks every day. And now that the space between watching a gushing review of a new beach read and buying it is just a couple clicks away through TikTok Shop, I have a feeling that bump in book sales last year won’t be an anomaly.
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