Are you a TikTok user who loves to read? If so, you’re in luck, because our favorite trend on TikTok right now is following the most illustrious ‘BookTokkers.’

But what is BookTok? Although initially a place for viral dance trends, this viral trend has recently taken the app by storm, and TikTok has now become a serious marketing destination for authors and publishers alike. As an app, TikTok has proved to be unstoppable in creating new streams of niche content, with its unique algorithm helping users find exactly what they're looking for. Gen Z users have taken to the app - now, publishers (and brands in general) are eyeing TikTok as a key marketing opportunity for this audience.

BookTok describes TikTok users who use their channels to promote their favorite reads and connect with fellow book lovers on social media.

Books are a physical medium, which have traditionally been hard to translate into the visual and image driven world of social media. (The publishing industry once feared total replacement by Kindle, but this hasn't proved to be the case.) But book lovers are always looking for places to find new recommendations and connect with other bibliophiles, and Tiktok provides a strangely appropriate place to do just that. After all, the publishing industry can be opaque, and marketing and publicity can be hard to decipher from real beloved recommendations.

It’s amazing to be able to use TikTok to connect with fellow readers when it’s hard to get current info about book publishing without doing a lot of research first. Whether you’re a fiction or nonfiction lover, these bibliophiles will help you find your next book haul. If you’re into Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay, they’ll help you find more offbeat feminist works. If you love A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, they'll help you find more emotionally wrenching contemporary fiction. You can’t go wrong when you search for your favorite book on TikTok.

Whether you’re looking for a book list of recommendations from a particular genre, or just trying to figure out what’s popular in the literary world right now, our top BookTokers will give you that and more of the best insights into the world of books.

Which books have gone viral on Tiktok?

What's most intriguing about BookTok is its ability to send books that are already a few years old right back up to the top of the bestseller list.

So far, most the books that have really picked up steam have been fiction titles, including:

• They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera
• Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
• Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
• Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
• Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins-Reid

Which books will go viral on TikTok next?

Alright, admittedly, we haven't got a crystal ball here, otherwise we'd be a whole lot richer. But if it was up to us, all these books could be hugely popular on BookTok. We've handpicked these books specifically because of their ability to touch hearts, and encourage positive change:

• Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It by Kamal Ravikant - a beautiful book about self-kindness, happiness, and loving yourself fiercely, this book is a wonderful read about the importance of loving yourself and how to get there, no matter how difficult a journey this can feel like right now.
  
• We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib - the witty debut memoir from Samra Habib, a queer Muslim author of Pakistani and Canadian descent.
  
• The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Linton - the story of a Black man who spent 30 years on Death Row for a crime he never committed.
  
• The Power of Your Subsconscious Mind, by Joseph Murphy - a spiritual self-help classic that teaches us how to use visualization and other suggestion techniques to change our behavior for the better.
  
• Go Fund Yourself by Alice Tapper - a guide for managing our money in the 21st century, this book is a great way to start learning about handling our own finances (and the best way to do so).
  

--@abbysbooks--

If you like your book content with a dash of modern humor, Abby is the girl for you. Her BookToks range from serious recs to memes about being a book lover, pictures of beautiful reading nooks around the world, putting the plots of popular books to music, and much more. She posts her thoughts on series like Trails of Apollo, and gives recommendations based on questions from her 420,000 followers. And if you follow her, you’ll definitely find more hilarious BookTokkers like her in your algorithm.

--@gvhslibrary--

This next account features a high school librarian on a mission to make reading cool again. A librarian at the Great Valley High School Library, this BookTokker provides recommendations that range from manga, to the best-nonfiction books, to theory on modern social issues. She also talks about the ins and outs of being a school librarian, the benefits of reading for kids and teens, and explainers on interesting stuff like how the Dewey decimal system is racist and sexist. Plus, she gives fun tutorials on things like button making—you definitely need this cool librarian on your feed.

--@li.reading--

Li is a queer British BookToker who's here for all your recommendation needs and more. Li has a selection of great advice videos where she tells people which books to read based on their interests, and even just general advice about finding books. For instance, she talks about how she got into the Song of Achilles series because she personally already knew the story of Achilles and was interested to see the ways Madeline Miller might tap into - or subvert - it. Li's account features videos of her unique methods of marking important passages in books, and her lists of best books and favorite quotes. She even does a ‘never have I ever’ feature for what popular series she hasn’t read yet. Hilarious, fun, and your gateway to new books.

--@sophoareadstoomuch--

As BookTokker Sophia says in some of her videos, she was “put on earth to convince people to read.”

Sophia loves contemporary literature like Little Fires Everywhere, The Book Thief, and Normal People. She also features fun easter egg segments for her followers, where she shares the books she receives from publishers before they’re released. She also gives you looks into her computerized book log where she records what she reads, which can help you create your own system.

--@imaginationlibrary--

This account really is a special one. Imagination Library is Dolly Parton’s free book gifting program for kids; it mails free books to children in the 0-5 age range, no questions asked.

The program began in Dolly’s hometown of Sevier County, Tennessee but has since spread nationwide. Today, it has mailed millions of books to children in the United States and abroad. If that weren’t cool enough, the Tiktok channel is literally mostly videos of Dolly Parton herself talking about books, life advice, and more.

Summary

Enjoyed the read? Let us know any TikTokkers we missed by tweeting us at @uptimeapp.

Follow us & share

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn