# BookTok BookTok is the pocket of TikTok where readers, mostly young women, post short videos recommending books, crying over paperbacks, and dissecting their latest reads. Starting during the early COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, it pushed backlist titles like Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles and Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us onto bestseller lists and rewired how publishers market young adult, fantasy, and romance novels. ## Origin Blogger and BookToker Selene, writing at Caitsbooks, traced the earliest use of the term "BookTok" to creator @kathyellendavis in 2019, who was posting book recommendations before the community coalesced[5]. The subculture itself did not take off until early April 2020, when COVID-19 lockdowns pushed millions of young readers home and onto TikTok[5]. Caitsbooks points to accounts @ya.books, @abbysbooks, @ezeekat, and @entangledteen as the first wave of creators to go viral under the BookTok banner[6]. The platform's defining early moment came on August 8, 2020, when @moongirlreads_ posted a video recommending books that will make you sob, headlining it with Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles[7]. The New York Times later credited the clip with turning the 2011 novel into a word-of-mouth bestseller, and the video pulled over 1.1 million likes within three years[6]. A week later in Shrewsbury, 16-year-old Kate Wilson posted a stack of literary love quotes under the handle @kateslibrary that drew more than 1.2 million views[2]. - **Platform:** TikTok - **Creator:** Unknown (community); term first used by @kathyellendavis in 2019 - **Date:** 2020 ## Overview BookTok videos tend to be short, emotional, and specific. Common formats include "books that will make you sob," reading recommendations tied to tropes like enemies-to-lovers or dark academia, reaction videos filmed in tears right after finishing a book, and quote-stacking clips set to melancholic audio[1]. Users like 16-year-old @kateslibrary built followings by holding up copies of books with love quotes superimposed on them, including lines from Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and A Tale of Two Cities[2]. The genres skew heavily toward young adult, contemporary romance, and fantasy, with "spice levels" (how explicit the sex scenes are) treated as a core recommendation axis[2]. The dominant tone is intimacy, with comment sections operating as informal book clubs where readers crowdsource their next pick[3]. Hashtags like #BookTok, #BookTokMadeMeReadIt, and #BookTokRecommendations drive discovery, and chains like Barnes & Noble now stock dedicated BookTok shelves to greet readers walking in with TikTok screenshots on their phones[4]. ## How to Use A typical BookTok video runs 15 to 60 seconds. Creators pair a short pitch ("books that will absolutely wreck you," "if you loved Fourth Wing, read this next") with on-screen text and shots of the book itself, usually set to a trending audio[1]. Many lean on tropes as shorthand (enemies-to-lovers, morally gray love interest, found family) and include "spice ratings" to signal explicitness[2]. The real recommendation engine is the comments, where users pile up follow-up suggestions and sort books by trope. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is BookTok? BookTok is the TikTok subcommunity where users, mostly young women, post short videos recommending and reacting to books, especially young adult, romance, and fantasy titles[3]. ### Where did BookTok come from? The term was first used by TikToker @kathyellendavis in 2019, but the community grew into a real scene starting around April 2020 during COVID-19 lockdowns[5]. ### What does BookTok mean? "BookTok" is a portmanteau of "book" and "TikTok" describing the app's bookish corner, tracked by the hashtag #BookTok[2]. ### How do you use BookTok? Browse the #BookTok hashtag on TikTok for short recommendation videos, or make your own 15 to 60 second clip pitching a book with on-screen text and a trending sound[1]. ### Is BookTok still popular? Yes, the #BookTok hashtag had topped 200 billion views by December 2023 and still drives book sales at major retailers[8]. ### Which authors blew up because of BookTok? Colleen Hoover (It Ends With Us) and Madeline Miller (The Song of Achilles) are the most-cited examples; both saw backlist titles become bestsellers years after original release[3][6]. ### What was the Seattle Kraken BookTok controversy? In mid-2023, BookTok fans of hockey-themed romance novels posted sexual comments about Kraken players, especially Alex Wennberg, until his wife spoke out and the team deleted its engagement videos[6]. ### What was the BookTok BikeTok controversy? In November 2023, adult BookTok women flooded 16-year-old biker @jesze.bee's comments with explicit book recommendations after he shared his YA collection, drawing a viral rebuke from @grapiedeltaco[9][10]. ### Did BookTok actually change the publishing industry? Yes. Publishers now send BookTokers early copies, pay them for promo, and bookstores like Barnes & Noble built dedicated BookTok tables and shelves[3][4]. ### Who are some of the biggest BookTok creators? Early viral accounts include @moongirlreads_, @kateslibrary, @abbysbooks, @ya.books, and @alifeofliterature, per NYT and Guardian coverage[1][2]. ## References 1. [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/20/books/booktok-tiktok-video.html]() 2. [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jun/25/the-rise-of-booktok-meet-the-teen-influencers-pushing-books-up-the-charts]() 3. [https://www.npr.org/2021/12/26/1068063564/booktok-is-a-new-force-driving-book-sales-and-publishing-deals]() 4. [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/booktok/_/N-2vdn]() 5. [https://caitsbooks.com/2021/03/24/what-is-booktok/]() 6. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/booktok]() 7. [https://www.tiktok.com/@moongirlreads_/video/6858731924865797381]() 8. [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-67555175]() 9. [https://www.tiktok.com/@jesze.bee/video/7299564005910236421]() 10. [https://www.tiktok.com/@grapiedeltaco/video/7304159427546877230]() 11. [https://www.tiktok.com/@mini_maggs/video/7228358833498787114]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/booktok Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library