In the aftermath of the COVID-19 quarantine and pandemic, BookTok has revitalized the publishing industry by changing the way that people read.
BookTok is a section of TikTok where people share their opinions of the books they read and recommend their favorites through different prompts that are trending. For example some TikToks may be “recommending books based off of the first line” or “recommending books based off of a certain trope.” BookTok has been a springboard for younger people to be introduced to the world of reading and has given others the opportunity to rekindle their love for reading. As it has grown to include various genres, styles, and content creators the BookTok community has also found its own controversy because the most popular genre, romance, is sometimes considered too mature for the younger BookTok community members and viewers.
Some of the controversy surrounds books like It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover and Powerless by Lauren Roberts, which are very popular within the BookTok community. On top of their popularity, there has been a lot of criticism of the writing as well as the authors. Specifically, creators and viewers debate the relationship dynamics portrayed in these books (and others).
Most books are marketed by different tropes, which are plot points that take place in the book that draw readers to the book. It Ends With Us is marketed by BookTok creators as a high school romance, friends to lovers, and second chance romance. However, in reality, “It Ends with Us follows our protagonist, Lily, who meets Ryle one night on a rooftop. After a few encounters, they begin to get to know one another and fall in love. They had a picture-perfect relationship, but things take a turn when Ryle becomes abusive.” Nobody, especially younger viewers, who comes across the trope recommendations for this book would have any suspicion that this story is about domestic violence. This could be harmful if teenagers are reading this book blindly, and are able to create their own perception of relationships when reading this book.
On average, a person’s brain fully develops in their mid-to-late 20s, and many readers who are consuming these books are around the age of 18, or even younger. The frontal lobe helps people plan, prioritize, and make good decisions, so when this part of their brain has not fully developed, it’s hard for younger audiences to process the information they are given in these books. Younger readers don’t have a fully developed frontal lobe to work through and problem solve the issues within these books. Therefore, the reason that books like this can be considered harmful, is because they are marketed toward young adults even though these topics are more appropriate for older audiences.
In the BookTok community, blame is not only put on the authors, but the BookTok creators that recommend these books as well. Several complaints say that BookTok creators need to add these details within their recommendation videos. In a lot of BookTube (Book Youtube) content, the creator will say “check trigger warnings,” which helps the reader better understand what they are getting into when reading a book. This small detail is overlooked in a lot of short-form content on TikTok, which is where most of the younger readers gravitate.
While there are a lot of issues within sensitive topics being discussed in these books, this also allows for other important topics to be represented in ways that can reach young readers. Someone who may deal with anxiety can find recommendations with main characters dealing with anxiety, which can help them feel more represented and heard. A lot of these taboo topics are looked over when being recommended TV and movies, so finding books with even a little bit of representation in them helps readers connect to the main characters on a deeper level.
In the BookTok community, a popular video style to post is a monthly reading wrap up. This is a format where people will share every book they read that month, along with ratings and thoughts. While this is a popular format, the videos that blow up the most in this category are of readers reading 20 or more books in any given month. There are always many questions in the comments about how anyone is physically able to read upwards of 25 books in one month. This would mean that in a 30 day month, they would have to read 82% of a book every single day to reach that goal. For a lot of people this is an impossible concept to grasp. Many BookTok content creators read as part of their job, which helps them reach this goal, while the viewers could be working various jobs, attending classes, or caring for children. This number that creators are promoting is an unrealistic standard to set for the readers. There is no real way to prove this or not, but many people think that creators may skim books, or lie about what they are reading due to demand for reviews from their audience. Either way, creators should not be promoting this amount of reading to be the norm, because reading any amount of books is good, whether that be 1 or 25.
A very large upside to BookTok is the promotion that authors get from their books blowing up. Authors like Emily Henry, Sarah J. Maas, and Lauren Roberts are all very popular authors thanks to some of their books rising in popularity on TikTok. There are new authors being discovered in every genre of books due to BookTok, which helps smaller creators be represented and discovered for their work. Many of these authors have been writing books for years and have just gotten the recognition they deserve. Indie authors are authors that have self-published their books, and have no publishing company representing them, but many indie authors have gained enough popularity and money, they are able to be picked up by popular publishing companies. This helps set authors up for success to write more books that are higher quality, and in a more timely manner.
While authors may get recognition for their work, the demand is also higher for a lot of authors once their books start to get more popular. For example, Powerless by Lauren Roberts gained a lot of popularity on BookTok, which led to readers demanding for more books to be published in the series. Powerless was published on January 31, 2023, while the second book, Reckless, was published on July 2, 2024. The time frame that Lauren Roberts had to write, edit, and get the second novel approved was only around a year and a half. The publishing time between the first and second book was most likely due to the fact that she wanted to ride the high of the first novel’s popularity. According to many readers’ reviews on Booktok, the quality of her second novel was a lot lower. The popular consensus is that the book almost felt like a filler book, and many scenes were repetitive. There are many positives to having your book raved about, but also a lot of pressure on the author.
In all, BookTok is a great outlet for readers, and creators to share their opinions on popular books but with that comes alot of downsides that make reading more complicated than it should be. While I do get some recommendations from Tiktok I would recommend getting outside sources to back up your decision on whether you start books or not. Reading should not be about the amount you read, or what you read, but it should be a place to feel seen and heard while escaping the real world.
