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With the rise of social media and the proliferation of video content, concerns are growing that the number of book readers will decrease. However, it is said that TikTok, a short video sharing SNS, is gaining popularity among teenagers with a video introducing a recommended book, and it is said that it greatly influences sales.
Popular author Adam Silvera has been on the New York Times bestseller list for several weeks with their 2017 book, They Both Die at the End. Since then, sales of the book have declined, but sales have risen sharply in August 2020. It also took first place in the Youth Fiction category in April 2021.
This popularity is not temporary, and as of July 2021, it maintained the number one spot on the bestseller list for youth novels. It is a pleasure for the author that this work has grown in popularity, but I couldn’t figure out why the work suddenly became popular 4 years ago. So Silvera said to the reader that it’s unknown what’s going on, but the sales have been skyrocketing lately, and thanks everyone for coming to this novel a few years later. However, while reading the comments, it is said that there was a reaction from readers that they found this novel on BookTok.
BookTalk is a community of TikTok users that has skyrocketed in popularity a year ago, where participants can post videos of their testimonials and videos introducing recommended books. The video, including the hashtag (#TheyBothDieAtTheEnd), has now been played more than 44 million times, and many users are commenting that they were satisfied with the emotional ending and sometimes wept.
The TikTok book introduction video has spread around young people and has had enough influence to make this novel a bestseller a few years after its publication. Various other works (We Were Liars, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo) made the bestseller list.
The influence of BookTalk is also paying attention to Barnes & Noble, the largest bookstore chain in the United States. Barnes & Noble is contemplating creating a special section of books that have gained popularity on TikTok in both stores and shopping malls. According to the company, many store managers are checking the increase in customers who are affected by TikTok, so they collect books that have become a hot topic on TikTok. It is also important for authors to find readers. It is explained that the popularity of Book Talk is also related to the Corona 19 epidemic. In a situation where it is difficult to meet people, people have come to ask for emotional connection with others through reading.
TikTok is not only a place where readers connect to impressions and recommendations, but also a place where authors directly reach their readers. Chloe Gong, who published these Violent Delights in November 2020, started TikTok in April 2020 before her debut and posted a video of her impressions, collecting followers. As a result of promoting his book, it is said that many users placed pre-orders and left comments.
The reach of TikTok is wider than that of Twitter and Instagram, and it involves a proprietary algorithm that recommends videos. Since TikTok displays video recommendations based on factors such as videos and hashtags that users have viewed in the past, it is easy to spread videos other than followers.
Alex Aster also started posting related videos on BookTalk to break the sales slump after the publication of the book (Curse of the Night Witch) in 2020. As a result, some of the videos became popular on TikTok, increasing book sales five times. Currently, he has over 350,000 TikTok followers.
@alex.aster It’s called Lightlark #booktok #bookstan #bookclub #yabooks #books
https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js
He also used TikTok to publish his new novel (Lightlark), which he plans to publish in 2022. Initially, they made proposals to several publishers through agents, but none of them reached a contract. He posted a video summary of this novel on March 13, 2021 and asked if he would like to read the book. The video was played over 1 million times within 24 hours and received over 8,000 user comments. Using the spread of the video as a negotiation material, the agent offered to publish it to a publishing company, and it is said that he signed a contract for more than 100,000 copies.
BookTalk is unique among social media in that it empowers readers to their own reading experience. The reader is creating a bestseller in a way that the author cannot. Related information can be found here.
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