The increasing popularity of BookTok videos, videos in which people share their favourite books on the social media platform TikTok, has not escaped the attention of traditional bookstores. The literary world is embracing the phenomenon and using it to its own advantage.
Under the hashtag #BookTok, readers share their experiences with books in a short video. It mainly concerns young readers who talk about their favourite book or protagonist in a short, often playful video. Young Adults books, books on relatable themes such as love and friendship with a target group of 15 to 28-year-olds, are most often recommended.
At first, employees of libraries and bookstores were surprised, but as the phenomenon grows the more traditional booksellers are seeing the positive effects of #BookTok.
#BookTok events increase sales
This weekend, Yasmine Van Den Meersch of a Standaard Boekhandel store in the East Flanders city of Geraardsbergen already hosted the third event where #BookTok favourites were promoted and offered for sale while influencers mingled and met each other.
"I see a lot of people, at times there are even up to 100 people in the store,” she said, adding that participants sometimes come from far and wide.
The event is such a success that more and more bookstores are following Yasmine's example. "We see that colleagues have jumped on this idea and the events can also be found in the big cities,” she said. “Everyone is starting to sell more books, which is very positive."
Writers and publishers benefit too
For writer Doreen Hendrikx, #BookTok comes as a gift from heaven. "Publishers in Belgium and the Netherlands have been struggling to reach young people for a while before TikTok was there,” she said. “TikTok's algorithm is so varied that you always get to see something different, which makes it more interesting for us." In this way, young people can also come into contact with books unexpectedly.
Books in which young people recognise themselves do especially well. "If they can recognise themselves in a story, they will immediately look it up to see whether it is something for them. Then they also quickly go to the bookstore to get that book."
In Belgium and the Netherlands, #BookTok has also helped to increase sales and interest in English books. "English-language books are easier to find,” said BookTokker Jonas De Backer. “If you look at the range of Dutch-language books (on the app), it is ten times smaller than the English-language offer."
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According to Van Den Meersch, the increasing popularity of the #BookTok events also refutes the view that young people no longer read – a concern that the educational field has also been struggling with for some time.
Additionally, Young Adult books also attract the interest of teachers, she said.
"We do notice that teachers come to the bookstore with the request to recommend good books that catch on,” she said. “That is fantastic. Not only do you give young people an introduction to books that will appeal to them instead of only the reading list they will get at school, but other people are also doing their best to make it accessible and attractive to them."
