The Publishers Association, an organization of UK publishers, wanted to better understand the practices, expectations and reactions of young TikTok users, and in particular members of the BookTok community.
2,001 people aged 16 to 25 were interviewed last October, not necessarily BookTok users. But of those, 59% said the BookTok community or a book influencer guided them to a particular title. Not surprisingly, 55% of them will also look for reading ideas on TikTok…
68% have even read a book after advice on the platform that they otherwise would never have had in their hands. And 38% now place BookTok ahead of other recommendation sources, including…family and friends.
First and foremost a social network, TikTok has enabled 19% of them to find a “Community» of interest when 16% claim to have made new friends thanks to the application.
Latest data from the small Publishers Association survey – conducted by the Savanta Institute – but most importantly of BookTok users, 49% say they have gone to a bookstore to find a recommended book on the platform.
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Chrissy Ryan, bookseller and manager of the Bookbar in London, which mixes books and wines, testifies to the craze for reading on BookTok, which also reflects her bookstore. “We increasingly look to BookTok to build our inventory and anticipate demand. It is quite interesting to see that BookTok has done a lot to make reading cooler“, she emphasizes.
Other studies have already determined that BookTok especially values books from the most recent collection, especially those that have been published for 2 to 5 years at the time of their promotion. For these titles, the growth in sales is the most impressive, at 1.698% on average, indicated a study dedicated to the Canadian market.
Photography: a “BookTok” section at Barnes & Noble, USA (Cory Doctorow, CC BY-SA 2.0)