TikTok's #BookTok trend 'literally changed my life'

A self-published author and a bookshop owner have told how TikTok's #BookTok trend has changed lives and altered the publishing industry for good.

Adam Beswick from Lancashire found fame on the site when he started advertising his books under the hashtag.

Kirsty McKay, owner of The Book Dragon in Stockton, said #BookTok was allowing self-published authors to thrive.

#BookTok has over 200 billion views on TikTok, the equivalent of everyone in the world viewing it 25 times.

It has become a community of book lovers sharing favourite reads and reviews, as well as a place for authors to share upcoming work.

Mr Beswick's popularity on TikTok was kickstarted when his self-published book, A Forest of Vanity and Valour, went viral on the short-form video app before becoming the number one folklore bestseller on Amazon in 2022.

He said: "#BookTok has quite literally changed my life.

"It's coming up for two years since my first book came out and I've just released the sixth book in that series."

Prior to becoming a self-published author two years ago, Mr Beswick was working as a nurse.

Now he is a full-time author with his own publishing brand, meaning he has full control over his books, their content, the cover, design and marketing.

With more than 971,000 likes on TikTok and 200,000 followers on Instagram, Mr Beswick, from Oswaldtwistle, said social media had become an ever-growing community that had made book marketing a lot easier, and meant self-published books were more accessible to people.

"TikTok is what kickstarted everything for me. It allowed me to get those foundations to start building my reader base and start not being afraid of putting my books out there," he said.

"It's been an amazing two years, quite surreal."

The #BookTok community started building on TikTok during the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020 and 2021.

Colleen Hoover is arguably one of the community's most successful authors.

Her book, It Ends With Us, was published in 2016 but went viral on TikTok in 2021, turning it into the New York Time's number one bestseller in 2022.

It is now being turned into a movie with the cast including Hollywood stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.

As of October 2022, Ms Hoover has sold more than 20 million books, according to the New York Times.

Kirsty McKay founded The Book Dragon, which prides itself in only selling self-published books.

Two weeks after taking her own book to a High Street bookshop, Kirsty said she found it stacked in the furthest bookcase away from the front with only the spine showing.

There was absolutely no chance of a customer ever seeing it, she said.

"There's no support, no interest for self-published authors. You think writing the book is the hardest bit, but it's not. It's the actual marketing and promotion of it," she said.

"#BookTok is raising awareness of books that people wouldn't necessarily know about, because it's very difficult as a self-published author to market, as we pay all our own expenses from writing the book to editing it."

Kirsty explained the reason #BookTok was so popular was because people were always looking for a community, adding: "Certainly writers are looking for other writers that they can share their knowledge with, their experiences, hints and tips."

She said: "For people who want to start writing, tapping into that community will give them all sorts of advice and experience, and maybe the confidence to actually give it a go.

"Readers who actually give you feedback and encouragement, and say 'yes, I really love that' gives somebody the confidence to keep going, to keep writing, to keep developing."

In May 2020, a Nielsen Book survey reported that 41% of UK adults were reading more than in pre-pandemic times.

The National Literary Trust then revealed in July 2020 that more than a third of children and young people were reading more.

This growth in reading was seen alongside the increasing popularity of TikTok.

Now with over 60 billion videos, #BookTok has become a phenomenon that is pushing other book review sites to the side.

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