How is a BookTok sensation born?

TikTok has revolutionized popular culture by influencing fashion, music, and global trends. However, one of the most surprising effects of the platform has been the impact of BookTok, a community of book enthusiasts that is changing the dynamics of the publishing market. It's not just about promoting new releases or the most commercial novels on social media: thanks to TikTok, forgotten classics and niche books are coming back into the spotlight, turning into true bestsellers. One of the most striking cases is that of I Who Have Never Known Men, a dystopian novel by Jacqueline Harpman published in 1995. The story follows a young girl who grows up in an underground prison with thirty-nine other women, guarded by mysterious male wardens. One day, they manage to escape and discover a desolate world, seemingly devoid of other human beings. Without any points of reference, the protagonist finds herself wandering in search of answers, in an existence marked by solitude and the unknown. For years, the book remained in obscurity, selling very few copies, until TikTok rediscovered it in 2024, turning it into a publishing phenomenon.

The delayed success of I Who Have Never Known Men is therefore due to BookTok and its users, who began sharing the book on TikTok with passionate tones. They describe it as «a devastating and unique experience,» as «a book that forces you to stare into the abyss and question your entire existence.» Word of mouth did the rest: as reported by The Cut, «I Who Have Never Known Men went from the Belgian Literature section [...] to Customers' Favorites» in many bookstores across the United States thanks to the influence of book influencers like bigbooklady, who recommended it to over 300,000 followers, leading to the sale of over 100,000 copies in a single year in the U.S. alone.

Watch on TikTok

Beyond I Who Have Never Known Men, the BookTok phenomenon has revived other unexpected titles. According to The Guardian, «in 2024, the Penguin Classics edition of Dostoyevsky's White Nights was the fourth best-selling translated literary work in the United Kingdom.» The credit? TikTok. «If you search for the 1848 story on these platforms, you’ll find pages and pages of reviews, quotes, and pictures of the book next to cups of coffee. There are Spotify playlists for White Nights featuring the music of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich,» writes the British publication. But how much does BookTok really influence reading choices? According to a study by the Italian Publishers Association, reported in the research The Social Networks Changing the Market, «14% of readers say they are influenced by social media in their book choices, a figure that rises to 22% among young people aged 18 to 24. Among them, 54% rely on Instagram, while TikTok ranks fourth with 26%.» The influence of BookTok is undeniable. Many users claim to have rediscovered the joy of reading thanks to recommendations found on the Chinese platform. Book sales indicate a positive trend in several markets, confirming that TikTok is indeed encouraging more people to buy and read.

There is also a risk that the publishing market adapts too much to viral trends. Books that become popular on TikTok are not always those of the highest literary quality but rather those that are easiest to turn into engaging content. Striking covers, intense plots, and evocative quotes help a book stand out in the digital content flood, while more complex or less immediate works risk being overlooked. Moreover, the speed with which a title can go viral is a double-edged sword. A book can explode in popularity within days and then disappear into oblivion, leaving behind a fleeting success rather than a lasting literary career. For publishers, this means constantly chasing the next trend, often sacrificing more ambitious projects in favor of books that can generate immediate hype. Without a doubt, BookTok is revolutionizing the industry, creating new opportunities for books and authors that might otherwise have remained unknown, and investing in the publishing market with its own publishing house. The phenomenon has allowed niche titles to reach a vast audience and has made reading more accessible and popular among young people. BookTok will continue to influence the literary landscape, turning every reader into a potential trendsetter and every book into a possible global phenomenon. Perhaps, thanks to TikTok, a new generation of readers will fall in love with literature, discovering stories they might never have encountered otherwise.