Is TikTok the Future of Book Marketing?

BookTok, though just over two years old, is taking the publishing world by storm. Obscure backlist titles are being thrust into the spotlight, generating sales of hundreds of thousands of copies. Every chain bookstore now prominently displays BookTok titles, pushing Oprah's selections back to the next table. While the vast majority of the top BookTok books are YA, the phenomena is beginning to spread beyond YA's borders-Alex Michaelides's The Silent Patient is currently on Barnes & Noble's BookTok bestseller list, as is Donna Tartt's The Secret History. Kristen McLean at NPD Group is quoted as saying that Book-Tok's influence is spreading both to adult fiction and nonfiction. All the large publishers now recruit and cultivate book influencers-not just those using BookTok. A Google search of "book publisher influencer programs" provides links to Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster, as well as to several smaller houses.