book trends
Social media trend BookTok: These 4 books are hip now
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Young people no longer read? Are you kidding me? Are you serious when you say that! Under the hashtag “BookTok”, young women in particular show their current favorite books in often emotionally charged short clips on TikTok. We present four of the most popular books.
Video titles like “Books that made me sob at 3 a.m.” already show it: The TikTok users who show their favorite reading under the hashtag “BookTok” are about the really big feelings. The formats range from personal lists of the best to book reviews in short format to time-lapse clips showing the sentimental reading of the last few pages of your current favorite book.
And what has already worked on Instagram under the analogue hashtag Bookstagram also appeals to the much younger TikTok community. The hashtag already has over 85 billion views here – a surprisingly high number given that books are no longer very popular with the younger generation.
But if you take a closer look at the Booktok trends, you will quickly see a pattern in the recipe for success: the focus is mostly on love stories from the “Young Adult” genre. In other words: It’s always about the big feelings and mostly about the equally big drama. Not surprisingly, then, that most of the BookTok creators are young women.
The recipe for success behind BookTok
What makes a significant contribution to the success of BookTok is the fact that the TikTok algorithm rewards emotional content with a large reach push. On the one hand, it can be viewed positively that numerous, especially young, authors get a platform thanks to BookTok. Many of them have now been able to sell the novels they initially only self-published to large publishing houses.
However, as always, TikTok’s influence on the distribution of content should be viewed with a critical eye. In most “Young Adult” novels, sex usually plays a not unimportant role – an absolute no-go on TikTok. Users therefore always manage with code words – such as “spicy”.
TikTok trend BookTok: 4 popular books
Have you become curious about what’s behind the BookTok trend? We clicked through the popular hashtag for you – and present four of the currently most popular books and authors.
Colleen Hoover: It Starts With Us – Just One More Time and Forever
Colleen Hoover is the undisputed Queen of BookTok: especially her novels “verity” and “It Ends With Us” shocked countless TikTokers and moved them to tears – placing the Texan in the “New York Times” bestseller list was certain. Hoover is also currently represented with several books among the “Spiegel” bestsellers. Most Successful: The brand new and long-awaited sequel to “It Ends With Us”, which simply “It Starts With Us” is called.
The second part not only ties in with the events in the love triangle of Ryle, Lily and Atlas, her childhood sweetheart, but also reveals completely new perspectives and secrets – because this time the story is told from both Lily’s and Atlas’ perspectives. This bestseller is therefore an absolute must for fans of Colleen Hoover.
Elena Armas: Spanish Love Deception – Sometimes half the truth leads to great love
Elena Armas’ debut novel is one of the biggest BookTok phenomena to date: protagonist Lina is to travel to Spain for her sister’s wedding, where her whole family is eagerly awaiting to meet her American boyfriend. The problem with the thing: This does not exist. Her plight prompts Lina to accept the offer of her work colleague Aaron, who agrees to accompany her and play her boyfriend. Aaron is everything that Lina doesn’t want in a man. But on the trip she discovers unexpected qualities in her colleague.
The scenario that Elena Armas in “Spanish Love Deception” created, is the perfect starting point for a romcom in the “slow burn” style – that means: readers: inside have to be patient until the big feelings between Lina and Aaron unfold. However, patience will be rewarded. And that, among other things, with a few moments that – to put it in a TikTok-friendly way – quite nice spicy are.
Taylor Jenkins Reid: The Seven Men of Evelyn Hugo
Anyone who has just watched the Marilyn Monroe biopic “Blonde” on Netflix will “The Seven Men of Evelyn Hugo” love: Author Taylor Jenkins Reid takes her readers: inside the world of old Hollywood glamor around Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn and of course Marilyn Monroe – and thus creates one of the most outstanding novels that can be found under the hashtag BookTok.
The plot revolves around the life of fictional movie star Evelyn Hugo. She has hired the young journalist Monique as a ghostwriter to write her memoirs. In her apartment above the rooftops of Manhattan, Evelyn tells Monique everything about her more than eventful past. But the focus of this book is not only the story of the Hollywood icon – but also the question of why she chose the unknown Monique to write down her story. Readers can look forward to an exciting ending!
Ana Huang: Twisted Dreams
While Colleen Hoover has enjoyed great success as an author for years, Ana Huang is the prime example of an author whose career really took off thanks to BookTok. Teenagers and young adults around the world are devouring their “Twisted” series – the first part of which is now also appearing in German just in time for Christmas.
In “Twisted Dreams” is about young Ava and her fateful love for Alex, her brother’s best friend. With this story that strongly to the “After” series Reminiscent of Anna Todd, Ana Huang may not have reinvented the genre – but the concept, which has been tried and tested since “Fifty Shades” at the latest, is a big hit when it comes to sales figures. Thanks to BookTok’s attention, the author is just releasing another book in a new series (“King of Wrath”) – so there is plenty of reading material to keep you busy.