The Creation of Millions of New Reader

These past two years have been a battle to find entertainment as we remain trapped in our rooms with nothing but a phone to keep us connected. What is one to do in a situation such as a global pandemic? You go on TikTok. 

#Booktok has become a vital source for young readers to successfully escape the world around them. Authors like Colleen Hoover, Sarah J. Maas, and Madeline Miller have readers rushing to the bookstore to sneak their daily dose of romance and YA fantasy. Having worked in a bookstore for over two years now, I have never seen such urgency to grab the latest addition to the Blood and Ash series. But what does this mean for the world of literacy? 

TikTok birthed a massive reader community as primarily young women share their favourite reads, author’s to look out for and share their overall reader experience. Not only has #booktok influenced the sales of genres like smutty fantasy and sapphic romance, but has become a place where community holds currency. 

As previously mentioned, there are certain authors that have made huge leaps in sales over the past two years because of #booktok. For example, Colleen Hoover is an experienced author, publishing her first novel, “Slammed” in 2012. Hoover’s book sales were 693 percent higher in 2021 than they were in 2020, emphasizing the influence that BookTok has on both the reader and the author.  

In the end, the birth of these new readers does more than popularize a hashtag or sell books, but it has built a community of explorers, detectives, and wonderers who itch to escape the world around them. As a lifelong reader, I welcome you, newbies, with open arms. Let’s explore these pages together. 

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