Formulated by book enthusiasts on the social media app TikTok, BookTok has become a massive community of authors and readers who want to discuss all-things-books. Since its debut, the concept of BookTok has spread to many other social media platforms, including Instagram and Reddit.
Although there is a wide variety of book genres in the literary world, the most talked-about genres on BookTok are young adult fiction, fantasy and romance. There has been a rise in recommendations of smut books, or books that feature sexual actions, in the romance genre, which has stirred up some controversy with people saying that it is inappropriate for the younger viewers in the community.
People in the BookTok community who are not interested in the smut sub-genre have been trying to promote more and more smut-free books, including “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt, “Heartstopper” by Alice Oseman and “Lightkeepers” by Kennedy Plumb.
BookTok watchers also make the argument that they do not get as much exposure to a wide variety of books as they came to BookTok for. There is an overemphasis on books that became overly popular such as “It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover, “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros and “Red, White & Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston. These books have overshadowed a wide variety of books within their genres of young adult fiction and romance as well as all the other genres out there. Not to mention, overshadowing lesser-known authors.
There have been really big controversies on BookTok, with the author, Colleen Hoover. This is because of her books gaining so much traction while having some of the most questionable writing in the BookTok community. Additionally there has been a lot of controversy about Mariana Zapata being disrespectful to LGBTQ+ and sex workers in her books; specifically “Rhythm, Chord & Malykhin” which mentions Tranphobic/homophobic jokes and comments.
BookTok is a great starting point if you do not know what to read and need a little inspiration. But, doing research on books that seem interesting by going to apps like Goodreads and The StoryGraph for a better understanding of the books on the “to be read” list will help ensure the perfect read.
