Publisher
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Place of Publication
Chattanooga (Tenn.)
Abstract
BookTok, a creator-driven subset of TikTok that promotes and discusses books, gained popularity in 2020. Its emergence has significantly altered the book industry, allowing once-unknown authors to transform into bestselling novelists with the click of a button. Modern romance, fantasy, and young adult novels are typically favored on BookTok. These novels are vastly different from the books in the traditional literary canon, challenging conventional ideals regarding what types of literature could be considered canonical. Additionally, BookTok is primarily driven by younger users, allowing many teenagers and young adults to rediscover the joy found through reading and writing. This research project focuses on a question regarding BookTok’s relationship to traditional literature: “BookTok: Is the social media phenomenon opening the notably gatekept literary canon to a new generation of authors and connoisseurs, or is it creating a new canon entirely?” Through examining evidence from an IRB-approved study distributed to more than 300 avid readers, perusing scholarly research, and conducting an in-depth literature examination of canonical and modern-day novels, we determined the extent to which BookTok has changed the literary industry. This project discovered that (1) reading habits are shifting among teenagers and young adults, (2) BookTok is offering new book marketing tactics, (3) canonical novels are different from the novels popular on BookTok, and (4) BookTok is a viable (but unpredictable) marketing method.
Document Type
posters
Language
English
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Recommended Citation
Culberson, Daley, "BookTok: The Cultural Phenomenon Introducing a Stagnated Industry to a New Generation". ReSEARCH Dialogues Conference proceedings. https://scholar.utc.edu/research-dialogues/2024/Proceedings/5.
BookTok: The Cultural Phenomenon Introducing a Stagnated Industry to a New Generation
BookTok, a creator-driven subset of TikTok that promotes and discusses books, gained popularity in 2020. Its emergence has significantly altered the book industry, allowing once-unknown authors to transform into bestselling novelists with the click of a button. Modern romance, fantasy, and young adult novels are typically favored on BookTok. These novels are vastly different from the books in the traditional literary canon, challenging conventional ideals regarding what types of literature could be considered canonical. Additionally, BookTok is primarily driven by younger users, allowing many teenagers and young adults to rediscover the joy found through reading and writing. This research project focuses on a question regarding BookTok’s relationship to traditional literature: “BookTok: Is the social media phenomenon opening the notably gatekept literary canon to a new generation of authors and connoisseurs, or is it creating a new canon entirely?” Through examining evidence from an IRB-approved study distributed to more than 300 avid readers, perusing scholarly research, and conducting an in-depth literature examination of canonical and modern-day novels, we determined the extent to which BookTok has changed the literary industry. This project discovered that (1) reading habits are shifting among teenagers and young adults, (2) BookTok is offering new book marketing tactics, (3) canonical novels are different from the novels popular on BookTok, and (4) BookTok is a viable (but unpredictable) marketing method.