TikTokkers zoom in on the covers of oblivious strangers' books and post clips for hundreds of thousands of people to see. Accounts devoted to publicizing what people read in various cities accumulate likes. All books are fair game.įrom this view of reading, BookTok's own panopticontent grew. These reader archetypes allow those fluent in BookTok to quickly pass judgment on others' reading choices, whether that be the books they post about or those they read in public. The other BookTok archetypes include, but are not limited to, the dark academia reader - The Secret History by Donna Tartt is their bible - the smut enthusiasts, and the distinct categories of Emily Henry, Colleen Hoover, and Taylor Jenkins Reid stans. 'There are all of these aesthetic codes that you get from reading these books that are a shorthand for who you are because of this rapidly spreading information about what these books apparently represent about the life of a reader,' explains the young female admin of an Instagram literary fiction meme account, to Mashable. The impact of BookTok is seen in other bookish spaces on the internet, like Bookstagram. The song accompanying the video and snappy categorization of it are almost as significant as the title. (This isn't Tumblr.) On BookTok, the look of a book, the person reading it, and the presentation of it is important. Photos of passages from books don't perform well.

To talk books, creators need to adapt to the platform's language of aesthetics and archetypes. SEE ALSO: Why TikTok can't let 'Normal People' goīookTok is a competitive space that gets a ton of views - the hashtag currently has 132.8 billion views and counting.

The most prominent literary aesthetic, achieved by reading the likes of Ottessa Moshfegh and Sylvia Plath, is that of the disaffected cool, sad girl. On BookTok, those niches are turning into aesthetics where books become accessories. TikTok is a visual platform that tends to algorithmically sort its users into interests, identities, and smaller and smaller niches. On TikTok, everything is in pursuit of an aesthetic, including the books you read. A book open in the lap of a woman sitting in bright green grass.

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