Like other social media platforms, TikTok often finds itself associated with the worst excesses of the Internet age.
But now he’s credited with encouraging teens to read, thanks to a corner of a service called BookTok.
The figures show that BookTok videos have been viewed more than 43 billion times, with two British teenage sisters among the most popular influencers.
During last year’s lockdown, Mireille Lee, 16, and her sister Elodie, 14, from Hove, East Sussex, began posting short videos of the books they read.
Their @alifeofliterature account garnered thousands of views that soon became millions. Each of their videos has been watched by over 200,000 viewers around the world.
During last year’s lockdown, Mireille Lee, 16, and her sister Elodie (pictured), 14, from Hove, East Sussex, began posting short videos about the books they had read.
Among their most popular posts were clips of Leo Tolstoy’s classic Anna Karenina and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
But the attention of publishers and agents on both sides of the Atlantic was drawn to them by a video recording of E. Lockhart’s novel We Were Liars for young people. First published in 2014, it was initially a moderate success in America.
But the Lee sisters’ video of the book was watched by more than seven million viewers, helping it top the New York Times bestseller list.
“The speed at which our posts were exploding took us by surprise,” Elodie said. “Within a few weeks we got hundreds of thousands of views and then millions. It was overwhelming, especially the way it encourages people to buy the books we present.”
Mireille, who wants to go to Oxford or Cambridge after completing her A-levels, explained that she and her sister had to wind down their activities at BookTok after their school reopened after the lockdown.
She said: “We read one book a week and then prepared a video review for BookTok. When we got back to school, it got harder.”
Their @alifeofliterature account garnered thousands of views that soon became millions. Each of their videos has been watched by over 200,000 viewers around the world. In the photo: Mireille
Like readers around the world, Mireille said she inspires her fellow students at Blatchington Mill School in Hove to pick up a book.
“At school they call me Book Girl,” she said. “We want more young people to enjoy reading.”
Will Rycroft, Audience Development Manager at Waterstones, said the publishing industry has now realized the power of BookTok.
“Romance is popular with booksellers, but retellings of myths, stories of old myths and legends are also very popular,” he said. “Maybe it’s because we live in times of uncertainty and there’s something nice about knowing the beginning, the middle and the end.”
Mr Rycroft said BookTok also helped turn obscure texts into bestsellers, citing the British crime novel Cain’s Jaw, first published in 1934 and almost forgotten, as an example. Novel by Edward Powys Mathers published with pages in the wrong order. Readers who rearrange the pages in the correct order will be able to solve the six murders in the story.
The book was re-released in 2019 and was expected to sell several thousand copies, but after a BookTok enthusiast made a video about it, it sold out.