Look, those of us who work in libraries have known for a while that Colleen Hoover was a super popular author, but many, in the general non-book obsessed public, had not heard of her until recently.
This has a lot to do with the NYT Bestseller list vs the actual list of what is selling the most in America, best communicated through the USA Today's Bestseller List of the top 150 books based solely on how many copies they are selling without categories or caveats.
Often the general public does not think a book is a bestseller until it land on the NYT list, even though authors like Hoover, especially genre writers, are selling thousands of copies of their books that are being enjoyed by thousands of readers. It is a huge problem with our notion of "bestsellers." And just being a bestseller does not mean your books are enjoyed by those who are buying them. Heck, we don't even know if people are reading the books they buy, let alone if they like them.
But, now that Hoover has gotten herself in the NYT's list consistently, more people are noticing her name and asking, "Who is she?" Most of us answer with-- she's from TikTok.
But it is more than that and thanks to friend of the blog, Lila Denning, I am sharing an article from Slate that explains it more thoroughly. We all need to understand the appeal and draw of Hoover better, even if you think you understand why people enjoy her already.
Saying she is only popular because of TikTok is unfair and, quite frankly, demeaning. I also think it would not happen at all if she wrote in more "literary" genres. This article addresses all of that directly as it breaks down her appeal and why readers love her books without talking down about her, which she does not deserve at all.
[Eds note: see my first rule of basic RA service]
Please read the article. I have posted the opening below.
The Unlikely Author Who’s Absolutely Dominating the Bestseller List
The media has credited Colleen Hoover’s massive success to “BookTok,” but it’s taken much more than that.
This has been the summer of Colleen Hoover, a recent viral TikTok announced, editing together clips of young women at the beach reading books by the Texas novelist. Furthermore, just a couple of months ago we had a Colleen Hoover spring and before that a Colleen Hoover winter and before that a Colleen Hoover fall. On any given week for more than a year now, the 42-year-old Hoover has had three to six books on Publishers Weekly’s top 10 bestseller list. Currently three of the top five titles on the New York Times’ combined print and e-book fiction list are Hoover’s. The most popular of these novels, It Ends With Us, isn’t even new. It was published six years ago. A forthcoming sequel to that novel (or possibly a prequel, it’s not yet clear), It Starts With Us, will be published in October, its perch at the summit of both lists guaranteed.
This has been the summer of Colleen Hoover, a recent viral TikTok announced, editing together clips of young women at the beach reading books by the Texas novelist. Furthermore, just a couple of months ago we had a Colleen Hoover spring and before that a Colleen Hoover winter and before that a Colleen Hoover fall. On any given week for more than a year now, the 42-year-old Hoover has had three to six books on Publishers Weekly’s top 10 bestseller list. Currently three of the top five titles on the New York Times’ combined print and e-book fiction list are Hoover’s. The most popular of these novels, It Ends With Us, isn’t even new. It was published six years ago. A forthcoming sequel to that novel (or possibly a prequel, it’s not yet clear), It Starts With Us, will be published in October, its perch at the summit of both lists guaranteed.
Observers typically attribute Hoover’s success to BookTok, the segment of TikTok dedicated to authors and readers. And Hoover—known as CoHo to her fans, who call themselves Cohorts—is indeed the queen of BookTok, an adept TikToker herself, as well as the subject of countless videos in which young women appear clutching huge stacks of candy-colored CoHo paperbacks and proceed to rank their favorites among her 24 titles. But while Hoover might just be the ideal author to preside over TikTok, the platform is only the latest online vehicle she had ridden to fame and fortune. She sometimes presents herself as surprised by her own virality, but Hoover has been a savvy self-promoter since 2012, when she distributed free copies of her first, self-published YA novel, Slammed, to influential book bloggers. She was big on BookTube (the YouTube book community) and big on “Bookstagram” well before TikTok came along. Furthermore, her story—social worker and mom transformed into blockbuster author via whatever new technology of the moment is ostensibly revolutionizing the book business (self-publishing, blogging, Instagram, TikTok)—is catnip to traditional news outlets.
But a new technology can’t make readers love a book. It can only persuade people to read it...
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