Yes we still have to pay attention to what books are catching fire on BookTok. As I wrote in a post from February 2023, "Don't Be Scared of BookTok: Let Others Help You"
You should not spend your time on BookTok trying to anticipate what books will rise to viral status. That is NOT where your limited time should be spent. Rather, you need to rely on those who have skin in the game-- meaning money-- who are paying people to cull BookTok for this information...
That was from my first post about BookTok. I wrote about why you need to care about what is happening there, but also, how you should not worry about keeping up with it since others are doing it for us.
Today, I have a few reminders and updates about checking on BookTok trends. I know that in the course of our day-today work we cannot help but have some idea of what is popular on BookTok. We see it in the increase in holds of seemingly random backlist titles. But, most days, this is as deep as we get in looking into what is going on in the larger BookTok world.
The end of the year is an excellent time to check back in with those who are watching BookTok all year long. It is a good time for a deeper dive.
Why?
Well first, like summer, the end of the year is a time when people seek out books to read for fun. They are planning to read something with their time off from November thru to New Years. They are also looking for ideas on what to buy others as gifts. For both of these reasons, people, rightfully, turn to viral books. These are titles that took large numbers of people by storm; therefore, these books are probably a good choice for me and or my friends and family.
This is a very solid argument and not that much different than using the bestseller lists as a way to find a "sure bet." Please remember, most people do NOT seek out professional help for reading recommendations. We may be wrapped up in the professional book world day in and day out, but our patrons are not.
We are going to see request for these books as people look for that perfect read for their limited time off.
Second, I am very interested in how these BookTok obsessions are going to translate into year end circulation numbers and sales data. Every year I present a "Year in Review" webinar where, among other things, I compare checkout vs sales data. Each year the caparisons show me different things, but they never have not correlated in at least a couple of key ways, ways that have implications as you serve leairue readers.
2022 was the first year where I saw BookTok making an impact on both circulation and sales data. This will be the second year where I am keeping an active eye on the app's impact.
Since I am keeping an eye on it, I figured I would share my go-to BookTok resources with all of you:
- Again, here is my first post where I gathered resources. You can also click here for all of my posts tagged, "BookTok."
- Popsugar has this list of the 34 titles BookTok thinks you need to read right now.
- Barnes & Noble keeps a updated list of popular BookTok titles organized by categories.
- Book Riot has regular BookTok coverage including this article that is a MUST read, "IS THE BOOKTOK REIGN LETTING UP? A NEW ANALYSIS SUGGESTS THAT IT MIGHT BE," with some mid year sales data from BookScan.
- LitHub's BookTok coverage
- Goodreads "genre" page for BookTok books. Crowdsourcing of Goodreads users who tag books "BookTok," so a book social media experience within a book social media experience. I find that in and of itself fascinating as a resource.
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