Can you guess the book that sold the most copies in the U.S. last year? It wasn’t The Bible, it wasn’t Harry Potter, it wasn’t Dune. It was the 2016 romance novel It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover, selling over 1 million copies in 2023. Hoover’s books It Starts With Us and Verity, were also in the top ten book sales of 2023.

How does a primarily romance writer like Hoover become the most popular author nationwide? She can thank a large part of her success to BookTok.

BookTok, which gained traction during COVID-19, is a niche area of TikTok where creators post about reading — a trend that has also extended to other social media. Though there is variety, BookTok most often pushes romance novels. For example, the hashtag #colleenhoover has 1.5 million posts on TikTok. Whether BookTok videos are reviews, recommendations, or just commiseration over emotional scenes, it is a colossal community. #BookTok has garnered around 200 billion views on TikTok, which BBC calculated would be “the equivalent of everyone in the world viewing it 25 times.”

Despite its popularity, BookTok is divisive. On the one hand, it is a far-reaching community that encourages reading in the Internet age. On the other hand, it’s criticized for promoting excessively trope-heavy, lazy writing, and toxic, abusive relationships. So, is BookTok improving or worsening people’s engagement with reading? And what has made it such a powerful force?

Part of the reason why BookTok is so popular is because it is an accessible way to discover new books. Millie Gan (‘26), the Co-Founder of the Long Story Short Book Club at Bishop’s, turned to BookTok after reading The Maze Runner. “Some of the books I came across [online] really caught my attention, so I gave them a try and found myself enjoying reading more and more,” Millie explained. Fellow Co-Founder of Long Story Short Penelope Fountain (‘26), added, “Before I was really on any social media, I would go to the library…but now I will look on Pinterest, Instagram, or Goodreads.”

Much of BookTok’s audience finds specific creators whose recommendations they grow to trust. Peneleope mentioned two of her favorites: @bookmarkdpod (52.8K followers on Instagram, and 10.4K on Tiktok), and @whereismylibrarycard (146K followers on Instagram, and 113.6K on Tiktok). 

But while recommendations from individuals are often more honest and easier to access, they can also be problematic. Sometimes creators will rave about novels that have significant issues in the writing — like Hoover’s novels. Her 2015 book, November 9, was the ninth most sold book worldwide in 2022 — but the novel’s romance is controversial. In one line, the male love interest says, “I’ve never wanted to use physical force on a girl before, but I want to push her to the ground and hold her there until the cab drives her away.” In another the protagonist asks herself,  “Why would a girl care to find herself when she’ll never make herself feel as good as a guy can?”

Lines like these — in which sexism and violence against women are promoted or at least accepted — are a trend in many of the popular BookTok books. And yet, Hoover’s writing still engages millions of people. “I think some of her writing and tone doesn’t come off like she thinks it will, and a lot of stuff is taken out of context,” Penelope said. “Some people argue that [Hoover’s] books can be overly dramatic or problematic and it changes people’s perception on romance, while others find them deeply emotional and fascinating,” Millie added. 

But while Millie and Penelope both acknowledged the issues of Hoover’s writing, they ultimately concluded that, in many ways, her books being read has become a fact of life. “It isn’t up to you to determine what people write or consume,” as Penelope put it. “If you don’t like it, don’t read it,” she added. 

Many people choose to do just that — not read it. While Hoover, and other romance authors like Ali Hazelwood (the author of Love Hypothesis) or Rebecca Yarros (the author of Fourth Wing), are some of the most famous faces of BookTok, one of the advantages of social media is that it is easy to find a specific community to engage with. “BookTok has something for everyone,” as Assistant Librarian Mr. Brandon Warner put it. “If a person moves away from the most-viewed influencers, they can find BookTok micro-communities.” These micro communities can be focused on specific genres like literary fiction or thriller books, on the tone of the content (more serious versus more humorous), or on anything else.There’s something for everyone.

Mr. Warner also reflected,  “in general, I don’t think that the types of books people read have changed much. There have always been deep, insightful, character-driven books…and superficial, fun, plot-driven reads.” 

Another advantage of the sheer amount of people engaging with BookTok is that it allows lesser-known authors to gain contraction, acting as a marketing tool. 

Irish writer Sally Rooney, for example, catapulted into the mainstream with her 2020 novel Normal People; the novel’s titular hashtag currently has 731.1K posts on TikTok. Normal People is a romance, but not in the same way as Hoover’s books are. It has no quotation marks for direct quotes, no central plot, and instead closely analyzes the relationship between the two main characters. Rooney’s more recent book, Intermezzo, also lacks an easily digestible plot, and follows the complicated relationship between two brothers. Rooney’s books have achieved incredible success despite not being accessible. Normal People was adapted into a show and has sold more than one million copies in the UK alone. Intermezzo, which came out in 2024, is the fastest selling book in Ireland this year.

But in the same way that BookTok can thrust talented authors to fame, it can also highlight arguably less-deserving books. Goodreads lists 4,341 books under “Hockey Romance Books.” Many of these books are romance novels, and some of which are inspired by the BookTok classic, Icebreaker. With 53.4K posts under #icehockeybooks on TikTok, many of these novels come across as a marketing ploy. Can there really be 4,000 good books about hockey romances?

Oversaturation of books often leads to overpromotion. “Some books get overhyped [on BookTok] so that makes you want to read [them],” as Millie. “But after you read, if they don’t live up to all the excitement and praise, it can be discouraging and make reading feel less fun.” 

Another oversaturated trend on BookTok is the desire for novels with “spice” — which refers to the sexual content in a book. #spicybooks has 1.1 million posts on TikTok, and posts like “Booktok books with some of the BEST spice,” or “extremely spicy books with good plots” are everywhere on TikTok. This type of content, while popular, is questionable — especially for a young audience. 

Despite BookTok’s issues, however, Millie, Penelope, and Mr. Warner ultimately characterize it as net-positive. Much of their assessment came from the fact that they all see reading not as a way to meet a quota or even necessarily to learn — but as a way to enjoy themselves. 

Reading can be educational and life-changing — but it can also be entertaining and fun. Whatever form of reading people engage with, it still has positive effects, including boosting creativity, improving sleep, and broadening vocabulary. As Mr. Warner remarked,“BookTok uses a popular online platform to promote the reading of real-life, physical books to the millions of us who are looking for a gentle escape from lives that are increasingly fast-moving, sensationalist, and digital.”