Technology and social media, while damaging to the physicality of the literary world, have brought out a new side of the spectrum. BookTok is one of the many subcategories of TikTok, focusing on one specific thing. The original intent of the #BookTok tag was to post and talk about books, authors, and collections that are favored by all kinds of people. With BookTok, its readers recommend, review, and compile lists of books from multiple genres that they have loved, liked, disliked, or outright hated.
When thinking book, the first image that comes to mind is probably a library. It’s traditional: shelves filled with hardbacks, paperbacks, magazines, and anything readable. Closely following is most likely the bookstore, discount store, or even the aisles at the end of the supermarket section with the shirtless men or cowboys riding horses into the sunset. It’s the stereotypical locations coupled with the general aesthetic of rustic, academic, and dark.
You think physically, something you can hold, see, flip through.
Now, though, there’s more to see and hear: an algorithm curating the perfect page to fit humor and interests allows for an expansive understanding and knowledge of whatever you’re searching for. People follow their interests; whether it’s movies, painting, cooking, dancing, or even reading, there’s going to be someone posting content.
Enter BookTok, TikTok’s niche library.
According to an article written by Anahy Diaz, a writer for Today, BookTok is “a leading force in the book world, converting non-readers into people who can’t stop, giving literary aficionados their next adrenaline rush … and selling copies in the process.” The sudden influx of literary interest benefits authors, bringing them more publicity than previously housed. Primarily, the books that are the highest rated are romances following the same structural skeleton. While there is nothing wrong with that style of writing, there’s one issue that is often overlooked: TikTok’s current demographic, smut, the TikTok appropriate word for sex.
BookTok has taken the internet by storm with its strange view of literature and romance. Authors like Colleen Hoover, Sarah J Maas, and Hannah Grace are all high profile in the BookTok world, with Hoover’s It Ends with Us and Maas’ iconic series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, still in rotational conversation. Grace is a newer addition to the club, with her hockey romance, Icebreaker, making its way into the conversation.. These books are full of classic romance cliches and traditional heterosexual relationships. There may be no harm with the cliches, however there is a problem with how these books are promoted.
The primary issue with the majority of these novels is that there is no content warning for the smut in them, as the covers are typically illustrated depictions of the main characters or block-colored letters over floral, colorful backgrounds. The cover of Icebreaker, for example, is a cartoon drawing of a figure skater and a hockey player standing side by side. These are the main characters. With no other implications or age rating, one can only assume that the novel is about the budding romantic relationship between the two. As you become invested in the story, chapters strike you with aggressive scenes of graphic sex.
Icebreaker isn’t the only novel to fall into this category of ‘discrete-covers-to-hide-content.’ Colleen Hoover centers her novels around relationships with abuse and tragedy rather than the typical romance novels that are often on shelves.
The issue isn’t with the quality of the content. Instead, it’s about the demographic. Children and young teens dominate TikTok, following their favorite creator’s every word. What they say goes. If their favorite creator raves about something they’ve read or watched, their audience will buy it. Because the covers of these novels are discretely designed, young readers could easily walk into a bookshop, pick up the novel without any knowledge on its contents, and be exposed to a world that they aren’t old enough to experience.
Additionally, a lot of these novels advertised romanticize abuse. To reference Hoover again, It Ends With Us centers around Lily Bloom, who is being abused by her romantic partner. While this aspect highlights the cruel honesty of some relationships, it completely derails the idea and purpose of the traditional romance media. It creates new expectations on what romance is rather than what it should be.
Hoover’s popularity has not only reached the literary world, but has also produced products to accompany its demand. Olive and June, a nail polish brand, has created a line of polish and press on nails respective to It Ends with Us. Colors and shade names are designed to match the style and characters of the novel.
These authors are redefining women’s fiction and transforming it into a stereotypical idea that their audience only wants a partner or a romantic relationship when they can get something out of it. In turn, they are writing for the correct audience, young to full adults, while being consumed by a younger generation. On a platform such as TikTok where everything is fair game, it’s hard to approach a specific audience without reaching another.
BookTok has become more about which book has the most spice for its contents. It’s unfair to subject the entire tag to this generality, as there are so many fantastic authors out there such as Sally Rooney or Hanya Yanagihara who are not getting the recognition they deserve. They are overshadowed by the popularity of Colleen Hoover and Hannah Grace and their content, which, ironically, makes the entire framework of the tag itself. For actual readers, the tag no longer shares relevant, interesting plots in favor of the trending algorithm, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find new, engaging content. People are beginning to love reading again, even if it is the sub-genre of romance centered around spice.
