BookTok Book Talk: Reaching Diverse Reading Communities

BookTok may seem like just another way to waste time, but this study suggests there’s more to this diverse TikTok subcommunity.

For the last several years, internet trends have become increasingly important in determining which varieties of books get published and how they are marketed. BookTok, the subcommunity of TikTok dedicated to literature and reading, is one of the most influential of these trends.

This subcommunity consists of users creating, interacting with, and consuming content based on specific books, tropes, or genres deemed popular—like enemies to lovers or romantasy. While most BookTok content features dominant identities (White, heteronormative, etc.), there are large pockets of more diverse voices and stories—ones that publishers may want to pay attention to.

THE RESEARCH

Dr. Sarah Jerasa, an assistant professor of literacy at Clemson University, investigated the effects of these diverse voices in her article “The #BookTok Connection: Examining Cultural and Linguistic Identity Expression in Online Reading Communities.” Her study aimed to discover how members of historically marginalized groups participate in BookTok, and how their cultural and linguistic identities inform their BookTok experiences.

Dr. Jerasa conducted her research by performing three case studies; she interviewed a queer Black male in the Netherlands, a Filipina woman, and a Middle Eastern male refugee in Germany, all of whom identified as multilingual. Dr. Jerasa then coded each interview transcript to organize the responses into themes, including how the participants felt about the connectivity of the BookTok community and the participants’ ability to express critical perspectives using the social currency they gained by reading the same books as other users.

Each of the interviewees affirmed that they felt that the diverse spaces within BookTok were safe for them to explore and discuss varying literary interests. For example, two participants mentioned that BookTok “helped them recognize the existence and legitimacy of books featuring protagonists aligned with their interests” (Jerasa 2025, 20). Similarly, the interviewees noted that although mainstream, predominantly White authors and texts were very common on BookTok, they felt that diverse stories and voices were welcomed in the online community (Jerasa 2025, 14).

Dr. Jerasa refers to the concept of books serving as mirrors and windows (a term coined by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop) in her discussion of the participants’ reactions to discovering minority communities and the books they champion online (2025, 12). Two of the interviewees saw representation in the books they read and talked about on BookTok as a mirror reflecting their own lived experiences; the third participant experienced it as a window into the lives of those different from him.

THE IMPLICATIONS

These findings indicate the significance of inclusivity and representation in BookTok—and, by extension, the publishing industry. Although publishers may achieve economic success by following dominant demographics, the experiences of the interviewees suggest that diverse books serve a crucial purpose in their subcommunities, whether they identify with or learn from them.

Thus, publishers seeking to reach diverse audiences need to use diverse voices to do so. These marginalized viewpoints can benefit not only those they mirror, but also those who are currently unaware of perspectives diverse from their own.

To learn more about diverse voices within BookTok, read the full article:

Jerasa, Sarah E. 2025. “The #BookTok Connection: Examining Cultural and Linguistic Identity Expression in Online Reading Communities.” Education Sciences 15 (2): 234. https://doi.org/10.3390/edu csci15020234.

—Alyssa Knutti, Editing Research

FEATURE IMAGE BY SUPERJHS

Find more research

Take a look at Elizabeth Walker’s Editing Research article for more information about the influence of BookTok on the publishing industry: “How BookTok Is Changing Marketing for Publishers.”

Check out Alysia De Melo’s (2024) article to learn more about the intersection of BookTok and user diversity: “The Influence of BookTok on Literary Criticisms and Diversity.” Social Media + Society 10 (4). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051241286700.