We’re all aware of Tiktok’s infamously accurate algorithm and how the minute you even think about something, it magically appears on your For You Page. While the term ‘Industry Plant’ is traditionally used in the context of the music industry, it seems as though the publishing industry has not fallen too far behind. In the early days of TikTok’s book and reading community, a.k.a. BookTok, you could count on great recommendations like They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reed. But, as of late, the BookTok community has been on edge with upcoming releases following the release of Alex Aster’s novel Lightlark, which took the forefront of the industry plant scandal.
Lightlark is a Young Adult Fantasy novel, following the same formula as every other YA Fantasy novel. The book began with a pitch on Aster’s TikTok page, which quickly caught the attention of readers on the app. Aster then uses the platform to highlight her journey into getting the book published, after struggling to be published for 10 years (not counting her initial release). However, things quickly took a turn for the worse in September 2022, when Booktok readers began to negatively review the book en masse. This left a bad taste in Booktok’s mouth because Aster had been hyping up this book after it was rejected by tons of agents and publishers. After all, it was her “rags to riches” story when it was the book following her initial successful release.
A big part of the controversy, and where the accusations for Aster being an industry plant take place, is due to her family and her background. Reddit user ExtentionOne created a long thread of the ordeal, highlighting the fact that Aster comes from a wealthy family, she studied in an Ivy League university, and her successful twin sister works in social media marketingー not to mention, Aster herself had attempted to create viral TikTok music! The book had been blurbed by famous authors, hit #1 on the Goodreads new release list, and had a movie deal with the producers of Twilight (yeah *that* Twilight) before the book was even released! Needless to say, once people began unraveling the true identity of the author, instead of the rags-to-riches façade she had been displaying on Tiktok, they were not happy. This caused the first initial mass review of the book, citing Aster as a “cosplayer” and giving the book 2 stars.
All of this was before the book had even been released. While the creators of the app that had received an ARC (advanced readers copy) were skeptical about the background of the author, the book itself also had its controversies. Despite being sold as a cross between The Hunger Games and A Court of Thorns and Roses (two beloved stories on Booktok), the initial reviews of the book itself highlighted the lazy writing and plot as well as the characters not being well thought out; as this was the beginning of a series, after all.
As of right now, the Goodreads reviews for the book stand at an average 3.4-star review, though most of the most popular reviews are negative. User Shanna writes: “If you take away [the drama], this book is just poorly written and nonsensical. It’s bad. And not in a guilty pleasure sort of way, but in an “I’m offended that you thought you could sell this to readers” sort of way.” This begs the question: are the positive reviews from people that are being paid to speak positively about this bookbots, or people that are actually enjoying it?
Aster’s position of being an industry plant is still up for debate to this day, as the author refuses to even acknowledge the existence of the controversy. Aster’s story is only one of a few Booktok industry plants, authors that have had their work picked up by large publishing houses after going viral on Tiktok, and with the rise and connection of social media and the book community, there’s no way this is the last we’ll hear of Booktok industry plants. For now, I’ll be keeping a very careful eye out. Happy reading!