Reading has been a hobby beloved by millions for many years. Especially since books and stories span back hundreds of years. So what happens when books are combined with something from the digital world, the complete opposite of everything papers and ink stands for? Well, my friend, you get BookTok.
BookTok started as a corner of TikTok dedicated to book readers. For me and the people I’ve seen on TikTok, the primary purpose was for book lovers to give book recommendations, review their favorite books (or least favorite books), and to theorize about what’s going to happen next in any ongoing book series. The BookTok hashtag started off as one of many tiny corners of the TikTok platform, but steadily took off as more and more readers heard about it. As of February 26, 2025, the BookTok hashtag sits with 47.3 Million posts on TikTok, and it doesn’t stop there. BookTok has spread to other social media platforms, including, but not limited to; Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, RedNote, and many more.
So, what books are recommended on BookTok? Well, obviously popular classics are recommended. As well as the most well known YA novels and series. One of the more well-known book series to achieve success is Rebecca Yarros’s Empyream series. In fact, it’s because of BookTok that the first book, Fourth Wing, was able to achieve its success. However, when scrolling through the algorithm and watching book recommendations on BookTok, I saw that the majority of the user base were women, ages averaging 18-26. And what are these women able to read that they previously weren’t able to? The answer: Smut.
Most of the most popular books on BookTok contain some levels of smut inside them. They range from fluff and vanilla stuff to the most hard core and graphic materials that would make you question life. For example, the most well known erotica novel on BookTok is a Dark Romance novel called The Haunting of Adeline, which is basically about a girl who falls in love with her stalker. Is there any harm in people reading this though? As long as people aren’t recommending smut to children, I say no.
BookTok readers are enjoying themselves, and most importantly, they’re happy. A large part of reading is fantasy fulfillment, living vicariously through books for lives that they either can’t live, or know are wrong or messed up in some way that they don’t actually want to live that life, but they can’t help but fantasize about it. As long as these people aren’t going out of their way to harm themselves or others, I say that this is a net positive.
All in all, BookTok is a wonderful way for readers to share their love of books. From Pride and Prejudice and the Lord of the Rings series, to The Song of Achilles and The Twilight Saga, everyone and every book is welcome to BookTok.
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