I have always been a book person.
For as long as I can remember, reading has been more than just a pastime for me — it has been one of the ways I make sense of the world. I have always been especially drawn to classics, historical fiction, fantasy with immersive world-building, and mysteries that keep you thinking long after you finish the last page. I love books that transport you into another era, challenge the way you think, or slowly unravel layer by layer until everything clicks into place. There is something incredibly rewarding about stories that require patience, interpretation, and emotional investment.
Because of that, when it came time to choose a topic for my honors component project, I knew I wanted it to reflect something deeply connected to both my academic interests and my personal identity.
As a psychology major, I am constantly interested in the ways people think, feel, and respond to the world around them. I find myself naturally drawn to questions of behavior, influence, emotion, and cognition. At the same time, as someone who genuinely loves literature, I have become increasingly fascinated by how reading culture itself is changing.
That is what led me to choose BookTok as the focus of my honors research project.
At first, it may seem surprising to take something associated with social media trends and make it the center of an academic research project. However, that is precisely what makes it so compelling. BookTok, the book-centered community on TikTok, has fundamentally reshaped the way books are marketed, consumed, and discussed. A single short video can transform a relatively unknown title into a bestseller almost overnight. Readers no longer rely solely on classrooms, bookstores, literary critics, or traditional book clubs to discover new titles; increasingly, their reading choices are shaped by algorithms, emotional reactions, and viral recommendation cycles.
To me, that shift is fascinating.
As both a reader and a psychology student, I wanted to understand not only what people are reading, but why certain books become so culturally dominant. What makes one book clip spread across millions of screens while another goes unnoticed? Why do certain genres repeatedly dominate digital reading spaces? How does an engagement-driven platform influence literary trends and reader expectations?
These questions became the foundation of my project.
One of the primary focuses of my research is the rise of explicit romance and dark romance on BookTok. Over the past few years, these genres have become some of the most visible and commercially successful within online reading culture. Books featuring morally gray characters, possessive male leads, obsession, coercive dynamics, and emotionally intense relationships often generate some of the highest levels of engagement on the platform.
This trend interested me for several reasons.
From a media perspective, these books are uniquely suited for short-form content. Dramatic dialogue, shocking plot twists, emotionally intense scenes, and highly quotable lines are easily transformed into short clips, aesthetic edits, and reaction videos. These moments are highly shareable, making them ideal for an algorithm that rewards emotional intensity and rapid engagement.
From a psychological perspective, however, the phenomenon becomes even more interesting.
As a psych major, I am especially interested in the emotional and cognitive mechanisms behind why readers are drawn to these narratives. Why do intense, often morally complex romantic dynamics resonate so strongly with audiences? What role does fantasy, escapism, and emotional projection play in that appeal? How does repeated exposure to these tropes influence perceptions of romance, intimacy, and attachment?
These are not just questions about books — they are questions about human behavior.
A major part of my project examines the role of algorithm-driven culture in shaping literary popularity. Social media platforms do not simply reflect trends; they actively help create them. TikTok’s algorithm amplifies content that receives strong engagement, meaning that scenes with shock value, dramatic tension, or emotionally charged dialogue are more likely to be repeatedly shown to users.
This creates a powerful feedback loop.
The algorithm promotes emotionally intense book content, that content drives sales and popularity, publishers respond by investing in similar titles, and readers are then exposed to even more books that replicate the same successful formulas.
As someone who loves literature with depth, complexity, and carefully constructed narratives, I found myself increasingly interested in what this means for the broader literary landscape.
One of the key questions I explore in my research is whether virality is beginning to influence the way literary value is defined. Are books increasingly being rewarded for being easily consumable, dramatic, and “clip-worthy” rather than for stylistic complexity, layered characterization, or thematic depth?
This is not meant as a criticism of readers or of popular genres. In fact, one of the most important aspects of my project is recognizing the many positive effects BookTok has had on reading culture.
BookTok has undeniably revitalized interest in reading, especially among younger audiences. It has contributed to increased book sales, revived genres like romance and fantasy, and created digital communities where readers can share enthusiasm, recommendations, and emotional responses in real time. It has also opened doors for self-published authors and writers outside of traditional publishing systems.
That democratization of literature is something I find incredibly important.
At the same time, my psychology background leads me to also consider the implications of romanticized harmful dynamics in some of the most viral dark romance texts. Some critics argue that repeated narratives involving obsession, control, or coercion may normalize unhealthy relationship behaviors or blur distinctions between fantasy and real-life expectations.
Others argue that fiction provides a safe space for exploring taboo themes and that readers are fully capable of separating fantasy from reality.
This debate is one of the aspects of the project I find most intellectually engaging because it sits at the intersection of literature, media psychology, and social influence.
Ultimately, I chose this topic because it feels like the perfect intersection of everything I care about.
It allows me to bring together my academic interest in psychology, my love for literature, and my curiosity about how digital culture shapes the way we consume stories. It also allows me to examine a cultural phenomenon that is incredibly relevant to the present moment.
For me, this honors project is not simply about BookTok.
It is about understanding how our generation reads, what draws us to certain narratives, how algorithms shape our preferences, and what that means for the future of literature and media consumption.
As someone who loves both analyzing people and getting lost in stories, I honestly could not have chosen a more fitting research topic.