BookTok Statistics

Over the last few years, BookTok emerged as one of the most influential sources of book discoveries and has greatly affected the publishing industry. The platform has enough power to influence overall book sales numbers while helping some authors come out of obscurity and make them best-selling writers.

Impact of BookTok on book sales

BookTok became well-known for the promotion of backlist titles, making some of them best-sellers years after their original release:

• BookTok helped in selling around 20 million books in 2021, which represents over 2.4% of the total book sales count for the year.
• This represents nearly half of the book purchases from social media in 2021.
• The platform helped sell over 2.2 million copies in the US in the first quarter of 2022 alone.
• The most notable “protégé” of BookTok is Collen Hoover’s It Ends With Us. Originally published in 2016, it was an unknown book until BookTok propelled it to the best-selling adult fiction book in 2021.
• As of 2023, the book has sold over 4 million copies worldwide, almost all exclusively credited to BookTok.
• Another similar success through BookTok was seen with Adam Silvera’s They Both Die At The End, which sold over 650,000 copies in 2021 and an additional 100,000 in 2022.
• As of September 2023, BookTok has over 181.7 billion views.

In Canada, backlist titles that were trending on BookTok had a huge increase in sales over the last 4 years:

• Titles published in 2018 increased their sales by 812% from June 2019 to June 2022.
• During the same period, titles published between 2014 and 2017 increased their sales record by an insane 1,698% between June 2019 and June 2022.
• There was a 395% increase in sales of titles published 6 to 10 years before BookTok first appeared.
• Finally, there was a 489% increase in sales of titles published over 11 years prior to 2020.

Impact of BookTok on reading habits

In a survey conducted among TikTok users from the United States, people reported an increase in their reading activity due to the exposure to BookTok:

• 48% of TikTok users read more books than before the use of BookTok.
• The average American user of TikTok is reading 60% more books compared to the period prior to exposure to BookTok.
• 62% of TikTok users from the US have read at least one book based on the recommendation from BookTok.
• The biggest increase in reading activity due to BookTok is recorded in Maine, where 80% of users read more after using the platform.
• 70% of Nebraska users of BookTok read more books after exposure to the platform, along with 67% of users from South Dakota.
• On the other hand, users from Michigan reported a 31% increase in reading activity, which is the lowest among all US states.

Rank	State	Increase in reading activity due to exposure to BookTok
1	Maine	80%
2	Nebraska	70%
3	South Dakota	67%
3	Idaho	67%
5	Kentucky	63%
39	New Jersey	35%
40	Massachussets	34%
41	Oklahoma	33%
41	Washington	33%
43	Michigan	31%

Within the Canadian population, BookTok had an even greater impact on people’s reading habits and activity since the platform was launched.

• Over 53% of BookTok visitors from Canada reported that they increased their reading activity due to the use of the platform.
• BookTok also increased the number of books that the platform’s users read annually by 58%.
• Additionally, over 70% of Canadians that visited BookTok have read at least one book based on the recommendations from the platform.
• Among provinces in Canada, the biggest increase in reading activity among TikTok users is recorded in Saskatchewan, 63%.
• Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta follow it with a 57% increase in reading activity.
• On the other side, New Brunswick (25%) and Manitoba (28%) have the lowest increase in reading activity among BookTok visitors.

Rank	Province	Increase in reading activity due to exposure to BookTok
1	Saskatchewan	63%
2	Ontario	57%
3	Quebec	57%
4	Alberta	57%
5	British Columbia	51%
6	Newfoundland	50%
7	Manitoba	28%
8	New Brunswick	25%