#BookTok sells a ton of books, especially young adult backlist titles. ‹ Literary Center

Not terrible news from the book corner of TikTok also known as #BookTok: it sells books, and a ground of them.
The Association of UK Publishers said today that total book sales increased by 5% to a total of £6.7billion last year and that among the list of best- young adult sellers, four of the top five sellers had been recent hits on TIC Tac.
Stephen Lotinga, Managing Director of the Association of Publishers, told the BBC that booksellers had reported “having a lot of young people coming to their bookstores, talking about books they heard about on TikTok and asking for them.”
Over the past two years, publishers have seen several instances of book sales increasing after they went viral on #BookTok; NPR reported last year on a few of the books that stood out, many of which were backlist titles that appeared on popular accounts. Two of them were also top sellers in the UK in 2021, including They both die in the end by Adam Silvera, published in 2017 and Best Seller for Young Adults, and E Lockhart’s We were liarsreleased in 2014 and number 3 seller for young adults in the UK.
For publishers and booksellers wondering how to turn a viral video into real sales, these details give some clues, which could make up for the fact that I just spent a little too much time browsing #BookTok while writing this post. Happy buying books online!