Stop Avoiding TikTok, Your Book Will Thank You Later.

First of all, what is TikTok?

TikTok is an app that came out in 2017, but has become wildly popular during the pandemic. It started mainly with musical creators and transformed into an app for all different types of creators - from crafters, to comedians, to authors, and more. 

TikTok is ever-changing and the content is always growing. Users make fifteen second to about one minute videos based on the genre of whatever they’re interested in. It could be a video about how to cook a certain meal, someone lip syncing a song, or if you’re like me, a video talking about books and writing! 

Then, just like any other social media site, people can view your content and like, comment, or share it.

Is it helpful for writers? 

The short answer is: yes!

It can be helpful in many ways, but there are a few specific ways it’s helped me so far: 

When I have a question for other authors. Sometimes when I’m in the midst of writing or editing, I have a question regarding my book or just writing in general. I can post a video asking this question of other authors or readers and they can respond by commenting to my video. 

I like to use it for questions about other people’s preferences when it comes to writing or reading. This helps me figure out what people are looking for in a book so I can better cater to my audience. 

Networking with other authors. Along with being able to ask other authors questions, I can follow them, too. We can get to know each other, support one another, or just reach out once in a while and say hi! It’s super helpful to be able to connect with other people who are in the same boat when you’re in a profession that requires a lot of alone time. 

Many authors I’ve met are also self-published, but some are traditionally published. It’s great to be able to see both sides of the story and learn more about their individual journeys to publishing. It’s also nice to have people you can turn to when you need a sounding board. Most of the authors I’ve met on TikTok have been super helpful and friendly. 

Market your books/writing.  Once you’ve figured out your way around TikTok, you can start making videos to promote your writing! It’s a lot of fun. There are a couple of solid ways to go about it. One way is to just talk about your writing and show your books. Many authors have a generous following because of how they talk about their writing. 

You can also use someone else’s sound to show your own work. A sound can be a song, or someone saying things like “if you’re an author, show me your favorite book you wrote, now show me the first book you wrote…” etc. Using sounds is easy to figure out once you are on TikTok. 

No matter how you choose to show off your work, people will see it and (hopefully) interact with it. The goal is to build more awareness of your work so you can convert your followers into readers!

What about the readers?

TikTok is a great place to find and interact with people who could become readers for your writing. By making videos that showcase your writing and lay out what genre(s) you write, you can find readers who will enjoy your books.

For example, mentioning in a video that you write romance mixed with suspense lets readers know if they’ll be interested in reading your book. It’s a whole new way to draw in a new audience of readers and communicate with the people you’re writing for.

The readers’ side of TikTok is called “Booktok.” To find it, you can search for the hashtag #booktok in the discover section. Videos related to books will pop up! It’s such a fun place to learn more about what topics are trending and what genres are popular. Booktok can even bring older books back to popularity and kick off writing careers! There’s a lot of excitement and positive energy surrounding Booktok. 

TikTok can be a lot of fun. There will always be some people who try to bring down the mood, but if you don’t interact with them, they’ll disappear from your feed. Interacting with videos is how you let TikTok know what you want to see. 

So if you interact with fun, positive videos, that’s pretty much all you’ll see. The most important thing to remember is to be kind and have fun! Don’t stress over making content or watching all the videos. Just do your best and meet some great new people. 

My challenge to you is to check out TikTok - specifically search for the hashtags #authortok and #booktok. 

Do you use TikTok? Have you used it for networking or marketing your book? What other social media do you use to promote your work? I’d love to hear about your experiences and recommendations! Find me on social media or drop a comment below.

Let’s chat because you, my friend, are on your way to great writing.