BookTok is the Downfall of Self-Discovery and has Created Cult Followings Instead
I cannot remember the last time I stumbled into a book shop without scouting only for books I knew were highly recommended or I had seen on TikTok. I have bought books in genres I don’t particularly enjoy because it was going viral on BookTok. I haven't bought a book in so long that I found purely by discovery and felt drawn to myself without the external draw from the internet.
Because of the BookTok influences I think we have bought many more books, but they sit on our shelves or get bought and then forgotten about. The reason we bought it in the first place wasn’t because we ourselves were excited to find a book that suited us or because we wanted to, it was because someone else recommended it and we want to be in on the current community favorites.
Since viral trends, I have more books on my shelf that I have yet to touch than ever before. What prompted me to buy that book? It doesn’t actually appeal to me that much. I purchased it purely because of the influence BookTok has on me. I have found out that, while it has gotten a lot of new people to start reading again, so many book hauls and reviews are posted without any credibility. People are following the masses. A trend starts where this particular book is all the rage. People flock. People buy blindly. People review based…
