Underneath the Bookcover

Aashi Samith (2430103) 

24, March, 2025 

Bengaluru. 

A certain stack of colourful books with illustrated covers, will always draw you in the moment you enter any bookstore. You may not always leave the store with those books nestled under your arm, but the bright hue and the selectively placed words of that book cover will dazzle your eyes until you leave the store. It will fade from your memory in the same pace it was able to grab your attention. These are the booktok books. With the recent (brief) ban of Tiktok in America, readers across the globe are more conscious of what the platform can do, and is doing. 

Social media niches like Booktok, Bookstagram and Booktube have made it to the mainstream reading is now fashionable. Short-from content platforms have emerged as a new avenue for not only expression but for marketing as well. Publishing houses have not failed to take notice of this, and there is a marked increase in the publication of certain genres that do well online. With that looms the question of which books are popular, and why? 

The definition of Tiktokification varies, but when it comes to books, it refers to the notable popularity of some tropes or scenes which are marketed more than the stories themselves; And how more books are now trying to emulate these facets. Books have officially been “Tiktokified.” 

While conversations regarding Tiktokification dominate much of the discourse surrounding this phenomena online, some argue its benefits- including the ease of self-publishing today and the fact that people are finally picking up books. Whether its benefits outweigh everything leveraged against it remains to be examined. But how much of this is actually applicable to India?  

Patronage 

The Renaissance itself would not have happened without artists having a ‘Following’. Unlike a passive audience, a following is a group of dedicated patrons who support one’s work enough to get it to the masses. Today, many authors are able to market their self-published books online, without having to rely on traditional publishing, owing to their followers. Publishing, like most other industries, is one that sees a significant amount of nepotism and power play. With the help of their followers, many authors are able to circumvent this. Nivedha Menon, CEO of Ink and Impact Media, points out how traditional publishers are now approaching self-published authors themselves. “Even penguin publishing has reached out to self-published authors owing to their massive following,” she says.

Authors with stories that would not have been published before are able to carve a place for themselves. “Narratives from queer and neurodivergent authors can be amplified now,” says Rohni Malur, the curator of Queer Reads Bangalore. Communities now have a medium to tackle book bans and censorship. 

Sudharshana S recently published her novel, The Sanctum Key, using Notion Press, a self publishing platform. “Authors today have to be influencers too- everything is coming down to having a good online presence,” she muses. Many influential authors have a large follower count because they were celebrities by right of their books. But a new set of authors are emerging who are influencers before authors. 

Vishwambhari S Parmar, who previously worked in publishing, describes some of the marketing she has seen online as a “whole ordeal.” She notes that unboxing videos, cover reveals are amongst the more popular content types. These videos are about being a reader rather than reading itself. 

“It comes down to my inability to market it right. It’s a great tool, I just need to crack it,” says Sudhrashana. Most readers are of the opinion that they will not buy a book the author themselves market on social media, but they agree that if a book appears on their feed multiple times, their interest will be piqued sufficiently enough to look it up. 

The edge social media can give you is noticeably limited to certain genres and tropes. Sudharshana finds her novel harder to market as most of the popular formats lend themselves to romance books, and not as much to Sci-fi. Aspiring authors online admit to the urge of wanting to put in certain tropes into their story solely to make them easier to market, or to adapt their story into a genre that is in vogue. 

This might not be a phenomenon that can be credited entirely to online book communities. “If books of a certain genre are popular, our committee will keep an eye out for similar books,” says Mr. Sandeep, who runs Olive Publications. “It’s not really something that has followed the adoption of social media platforms, it has always happened,” he added. 

What is Fashionable? 

The online book community at large is divided between the “intellectuals” and the “Booktok Girlies” as they have come to be called. Most spaces online have turned these reading choices into lifestyles, where participating in the reading culture often comes before reading. That aside, the latter seems to have a larger influence on which new books are popular, owing to the former’s preference of older classics. 

Romance has always been the most profitable genre for the publishing industry, but “it’s a new way of talking about books,” Rohni says. Tropes today seem to overshadow the plot itself, Vishwambhari explains. When one speaks about Pride and Prejudice, the discussion is about the character development and the themes, rather than the fact that it is an enemies to lovers story.

The format of short-form content that lists out certain tropes, before telling the audience which books ticks off all those boxes, has been increasingly popular. “You can go into a book knowing what you’re getting into. They like the comfort of predictable tropes and archetypes,” Vishwambhari explains. 

This ‘tropefication’ makes it easier to churn out new books. Manpreet, better known as ‘The Indian Booktuber’ online, believes that many of the new wave of books that are being published have shown a decrease in editorial merit. This is in a bid to publish faster, to cater to trends. “I even came across grammatical and factual errors,” she says. All that is alleged against fast fashion can now be said of the publishing industry too. 

Conclusion 

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, plans to publish their own electronic and print books through its publishing imprint, 8th Note Press. This is a confirmation of the profits that these “booktok” books bring in. Besides, the Tiktok marketplace itself has partnered with HarperCollins UK, WH Smith, Bloomsbury, amongst others, to sell books on the platform. “There is this need to participate, to consume,” notes Vishwambhari. 

The increasing commercialization of platforms like Tiktok and Instagram is concerning, albeit expected. But if this is seeping into our literature itself, has it gone too far?