These BookTok influencers are finding success in turning reading into a game | Canada Voices

Morgann Book has always been a book lover. With the last name Book, the 22-year-old Torontonian says reading is in the “family DNA.”

As a girl, Ms. Book would save up her allowance then head to Indigo to pick out her next read, usually whatever had the coolest cover and best synopsis on the $6 book shelf.

But now, Ms. Book said her next read is selected by TikTok.

“As much as I hate to say it, sometimes I’m not picking up a book at the bookstore if I have not seen it somewhere on social media,” she said.

Once an independent and analog experience, reading has exploded in the digital world, thanks to social-media platforms including TikTok and Goodreads. Ms. Book, who has millions of followers on TikTok, YouTube and her podcast, is one of many influencers and online creators creating digital communities around books, and finding success in the gamification of reading.

While other apps specifically created for book lovers, such as Goodreads – which dates back to 2007 – allow users to share reviews and track books with friends through challenges and goals, it is the viral nature of platforms like TikTok that created the biggest shift.

The BookTok hashtag has more than 68 million posts, where TikTok users have created a space to influence popular culture and drive book sales.

Jenna Jacobson, an associate professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University, said BookTok and Goodreads create a sense of social belonging for readers.

“These kinds of trends of certain books allow you to be part of something and I think we’re always looking for something [communal] to tap into,” Ms. Jacobson said.

Ms. Book was making viral content on TikTok decorating Dairy Queen cakes – as an employee of the fast food chain – around 2022 when she began sharing her thoughts on the books she liked to read, including young adult novels, such as The Summer I Turned Pretty, and romantasy novels – books that blend fantasy with romance.

“The book stuff really stuck. I really enjoyed doing it. It didn’t feel like a job,” she said.

Today, her TikTok account @morgannbook has 2.6 million followers. She also has 1.2 million followers on her YouTube channel, and has built a community around her book club company Bookish Media and her podcast Off the Shelf.

“Having the ability to connect in the comment section is actually a big deal to myself, and I think a lot of readers,” Ms. Book said.

There has always been communities around reading, and Ms. Jacobson says BookTok is the next iteration of the book club.

“We’ve always had maybe that one friend who was in the know, who knew which books were what,” Ms. Jacobson said.

“You’re just seeing those similar ideas translated into an online environment that then gets blown up and amplified.”

BookTok can have an enormous impact on sales, even for authors whose books came out years ago.

Sarah J. Maas, author of the popular romantasy series A Court of Thrones and Roses, first published in 2015, was the highest selling author on TikTok in 2024, according to an article in Forbes. The author sold about five million copies of her books across three series that year, crediting this success to BookTok.

Colleen Hoover’s books, second behind Ms. Maas, sold more than 1.8 million copies in 2024, while only 36,000 copies of her bestseller It Ends With Us sold when first published in 2016.

“This is really that social virality factor,” Ms. Jacobson said.

While Canadian laws limit creators from taking advantage of TikTok’s Creator Rewards Program, which would enable them to earn cash for original content, Canadian creators can earn revenue on social-media sites through subscription services, advertisement and brand deals.

The profitability of BookTok and reading challenges like Goodreads are part of what Ms. Jacobson called a “gamification” of reading. “[It’s] like how an Apple watch or a Fitbit or something like that, gamifies fitness: so you can track, you can share, you can compare. You can get external validation and social validation from your friends or family and connections,” she said.

Maddie Vaters was always a big reader, but fell off during university. That was until about 2022 when during her last year at school she took up a challenge on Goodreads to read 100 books in one year.

Around this time, the 25-year-old from Mississauga had also discovered BookTok creators on TikTok, who encouraged her to try different genres.

Ms. Vaters ended up reading 257 books in just eight months and began posting monthly wrap ups of what she was reading on TikTok. She said doing the reading challenge gave her a sense of validation.

“When you finish a book, you get to mark it off and write your rating, and then your account goes up. I found that to be very incentivizing,” she said.

Since graduating, Ms. Vaters has increased her posts on her account, @maddievaters, which has 68,700 followers on TikTok. While it’s not the equivalent of a full-time job, Ms. Vaters considers her BookTok account a successful – and enjoyable – side hustle, earning almost $15,000 this year.

“I love talking about books, and I love watching other people talk about books,” she said.

Tina Li also discovered BookTok in 2022. Having always been a reader, Ms. Li liked the niche community and creators she followed, and began posting herself.

The 21-year-old student in Calgary posts short recommendations and reviews, usually about classics in a whimsical aesthetic, on her TikTok account, @ttinaleie which has 54,400 followers.

Ms. Li said she enjoys having the platform to “voice out your opinions,” and a form of sharing what she loves.

She has been able to make her account profitable, whether through free books or monetary compensation.

But for many BookTokers like Ms. Li, the real joy has more to do with the community they’ve created. Ms. Li has also created a community through her different profiles, including a Taylor-Swift-themed book club she runs on a separate account on the app Fable.

“We talk every day on Discord, so it’s really fun, and I love when people will comment on my videos saying they love them,” Ms. Li said.

Ms. Vaters said she’s made book-lover friends outside of BookTok and hopes to have her own book club where she could interact with more followers outside the apps.

Along with bolstering her own confidence and creating a network of friends among other local content creators, Ms. Book is actively working on expanding her career through her media company, and is even working on productions for book-to-screen adaptations.

“I’m very happy where I am right now. I mean, I get paid to read books,” she said. “It’s my dream.”