the TikTok book club

Last year I had one of the best work pitches I’ve ever received drop into my inbox.

Spurred by the success of #BookTok, TikTok reached out to suggest I head up their official Book Club along with 4 other Laureates. We would individually create content about the month’s book before congregating for a live to discuss it together.

The purpose of the club was to unite the #BookTok community and give publishers a platform to showcase the books they were most excited by. We read an eclectic selection of books over our 5 completed cycles, encompassing classics, modern romance, literary fiction and books already popular on the platform. The books were:

Persuasion by Jane Austen, Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola, Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo, Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng and If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

(click the images for links to the content)

The format evolved and became more streamlined as we went so by the later cycles, we had a specific discussion leader and a tight hour of book chat. Audience-wise it’s difficult to amalgamate all of the numbers for our content but it would certainly be into the millions of views across our 5 accounts, all collected together in a Book Club hub in the TikTok app, while our LIVE viewing audience peaked at 1200 people during the final cycle.

Having a little structure to the discussions worked well while giving hosting responsibility to one person each time meant that they could change the prompts to suit the book and improve the discussion. Then we had enough space and time for the conversation to evolve naturally which made for a lively and fun atmosphere.

This was a new initiative and it came together really quickly. I’m certain that with more runway to plan and more time for the audience to digest the monthly pick, the value of the club to a book and its publisher would be even greater.

A couple of months after the end of the first Book Club cycles I’m still receiving messages about whether we’re coming back or not! The format clearly resonates and if you want to do something similar then get in touch.