Books on BookTok: spring forecast on BookTok
This week, as the weather in the UK became warmer, BookTok creators considered the extent to which content on the platform is affected by the seasonal changes.
The creators agreed “a lot” of content on BookTok is influenced by the seasons. John-Paul (@jpreads6; 20,900 followers) believes that a “sense of community comes from shifting your reading patterns” alongside others on BookTok. He also noted that following seasonal trends makes it “easier to go viral”. Suraka (@surakajanebooks; 16,800 followers) agreed: “Creators love leaning into the seasonal aesthetic content, which definitely helps drive the kind of books that trend on the app.”
Both John-Paul and Emily (@emilymiahreads; 89,000 followers) noted that many people are “mood readers”, therefore what they read and post about on TikTok is affected by the change in weather. Brittany (@whatbritreads; 58,400 followers) explained: “As the days get brighter and longer, people’s moods tend to lift a little bit. We have a lot of people going on summer holidays or taking time off work to enjoy being outside and reading more, so there is a lot of summery, bright reading content which is nice.”
Sanziana-Dana (@sanzireads; 3,334 followers) believes the summer months “definitely impact BookTok’s content – everything from the aesthetics to the books people read”. She continued: “BookTok often seems to mirror people’s lifestyles in a given season and now we’ll see plenty of content highlighting summer living.” Busayo (@compulsivebookbuyers; 27,100 followers) added: "Booktok always pivots to much lighter reads in the summer time, romance reads start to boom from as early as April and follow on all the way into August. As the weather gets brighter, people want to read happier things that’ll help them escape."
For Evie (@eviemaddonli; 3,864 followers), the shift from winter to spring is characterised by a move “away from dark academia, heavy fantasy and dark classics” and toward “lighter reads such as romance books, mythological retellings and easy-to-follow thrillers”. The “change in taste” influences “the content we see on BookTok as readers share reviews, TBR videos and reading wrap ups”. Brittany agreed that “people ease away from cold and dark books to something easy and light to read in the sun”. Suraka added: “When the sun comes out, I think BookTok starts shifting into more beach reads and lighter romance recommendations.”
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One way to track the change on BookTok is the increase of videos mentioning “summer romance books”, said John-Paul, Brittany and Emily. Evie believes the warmer weather results in a “spike in BookTok activity, especially as some readers will have a break from academic studies and more time to read for enjoyment” and “people may be more inclined to spend time outdoors reading”. The “increase in feel-good content” is a hallmark of content on BookTok during this time, noted Brittany. “Lots of aesthetic reading videos outside in the sunshine and people generally feeling a lot happier, which comes across in their videos… Iced coffees and book shopping dates galore.” Sanziana-Dana anticipates “colourful book covers all round”.
Ali Hazelwood’s Problematic Summer Romance (Little, Brown), publishing on 27th May, will be one of the big books of the summer, according to the creators. Other nods in romance went to Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Atmosphere (Cornerstone), set for release in June, and “plenty of cowboy romances” said Sanziana-Dana, including Emma Lucy’s Live, Ranch, Love (HarperCollins), publishing on 22nd May, and Dilan Dyer’s July title, The Brave and the Reckless (Penguin).
In historical fiction and fantasy, Evie highlighted Elodie Harper’s Boudicca’s Daughter (Bloomsbury), publishing in August; VE Schwab’s fantasy Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil (Tor), due for release in June; and RF Kuang’s upcoming fantasy academia novel, Katabasis (HarperVoyager), also publishing in August. “All three authors are already well established [on BookTok] and extremely accomplished,” she explained. “As well as attracting new readers, their upcoming releases will be read by their devout fans.”
Suraka believes Rachel Gillig’s The Knight and the Moth (Orbit) “will blow up” on BookTok. She added: “I’m currently reading the ARC and I’d usually peg this as an autumnal book with the atmospheric Gothic tones, but it’s going to go down so well with my Gothic fantasy lovers that they’re not going to care it’s summer.” Gillig’s romantasy will publish on 20th May.
John-Paul believes Akwaeke Emezi’s YA fantasy Somadina (Faber) and William Rayfet Hunter’s debut Sunstruck (Cornerstone), publishing on 15th May, will also be big books this summer. Brittany’s vote also went to Brigitte Knightley’s romantasy, The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy (Little, Brown), and Fredrik Backman’s My Friends (Simon & Schuster), publishing on 19th June.
