TikTok is not the first online platform to alter the publishing landscape. For years Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (now X) have allowed authors to connect with readers. However, TikTok functions slightly differently. One way to think about BookTok is as a book club for the internet age. Just as stars like Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama can cause copies to fly off bookstore shelves by updating their lists of recommended reads, BookTok does something similar. However, the tastemakers are not usually celebrities but attractive #bookgirlies doing #readingchallenges, often in artfully lit bedrooms. In many ways BookTok has become a new artistic genre, where emoting about characters and plots is glorified.