When books knock on TikTok’s door

Are books and literature on the TikTok page? A handful of Quebec authors, readers and bloggers have indeed started to make room for them on this social network very popular with young people. A digital field, with its specific codes and audience, which still remains largely to be cleared.

Sylvain Sarrazin
Press

The TikTok formula is short videos embellished with musical extracts, tinged with humor, lip synchronization (lip sync) or little humor tickets. A recipe that hits the mark, since it is the social network that has experienced the strongest growth in 2021, exceeding one billion users, and that it is popular with young people.

Have the books here found their way there, in this format and with this tone? Timidly, a few figures have laid the groundwork. And, quite logically, children’s authors are its pioneers, sometimes finding a good echo, like the cartoonist Elise Gravel (with some 18,400 subscribers) – who sketches drawings, responds to challenges or probes her audience -, l author of romantic literature Marie Potvin or Carine Paquin, who is approaching 15,000 subscribers.

The latter, who was looking to keep in touch with her young readership during the pandemic, quickly found that her own daughters liked to browse TikTok. She opened an account there, after having carefully analyzed its workings. Since then, seduced by the interactions and responsiveness on the platform, she has favored it to the detriment of Facebook or YouTube.

“I wanted to stay connected with the kids to keep getting their ideas, asking them questions, but also encouraging them to keep reading and – it’s a bit of a paradox! – leave their screen ”, explains Carine Paquin, who has signed more than forty children’s books. On TikTok, the author follows the codes of the network and challenges her readers, launches contests to win books, mimics characters from her series or narrates anecdotes. His TikTok subscribers even voted the cover of his next book, the 6^e volume from the Ella series !

“I studied my business well before I started. I take up trends in the network in my own way so that in the end, it talks about literature, ”launches the one who has taken the bet to devote several hours a week to it. It is also a challenge for the authors: “It takes us out of our comfort zone, not everyone is comfortable in front of a camera. But there are ways to be creative. ”

Carine Paquin thus sees a dynamic community forming.

On the other hand, Quebec authors of books for adults are still absent subscribers on the platform. Do they have their place? “For adults, it depends on the audience targeted by the edition or the work. In some cases, such as parents, Indigenous people or human rights and LGBTQ activists, it can be a relevant showcase. But in many others, it is better to target other platforms, ”suggests Nellie Brière, digital communications strategist, who knows TikTok very well. For Carine Paquin, who is observing more and more adults investing in the network, it is only a matter of time before they too take their place.

Booktok arrives in Quebec

Literature is also heard on TikTok with a community of Letters enthusiasts. Called Booktok, this flourishing movement in the English-speaking world and in France is slowly taking off in Quebec, relying on a few pioneers. We thus find the bloggers of Books and Cappuccino, of Sophie Lit, but especially of Litterarum, which has captured the attention of more than 31,000 subscribers on this network. Usually very active on Instagram and YouTube, they have had to adapt and decline their TikTok style.

“It’s a bit more difficult than with long formats like YouTube, because I’m going to need to hook young people up very quickly on TikTok. If I present my last literary purchases, I will have to do it with more enthusiasm, by showing more books. We will be more in the feeling, the summary of what is catchy, what is original in the story “, explains Anne Larouche, blogger and” booktubeuse “of 17 years behind Litterarum.

Although part of her YouTube audience followed her on her TikTok adventure, she discovered a different kind of audience, very responsive.

The young woman also predicts that the Booktok movement, flourishing in France, will soon flourish in Quebec, and that adult literature will eventually join the network; two delay mechanisms already observed in the past on other platforms.

TikTok, is anyone there?

For the moment, only a few authors and enthusiasts breathe a literary air into the platform. Libraries, bookstores, successful authors or Quebec publishers have not yet really followed suit, or in a very timid way: the youth bookstore Le landmark, in Granby, Québec Loisirs and the Michel Quintin editions have tried it for the time some videos, just like the Montreal Book Fair, which tried to launch a challenge (# 1Toune1Livre) on the network. If the Renaud-Bray and Archambault chains do not have an official account, they at least establish the charts of the most popular books on TikTok. Only Les Malins editions are doing well, with more than 1,200 subscribers.

For Nellie Brière, this low commitment is hardly surprising, because most of these institutions have few human, financial and time resources to devote to ever-increasing platforms. “Especially since TikTok is the most complicated, if we exclude Snapchat: publishing requires technical skills in content creation that these organizations do not necessarily have,” she underlines, not to mention the respect for the tone and codes specific to TikTok , at the risk of making potato. “This is why authors and bloggers will be more comfortable with their naturally creative side. ”

Libraries, bookstores and other bodies of the book trade would they even benefit from being there? ” Yes ! Young people are on it. In addition, it is narrative, we are already in something related with the literary, there is a way to seek interest and captivate readers ”, answers Mr.^me Brière, who would rather recommend that institutions delegate this task to influencers already established in the network and who have mastered its codes. “These formats remain relevant to accompany, complement, invite in a complex work. In short, it is a beautiful gateway, ”she concludes.