BookTok Ban? Best Practices for Authors

TikTok leveled the playing field between Indie and Trad Authors, providing a content-first (rather than creator first) algorithm that fed readers their ideal books with much less industry influence. Sure, publishers might have had bigger budgets to spend on ads and paid promotion, but the chance of a self-published book going viral organically was just as likely as a book published by one of the Big 5. In many instances, self-published and small press authors could adapt to market trends more quickly, giving them an advantage.

As of Jan. 15, 2025 TikTok is scheduled to be banned in the United States in 4 days. With pending Supreme Court opinions and legislation, January 19 might come and go without anything changing, but authors, especially self-published authors, can prepare.

Here are some tips and best practices:

Chronicle what you learned

Take note of your best performing content for compelling marketing hooks and visuals. Log in to your account on a desktop and navigate to your Analytics (hover over upper right small profile picture and click Creator Tools -> View Analytics). 

Under the Content Tab, you can see your Top Content organized by Most Views, Most new viewers, most likes, and New followers. You can easily download this data with the button in the upper right corner. 

In the Viewer tab, you can see your audience demographics. I suggest paying attention to the “Posts your viewers also viewed” to gain more insight into what your ideal readers care about.

Download your content

I personally will be downloading every post I ever made on TikTok. Conveniently, TikTok now allows users to download already posted videos without watermarks. On a specific video, click the three dots in the bottom right corner and click “Save Video.” At minimum, save your Top Content. Be sure to copy your captions and hashtags as well. 

Diversify your platforms

Establish yourself on alternative platforms. Bookstagram and Booktube were around long before BookTok. Clean up your accounts and create visually compelling places for your readers to find you. Pin important content to the top of your profiles so that the most important information (your book covers, marketing hooks, when and where to buy) is immediately visible.

Repost your well-performing content, but be sure to re-add the same text within the native editor of that platform. You can pull it off-screen so that it isn’t visually distracting, but it is important to add because the algorithm will pull keywords from the added text to determine what audience should see the post. Same things with captions and hashtags. If you use phrases like  “Enemies to Lovers Romantasy,” the algorithm will show your content to viewers who are interested in those things. 

If you are using Instagram, consider using the generate captions option to help you with this as well when you are verbally speaking about your books.

Mobilize your readers

TELL your community where they can find you. This isn’t the time to worry about over sharing. Post everywhere and often.

ASK your readers to spread the word. The most powerful form of marketing is word-of-mouth, but your fans wont know how to help you unless you tell them.

INCENTIVIZE them. This is a great time for a giveaway! 

If you haven’t already, consider starting a fan-oriented Facebook Group, Instagram Broadcast Channel, or Discord so that you can communicate directly with your biggest supporters.

Collaborate with the community

Utilize collaborative posts on Instagram and newsletter swaps. Co-host lives with each other and bookish content creators. This will widen everyone’s reach and give you all a better chance of steady growth. While organic virality on your own might be less-likely, working together gives us all a better reach,

Consider working with a PR/Marketing company who is already connected with your ideal audience so that they can bridge the gap and advocate for you. At The Nerd Fam, we are closely monitoring the potential ban. Stay tuned for specifics as the situation changes daily.

We have created a free to use and free to join database of bookish content creators where you can find social media links. Check it out!

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