An Inside Look at TikTok’s First Ever ‘Booktok Book Fair’ in Los Angeles with Harper Collins
If you were a kid in the 90s, you remember the Scholastic Book Fairs as one of the best school days of the year (also those tissue paper-thin catalogs!). So when I got an email from TikTok inviting me to attend the first ever Booktok Book Fair in LA with Harper Collins, my first reaction was, “Wait, is this real?” And my second was, “Heck YES!” But my third was, “Wait, it’s TOMORROW?!”
I immediately started looking for flights. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, saying yes to unexpected opportunities has a way of opening up incredible doors and connecting you with amazing people. Yes, it was last minute, but one of my friends from Booktok told me I could crash at her place and offered to drive, so I figured the exorbitant last minute plane ticket could be worth it and I could make a bookish weekend of it in LA with book friends. So was it worth it?
Absolutely yes. I had such a fun time at this event, got to catch up with friends I’d never met in person, or had only seen briefly at book conferences in the past. We also had the chance to chat with authors and hear from TikTok Shop about their plans for the Booktok community including giving creators more opportunities to monetize (Booktokers, Bookstagrammers, and BookTubers do A LOT of free labor because we’re all passionate nerds, but for those of us wanting to make it our full time gig it’s often an unrealized dream—more on that below). Attendees were also super spoiled with amazing tea and coffee from TikTok Shop, and books to be signed by the attending authors (they seriously knew their audience)! Let me tell you more…
Early the morning of the event, I found myself scrunched into a middle seat (obviously), but not the end of the world for a 50 minute flight. After chugging my ginger ale (isn’t this what everyone drinks when they fly?), I hopped off the plane in Burbank and my friend Sarah picked me up and whisked me off to NeueHouse members club on Sunset, where we parked and saw some fellow nerds, so knew we were in the right place. Shoutout to the caterers who immediately gave us delicious raspberry mocktails upon entering the haven of AC (it was almost 100 degrees in LA).
Naturally, if you put a bunch of creators in a room, and we’re going to film everything, so the first hour or so we filmed and mingled and ate amazing canapes. We even managed to film a cute, cheesy TikTok showcasing some of the books available.
The venue was beautiful. And my friend Izzy snagged the front row for the panels portion, so we had the perfect view of the authors! They had a fantasy-focused panel to start with Victoria Aveyard, Tahereh Mafi, and Analeigh Sbrana, as well as a contemporary panel including Alex Aster (yes, we did receive ARCs of her upcoming contemporary romance!). The panels were rounded out with a TikTok Shop and creator panel where they shared more about upcoming opportunities for bookish creators—and yes, I have lots of thoughts below on that!
We had plenty of time after the panels to mingle, eat, and chat with the authors while they signed our books. Every single author was so generous with their time, and it was so nice to not feel rushed—we actually had the opportunity have real conversations with them. Have you ever wondered what places in the world inspire authors to write the most? I decided to ask them about their literary adventures and here’s what they had to say:
Now comes the low down: TikTok Shop is going to be focusing heavily on booktok and books in the future. It’s no shocker as Booktok is one of the largest communities on TikTok, with the hashtag boasting 34.1 million posts (as of the writing of this post). It’s also proved to be a juggernaut in the bookish space in terms of impacting actual sales of books since its inception in 2020. As a booktoker of almost four years, it was heartening to hear they’ve created a specific team at TikTok Shop dedicated to books. However, there are some caveats.
Being a TikTok affiliate as a creator has worked well for many, garnering them thousands of dollars a month in affiliate revenue. But for many, it feels like it leads to suppressed views, and lower engagement. The book community in general also doesn’t treat its ‘influencers’ quite the same as other niches like beauty, and travel, and home living. It’s often frowned upon to make money from your posts, and adecdotally, I’ve seen in comment sections that many people don’t think bookish creators should be paid at all. However, book creators spend significantly MORE time than other niches to create content, including the many hours it takes to read and review a book, film and edit content.
So how do you feel about bookish creators getting paid for content? I do think reviews are a bit different than promoting a book (and to keep integrity in place, reviews specifically should not be paid for by authors). However, TikTok Shop is a bit different. For example, if you could include a TikTok Shop link to videos where you’re mentioning that book (in the often fun, and silly content we see on booktok), it feels like a great way to connect readers directly to the book being mentioned. Ultimately, TikTok doesn’t want any of us leaving the app ever, so this move makes sense from a business standpoint. And while I’m cautious of Booktok turning into an infomercial, I do think it would be amazing for creators to be rewarded for their impact on the books they’re responsible for bringing to readers’ lives. It’s definitely a delicate balance, but I’m excited to see what’s in store for TikTok Shop and Booktok (audio and ebooks were hinted at).
I tested out adding the TikTok affiliate books of the authors we met at the event to my recap videos, and definitely saw an immediate dip in views. So there’s that…
P.S. Shameless plug to any booktok creators looking for affiliate opportunities on TikTok Shop: I have an open affiliate plan on my TikTok Shop for my own small bookish business, Valor & Lore, so anyone can add my little literary luxury items to their Showcase and earn a commission on any sales. And I would love to see genuine bookish creators enjoy my general and officially licensed book merch.
I hope TikTok will plan on doing more of these types of events in the future, as it was super fun, and informative. Many thanks to TikTok Shop for the invite (no, this was unfortunately not sponsored this time), and Harper Collins for the gorgeous books being added to my shelves!