This guide tells you how to capitalize on the popularity of the #BookTok TikTok community to sell spicy BookTok books.
Who is this post about spicy BookTok books for?
Is this post for adult TikTok readers or adult TikTok authors?
This post is for authors who want to know how they can promote their books on the most popular social media site, TikTok, for free.
In contrast to other social media sites, TikTok is the only platform that matters (Source).
Here’s the deal…
TikTok’s audience base of one billion users is only part of the picture.
TikTok has such potential that other social media sites like Instagram and YouTube are not only trying to compete with TikTok, they are trying to be TikTok. Examples include the short video formats Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
Although this post is geared toward authors of mature content, spicy BookTok books, any author can benefit from these TikTok marketing strategies.
By reading this post, you will discover how to sell your spicy BookTok books on TikTok. You will also learn effective strategies to market any book on TikTok and other social media sites.
In fact, Young Adult authors are seeing a tremendous boost to the success of their book marketing campaigns when they market on TikTok (Source).
Also, the Guardian reports teenage influencers are successfully marketing books on TikTok.
You will be able to see examples of videos of authors who use the power of video on both TikTok and YouTube to market their books. Last, you will discover what the BookTok community on TikTok is all about so you can participate in the group’s marketing power.
The best part: You don’t even need a marketing budget since most of these strategies are free.
One of the advantages of TikTok is its powerful marketing potential. Marketers are actually writing original songs and posting them solely on TikTok in order to promote their brands.
Let’s discover how to exploit TikTok’s vast marketing potential to sell spicy BookTok books in the romance niche and other books in other literary niches.
What are Spicy BookTok Books?
BookTok is a social media trend where people post short book review videos on TikTok.
The #booktok hashtag has generated an impressive 69 billion views on the platform to date.
And the trend has already helped several books (and authors) climb to the top of the Amazon charts.
The trend has become so influential that it is often described as the “world’s largest book club.” In fact, Barnes & Noble now curates a list of TikTok-famous books (Source).
#SpicyTok is a hashtag used on TikTok to refer to books that are romance novels.
How to Market Spicy BookTok Books on TikTok
Use Humor
YouTube’s Erica Chin explains that comedy videos perform especially well on TikTok. Therefore, if you can share reviews of your spicy BookTok books in a humorous way, you will stand a better chance of beating the competition on TikTok.
The @aymansbooks TikTok account uses humor to generate interest in her books.
Look:
Warning: This video contains profanity.
Use Creativity
If you are an author, regardless of whether you sell spicy BookTok books, I recommend you follow @beautifullybookishBethany on YouTube.
Bethany shows how to sell books and how not to sell books but still make TikTok videos in your niche.
In this video, Bethany teaches you creative transitions between books you want to sell or review.
More about Bethany’s book marketing talents later.
Use Variety
Marketers that come across as spammy don’t make sales.
The trend for the last three years has been toward subtlety.
How can you be a subtle marketer? Is that a contradiction in terms?
No!
The way to be a successful TikTok marketer is to avoid making videos that attempt to sell your spicy TikTok books all the time.
Intersperse your marketing videos with other types of videos that are still in the BookTok niche.
In this video, Bethany discusses ”green flags.” According to the Reddit Book subreddit, a green flag makes you want to pick up a book and read it.
In other videos, she reads portions of her book. This engages readers and turns them into customers.
If you engage readers enough, they will also share your TikTok videos. This boosts your exposure.
Sharing also tells the TikTok algorithm to show your videos advertising your spicy BookTok books to more people.
Your raving fans may even download your TikTok videos for offline viewing.
Use TikTok Trends
Many of the Instagram audio and TikTok audio trends are the same.
Romance is hot on TikTok, according to my research, so your spicy TikTok books should find an audience.
Music is also wildly popular on TikTok.
Here is how to find popular songs:
Using the TikTok app, click the search bar. Type Popular TikTok Songs.
This TikTok BookTok video uses music. Here you will find more information about TikTok MP3, the audio portion of TikTok videos.
Important note about the content of your spicy TikTok books:
You can choose who can see their TikTok videos, so if the content is spicy, not everyone will see it.
More about how to stop young readers from finding your spicy BookTok books later.
Use Linktree
Optimize your profile with a live link to purchase your books.
You can use a Linktree link to combine many links together.
Are you familiar with Linktree?
One link can take interested readers to all your books.
TikTok allows one live link in your bio. Why not make it a Linktree link?
There is nothing to lose since Linktree is a free service.
Use Bitly
Bitly is a link shortener.
Selling spicy BookTok books is a form of social media marketing since TikTok is a social media site.
When I market on Instagram, I use a special Bitly link I made just for Instagram.
The link proves that my Instagram marketing strategies are succeeding.
Why not make a unique Bitly link for TikTok?
Bitly’s data gives you social media analytics you can use to make future marketing decisions.
Use Ads
When you pay to play, social media sites boost your visibility so your content gets seen by more people. TikTok is no exception.
Let me offer some convincing data on the power of TikTok marketing: In 2021, 45% of brands paid for TikTok advertising (Source).
Future Plans for Marketing Spicy BookTok Books
Promote the TikTok videos for your spicy TikTok books everywhere using relevant hashtags.
Relevant hashtags for authors include:
- #authorsoftiktok
- #authortok
- #writertok
- #writersoftiktok
- #whatsyourfavoritebook
- #romancenovels
On TikTok, use the above hashtags to find authors of spicy BookTok books.
Other hashtags you can search on TikTok include
- #bookmarketing
- #bookmarketingtips
- #publishingabook
- #writingabook
- #authormarketing
- #sellmorebooks
Follow their accounts and discover their successful strategies for marketing books on TikTok. Some authors are making a killing. Learn their methods by watching their TikTok videos.
TikTok hashtags have become active communities where people with similar interests interact with one another.
What if you write books in the future that don’t qualify as spicy BookTok books?
No problem!
Start a second TikTok account.
What if you write a Young Adult (YA) book and you don’t want your new young fan base to find your spicy BokTok books?
No problem!
You can choose to see who sees your spicy BookTok books on TikTok. Just choose your more mature adult fans, family members, friends, or co-authors. In other words, you can manually choose to select who sees your spicy BookTok books.
What is Spicy Booktok?
#SpicyBooktok is a hashtag used on TikTok. The hashtag is used to tag content that falls in the romance novel genre.
Wrapping Up: How to Market Spicy BookTok Books
In closing, by reading this post, you discovered how to sell spicy BookTok books on TikTok. Use this guide as an action plan.
Also, you learned effective strategies to market any book on TikTok and other social media sites. In addition, you got exposure to the TikTok #BookTok community and learned promotional techniques to market your books. You also saw reviews of authors to follow.
Readers, please share so authors find this guide to marketing spicy BookTok books and other books on TikTok.
I look forward to your views in the comments section. Have you tried marketing a book on TikTok? What are your experiences?
Related Reading
You can also market your spicy BookTok books and books in other genres on Goodreads. Here you will discover how to promote a book on Goodreads.
Source of hashtags:
What’s Up with the TikTok Talk?
Janice Wald is the founder of MostlyBlogging.com and co-founder of the Mostly Blogging Academy. She is an ebook author, blogger, blogging coach, blogging judge, freelance writer, and speaker. She won the Best Internet Marketer Award and the Best Blogger Award at the 2021 Infinity Blog Awards. Wald was also nominated as 2019 Best Internet Marketer by the Infinity Blog Awards and in 2017 as the Most Informative Blogger by the London Bloggers Bash. She’s been featured on Small Business Trends, the Huffington Post, and Lifehack.
