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2 months ago
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Social media has been condemned by many for its negative effects. But one positive has been its ability to turn readers on to worthy books.
The annual TikTok Book Awards were held tonight in London, and the award for international book of the year went to Fourth Wing, a fantasy novel by U.S. author Rebecca Yarros.
The book went viral on TikTok, which helped propel it to No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list.
Yarros acknowledged the TikTok push in a video message: “It has been a wild ride, and none of it would have happened without TikTok! Huge love to the #BookTok community.”
The winners were voted for by the #BookTok community on the video-sharing app.
Readers use the platform for recommendations, and share their thoughts and opinions on trending books.
In other categories, Lisa Jewell’s None of This Is True was named book of the year. The British author’s thriller follows two young women whose chance meeting at a local pub has dark consequences.
“I genuinely can’t believe it,” she said. “I knew there was a lot of buzz and chat about my book on TikTok, but I was on an amazing shortlist, my mind is blown to be honest!”What I’ve realized is that the three books that I was the most nervous about while writing, because I thought they were too weird, too ‘out there’, too sinister, too creepy, too unconventional, were the three that have been the most popular for me on TikTok!”
The shortlist at the TikTok Book Awards was chosen by a panel of figures from the literary and media world. The winners are then selected by the #BookTok community, with 82,000 people casting their votes online.
TikTok says more than 35 million videos have been made using the hashtag “BookTok”, making the sub-community one of the biggest on the platform.
The 2024 TikTok Book Awards winners:
Book of the Year – None of This is True by Lisa Jewell
Book of the Year (International) – Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
BookTok Breakthrough Author – Talia Hibbert (@TaliaHibbert)
BookTok Creator of the Year – Maisie Matilda (@Maisie_Matilda)
BookTok Rising Star Creator – John-Paul Kunrunmi (@JPreads6)
Indie Bookshop of the Year -The Bookshop by the Sea
TikTok Shop Book of the Year – The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore
