By skyforbes 
The rise of BookTok and what educators can learn from it.
From 2009 to 2024, the massive book seller Barnes and Noble had a problem. With competition from Amazon and a declining customer base, the company was looking at bankruptcy. They shuttered hundreds of stores and were about ready to throw in the towel.
In an interview with PBS, the CEO of Barnes and Noble, James Daunt, recalls, “[T]he business was a public company. It was sold really pretty much for the value of the books that were sitting on its shelves. So that’s not a really very good sign of health.”
At the beginning of 2025, Barnes and Noble announced a turnaround. Instead of closing more brick-and-mortar locations, the company would open sixty more stores nationwide.
While there are many reasons for this turnaround, including good leadership and a different marketing approach, TikTok’s impact on saving the company cannot be understated.
What is “BookTok?”
Imagine you’re doomscrolling through your chosen short-form video app of choice, be it Reels, Shorts, or TikTok, and you stumble across a BookTok video.
A young, probably white woman in her twenties is sitting in an oversized chair, with large glasses on her face, nestled into a room…