How to Diversify Your TikTok Feed
trying to fight the algorithm one book at a time
Hi all! I hope you had a wonderful week full of six star reads and adding intriguing new books to your TBR piles. Today, I want to share some strategies for helping to diversify your BookTok feed. Algorithms are racist, and TikTok is particularly algorithm-driven in terms of the content it shows you. Already, we’re seeing declines in the number of diverse books acquired by romance publishers in the past few years, at least partially driven by BookTok’s dominance in breaking new titles. I’m not claiming to have a solution here, and I think one of the best solutions is finding trusted recommendations from sources outside of BookTok like Reddit or friends or your local indie bookstore. But here are some strategies I use to try to make my BookTok feed more diverse. And please chime in with any of your thoughts about your own strategies. After all, who wouldn’t want to see more than just the same few canonical BookTok books shared with them video after video?
As I’ve discussed before, I tend to feel neutrally towards BookTok - it has its good and bad points. It’s a community of people talking passionately about books they love! It’s helping people rediscover their love of reading! There really is content for everyone if you know where to find it. But the narrowing of the scope of what could potentially be a popular romance novel and the overwhelming whiteness of popular creators is, to me, the worst thing about BookTok.
The Fight to Amplify Black Stories on BookTok by Tife Sanusi in 2022 gives a great rundown of the problem and shares quotes directly from Black creators on the platform. And this Rolling Stone article, They Criticized KKK-Themed Erotica. Readers Are Harassing Them Online, does a great job of illustrating the risks to Black creators when they speak out against racism in book publishing and on the platform.
I take a two pronged approach to building out my feed.
I follow creators of color who are sharing their own BookTok content. I’ll share a few favorites below for you to follow as well. A follow is telling the algorithm what you’d like to see in your feed. Other even more impactful ways to do this: like videos with content you enjoy, favorite videos with content you enjoy and watch the entire thing. Re-share content you enjoy. Comment on content you enjoy. Algorithms prioritize engagement. I want a variety of voices in my feed. I want to hear about why people are loving a book and why people are hating a book. What is the point of a yes, no, maybe video if everyone’s yeses, nos, and maybes are the same?
A great way to find people you’re interested in following is to search for a particular book you love and find people who are talking about it. This is also the easiest way to find creators who are talking about diverse books with regularity. Search for one of your favorite authors of color and discover (hopefully) the BookTok community that already exists around their work. One of the things that becomes immediately apparent on BookTok when you start using the search functionality is that there is SO MUCH MORE HAPPENING than you are getting served in your particular FYP.
In order to help you along here (or just to spotlight some really excellent content if you’re not on BookTok), I’ve made a list of some of my favorite creators and authors on BookTok that might not be coming across your feed. This is BY NO MEANS exhaustive - if you have a favorite you don’t see here, please share in the comments!
BookTok Creators to Diversify Your Feed
@sorryimalwaysbooked: Tania gives great recs, has absolutely beautiful bookshelves, and reads across genres.
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Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser@bookfluenced: hilarious, famously bought 7,000 books once, great romance recs:
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@shawnacischroeder: describes herself as your fav comfort influencer (sign me up). Great at spotlighting Black indie authors! An incredible resource for unique recs:
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Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser@britandherbooks - frankly, a legend. If you’ve spent any time of BookTok at all, you might have seen one of Brit’s iconic whiteboard videos breaking down tropes. Her “types of people I don’t want book recs from” series is iconic:
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@lost_inabook35: More excellent romance recs from Denae. If you tend to like BookTok romances, you’ll like her taste!
@alycesfantasylibrary: a dark romance and fantasy lover with a focus on indie authors:
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@irenes_reads: A genius at coming up with new prompts for videos (very important BookTok skill):
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@vinopapi23: Never forget my guy Smitty, who gives the best scifi/fantasy recs:
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Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser@jolie_reads: You’re probably already following her (407,000 people are), but if not, what are you waiting for?
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@nina.haines: a creator so successful she now has her own imprint for sapphic novels:
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@baskinsuns: Sanajana posts really thoughtful commentary about politics and romance and genre:
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@rebekaheeek: author of my all time favorite sugar daddy romance, Rebekah Weatherspoon, both has books that should be bigger BookTok favs, and has her own excellent TikTok account where she talks about books and shares cultural commentary.
@therealalisharai: another romance author turned bonafide TikTok star. She’s so funny and has the cutest family.
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Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browserSome Authors to Add to Your TBR
Kristina Forest: A rising romcom star, her books are all over BookTok. Start with The Neighbor Favor.
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Tia Williams: A Love Song for Ricki Wilde was one of my favorite books of last year. I’m obsessed with Williams’ lyrical writing and lush originality. I got to see her in person last month and she was so cool and smart. Her greatest writing inspiration is Stephen King and she’s always trying to write a horror novel before it somehow turns into a romance.
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(side note, obsessed with this man? He doesn’t seem like he reviews books that often but he really should be an audiobook narrator. A creator I wouldn’t have found if not for my love of Tia Williams.)
Kennedy Ryan will rip your heart out and put it back together again.
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Nikki Payne writes clever Jane Austen retellings that I’m obsessed with.
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Tracy Deonn - if you’re a romantasy girlie, read Legendborn!
@francisdominiicTHIS IS WHY HIGHLIGHTING YOUR BLACK AND POC AUTHORS MATTERS!!!!!!!!!! SOMEONE TELLING ME THIS WASN’T A HIGHLY ANTICIPATED BOOK NEEDS TO SEE THE SOLD OUT AUDIENCE TRACY DEONN HAS AT HER OATHBOUND TOUR!!!! WE’RE IN BARNES & NOBLE HUNTINGTON BEACH!!!!! #oathbound #tracydeonn #legendbornseries #BarnesAndNobleTiktok failed to load.
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And there are so many more. Hopefully you follow a few new creators and find some new to you authors to explore.
Controversy Corner
The timing of this post conveniently aligned with a BookTok controversy that I think illustrates why it is important to elevate diverse voices in your feed. The Firebird, a hyped new romantasy novel set in ancient Rome, was chosen as the Fairyloot book of the month. It’s also about a slave and a slave master.
That should be an automatic no. Creators of color shouldn’t have to do the emotional labor of calling out this troubling dynamic and explaining why this type of book shouldn’t be written, nevertheless chosen for such a high profile placement, but I appreciate everyone who has called this one out.
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Thank you for going on this journey with me! Writing this one was a pleasure - I kept finding so many wonderful new to me creators and adding books to my TBR. I hope you do, too.
xoxo
Amazing. Thank you.
@torithatnerd for fantasy and sci-fi / @BookishByTammi for fantasy and romance (both creators have the same handle on TT and IG, and both also on YT)