How TikTok Gave Colleen Hoover and her Novels a Resurgence

With a backlist of implicit a twelve novels and novellas, Colleen Hoover isn’t a caller author. Since publishing her archetypal caller successful 2012, the romance writer has earned the loving nickname of CoHo and has worked to cultivate a immense pursuing of devoted fans. She started a Facebook radical successful 2016 called Colleen Hoover’s CoHorts that is inactive progressive contiguous with implicit 130,000 members gushing astir her work. Other groups person sprung up dedicated to talking astir her idiosyncratic novels, similar this one for Verity with implicit 30,000 members. Hoover is the 2nd astir followed writer connected Goodreads.

Since TikTok’s emergence into the literate scene, she’s been dubbed the “Queen of BookTok,” accumulating implicit 800,000 followers and hundreds of videos nether the hashtag #colleenhoover. According to Hoover’s steadfast Atria, her astir fashionable books connected TikTok person spent a combined 151 weeks connected The New York Times bestseller list. Novels similar It Ends with Us published successful 2016 were backmost connected the database successful 2022 with staying power. What astir Hoover and her books has resonated truthful overmuch with TikTok?

Her TikTok Content

It doesn’t instrumentality agelong to spot wherefore Hoover is truthful engaging connected her TikTok. Videos with her ma and household and the realities of authorhood springiness viewers a glimpse into who she truly is. She posts updates astir her books of course, glimpses of a caller manuscript, and announcements astir merchandise dates on with duets with readers sobbing astatine the extremity of her affectional rollercoaster books. But she besides posts videos of her “hot mess” life, posting adjacent erstwhile her mic cuts out oregon erstwhile she forgets her rodent and keyboard connected a penning getaway eighty miles from home. 

Her readers station astir how affectional her books are, however casual to marathon they are. Videos speech astir the wild crippled twists, the emotional whiplash, the hype of Hoover’s books. Those successful the cognize grounds radical they spot retired successful public, speechmaking the past fewer pages oregon immoderate large crippled twist. Readers instrumentality restitution successful going done the aforesaid affectional turmoil and support coming backmost for more.

Her Pre-TikTok Social Media

To find retired wherefore Hoover and her novels resonate with TikTok, I wanted to look astatine her different societal media from earlier the timepiece app was created. Her Instagram before 2020 is afloat of giveaways for her novels, glimpses into her penning life, and posts astir her idiosyncratic life. Pictures of over-melted food successful her microwave are bracketed by pictures promoting her caller Layla. Pictures of her ma and kiddos, fancy promotional layouts, and besides a representation of a burnt pizza capable up her grid.

Her Twitter pre-TikTok years features akin content: giveaways, idiosyncratic posts, and a peek into the writer life. Her posts are often sarcastic, humor-filled, and don’t instrumentality themselves excessively seriously.

Really, comparing her contented earlier TikTok to now, her contented hasn’t overmuch changed. She seemingly has ever posted astir her beingness of chaos, her books, and interacted with her fans. TikTok is conscionable different level for the contented she posts.

Why TikTok?

So, wherefore did TikTok springiness Colleen Hoover’s books a 2nd life? Well, first, the assemblage of TikTok is uniquely suited for Hoover’s people assemblage with 60% successful the 16 – 24 property range. On apical of that, 60% are female, which is the primary assemblage for romance novels. With her characters often young adults, it’s casual to spot wherefore TikTok is simply a cleanable level for her novels.

But I deliberation it’s a small deeper than that. Hundreds of authors constitute for that assemblage successful the romance genre and don’t resonate astir arsenic overmuch arsenic Hoover and her novels do. This is wherever authenticity and emotionality travel in.

TikTok seems to value authenticity much than astir different societal media platforms. Rather than the polished, cleanable beingness of Instagram influencers oregon the sarcastic and often regurgitated contented connected Twitter, creators often travel to TikTok make-up escaped (or astatine slightest appearing make-up free) and sharing their real-life struggles. Authenticity, oregon the guise of it, resonates with the audience. A survey revealed 64% of TikTok users said they tin beryllium their “true selves” connected the app, posting contented they wouldn’t anyplace else, and 77% saying they tin explicit themselves openly.

It’s hard to accidental whether it’s a substance of timing, the app’s popularity skyrocketing during aboriginal successful the pandemic, oregon if it’s a substance of tastes shifting arsenic Gen Z and their preference for “sincerity” engages much and much with societal media. But the inclination is clear: TikTokers privation messiness and earthy emotions.

Romance novels, with each of their in-your-face emotions and earnestness, person recovered a immense assemblage connected the app due to the fact that of this trend. Readers often absorption connected the emotions books marque them feel, compiling lists afloat of books that made them disfigured outcry oregon ones with affectional gut punches. TikTok doesn’t attraction overmuch for the newness oregon expected creator worth of novels, but however it feels to work them, often promoting novels from years ago. It is much astir if a caller is fun, if it makes them consciousness something, alternatively than however astute it makes you consciousness to work them. Young adult, fantasy, and romance are amongst the astir fashionable genres connected the BookTok community.

So, erstwhile Hoover posts videos of her messy life, their popularity makes sense. With the for-you leafage operation of the app and the velocity astatine which users provender the TikTok algorithm precisely what they like, it’s a uniquely cleanable situation to bring Hoover and her novels to the attraction of much and much radical than before.

The emotionally analyzable romances she writes and the writer herself springiness disconnected a consciousness of authenticity which is precisely wherefore I deliberation they resonate truthful overmuch connected the app.