Getting a feel for BookTok: Understanding affect on TikTok's bookish subculture

In this article, I reflect on young readers’ affective reader response on BookTok. The bookish subculture on TikTok is well known not only for the impact that it is having on young people’s reading habits but also for the particular affective way in which young people use the platform. I argue that BookTok not only hosts affective reader response but also generates it. I discuss this in detail by focusing on two features of the underlying dynamics of TikTok: the attention economy and the logic of imitation. These play a crucial role in shaping young readers’ practices on BookTok. I suggest that it is essential for reading promoters and educators to observe and be aware of these practices and the underlying platform logics that govern them in order to draw inspiration from BookTok. Finally, I briefly reflect on the affective practices on BookTok within the framework of “postcritical reading.”