Latest news with #BookTokers
NBC News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Accusations of plagiarism, AI use and author bullying: 'BookTok' rocked by recent scandals
A scandal over allegations of plagiarism is rocking the book community on TikTok, becoming the latest drama to unfold in a pocket of the internet that was once considered a safer space from online toxicity. 'Beverly,' a romance novel by indie author Laura J. Robert, had picked up recent buzz on the social media platform, where readers and authors often discuss the latest titles and give recommendations. But several creators removed their videos praising Robert's book after allegations emerged that it was a rip-off of the indie author R.J. Lewis' 'Obsessed,' which was published in 2016. Both books have plots that follow a lead female character and her romance with her childhood friend. Some people posted excerpts of Lewis' words juxtaposed with Robert's, identifying what they described as similarities. Others accused Robert of using artificial intelligence to tweak and lengthen Lewis' book to create her own version. A handful of people speculated the authors could be the same person — because Robert's initials are Lewis' initials backward — and that the controversy could all be a PR stunt. NBC News was unable to reach Robert on Friday. Lewis declined to comment further. On BookTok, some have cited the somewhat niche controversy as yet another example of the community's shift away from lighthearted content around new releases. 'Does anyone miss just having a silly, goofy, fun time, having a bit of a laugh?' Lola Oluremi, a BookTok creator, said in a recent video discussing 'Beverly' and 'Obsessed.' 'I feel like every time I log onto BookTok now, it's something.' The online space, which has been credited for inspiring a fresh wave of interest in literature, hasn't been devoid of drama in the past. But this month, the 'Beverly' accusations followed two other separate situations that had caused some division among BookTokers online. Author Ali Hazelwood, who is behind popular novels such as 'The Love Hypothesis,' left Instagram purportedly after she was 'bullied' for a comment she made during a panel discussion at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books in April. Hazelwood weighed in on who she thought Katniss Everdeen, the protagonist of Suzanne Collins' 'Hunger Games' books, should have ended up with romantically, saying it should have been her childhood friend Gale, rather than her fellow tribute, Peeta. 'He's a terrible, mean, selfish person,' Hazelwood said of the character Peeta, a baker's son from District 12 who was reaped alongside Katniss in the books. The clip of Hazelwood's remarks was widely circulated and blasted online by people who accused her of having a bad take. Hazelwood didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Since she went dark online, several BookTokers have come to her defense, reflecting on how the community has seemingly become more prone to getting lost in meaningless discourse. 'The way y'all have lost the plot over a fictional bread boy has left me genuinely questioning the mental health of the book community,' Shelley Fleuridor, the YouTuber behind the channel 'Book Chats with Shelley,' said in a recent video delving into the Hazelwood backlash. 'We need to talk about what's happening to this community and why some of you genuinely need to be placed in a reading timeout immediately, maybe permanently.' Also this past month, Victoria Aveyard, the author of the 'Red Queen' books, sparked a wave of backlash and speculation on BookTok after she post a video alluding to another author's using generative AI in a novel without naming the purported writer. She said she didn't name the person because she didn't want to get sued. 'Using GenAI to come up with characters, plots and story ideas isn't writing. It's theft,' Aveyard said. 'Using GenAI doesn't make you a writer. It makes you a thief.' She said generative AI has been trained on copyrighted material that 'has been stolen from artists without license or compensation.' Some subsequent posts from users accuse Aveyard of being a 'mean girl' obsessed with 'drama.' In other videos, some try to guess which author she was referring to. Meanwhile, a handful of authors have also been posting videos of their writing and editing processes to prove their work isn't made with AI. With 'Beverly,' it remains unclear whether there will be consequences for Robert beyond online fallout. Robert's social media pages and her author website were no longer online Friday. 'Beverly' has also been removed from Amazon. The title remains on GoodReads, where several people have posted comments about the plagiarism accusations and given the book a one-star review. Lewis posted about the plagiarism allegations on Instagram this week, calling the situation an indie author's 'worst nightmare.' "I'm an author who does not have a big online presence and thank all who have reached out to bring this to my attention as I don't have much visibility on the social media space," she wrote. She said she has contacted Amazon to raise a copyright infringement case and hopes 'that people in the booktok space realize this author is stealing content and profiting from it.'
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BookTok fuels Barnes and Noble revival with 60 new stores this year
(NewsNation) — After a decade spent closing retail locations, bookseller Barnes and Noble announced it plans to open at least 60 new stores in 2025. The chain also opened a record 57 stores in 2024 and 30 in 2023, part of a revival of the chain's brick-and-mortar locations. It's part of a larger trend of books and bookstores making a comeback. Artist explains how New Orleans childhood inspired Super Bowl logo One big factor fueling the reading revival is BookTok, a TikTok community of avid readers that has become a popular segment of TikTok. BookTokers share reviews, book hauls and bookcase tours while also sharing recommendations for books. The community has been credited with helping authors sell millions of books and has led to the popularity of genres like romantasy (fantasy with a prominent romance element) and dark romance. The community has boosted books to staggering sales, with Rebecca Yarros' recent release 'Onyx Storm' becoming the fastest-selling adult book in 20 years in part due to BookTok's love for the Empyrean dragon rider romantasy series. BookTok has also led to potential screen adaptations, with Netflix entering a six-figure deal for rights to Callie Hart's 'Quicksilver' fantasy series, Hulu developing Sarah J. Maas' 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' romantasy and Amazon Prime developing Yarros' Empyrean series. After many years of trying to lure in customers without success, Barnes and Noble has embraced the rise of the BookTok community. In return, the company says it has seen a significant surge in popularity and become a social spot for readers, as well. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Khaleej Times
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
How BookTok single-handedly transformed the literary world
The current scenario of the literary world is such that if you have seen a particular book everywhere, BookTok is likely responsible. For the past five years, BookTok has significantly increased global book sales and broadened the landscape for diversity in the publishing world. A prime example of the former being Colleen Hoover's novel It Ends With Us, which, thanks to its overarching fame, was recently turned into a highly-anticipated motion picture receiving mixed reviews globally. Released in 2016, the novel's sales increased around 700 per cent from 2020 to 2021. In 2024, Hoover was the second top-selling author of BookTok with around 2 million copies sold. The birth of bestsellers 'No one was publishing anything during the pandemic and a lot of books that became popular then were published five to 10 years ago,' says 24-year-old content creator Ayman Chaudhary, who goes by the handle @aymansbooks and has a following of more than 916,000 on TikTok. The hashtag BookTok, a byproduct of the lockdown, saw many young people create book-related content on TikTok which united an international community of book lovers on a scale never before seen, not even on Bookstagram. The power of the BookTok phenomenon was also observed in the case of Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles, the sales of which sky-rocketed after a viral TikTok video made it a first-time bestseller. This was just the beginning of how the bite-sized videos were going to change the way books were being sold. BookToker Ayman was also one of the many who made a viral video of her crying after finishing the heartwarming novel. An avid reader since childhood, Ayman started her BookTok journey in 2020 during the lockdown and became one of the first creators under the hashtag. Bibliophiles obsessed or sobbed over their favourites, ranted, and dressed up as book characters making books instant bestsellers. Publishers were now contacting influential BookTokers and offering payment or free books in return for TikTok videos reviewing and promoting their titles. Authors who have found unparalleled fame thanks to content on BookTok include Sarah J. Maas, V. E. Schwab, Holly Jackson, Emily Henry, Alice Oseman, and even the Russian classical writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky. In 2024, Sarah J. Maas, author of international bestselling fantasy series Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Crescent City managed to sell around 5 million print copies of her works only in the first six months of the year. While relatively popular in the Young Adult (YA) literary world before the BookTok era, Maas admitted that her recent unprecedented fame was all thanks to BookTok. Curiouser still, a few authors on the platform managed to bag major book deals after capturing the eye of publishers with their viral concept videos. Colombian-American author Alex Aster's Lightlark pitch video gained such popularity that she simultaneously landed both a book and movie deal, and her novel reached bestseller lists even before its release. As far as publishers are concerned, BookTok is now responsible for creating bestsellers. 'There are a few books that a lot of people associate with me because I made a video to recommend them and it went viral,' says Ayman of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab which topped charts in the US and Alone With You In The Ether by Olivie Blake. Flourishing era of diversity Ayman, who recently attended the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in Dubai, was particularly excited to attend the session of author Zoulfa Katouh who made waves in the YA literary world thanks to her debut novel As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow. The heart-wrenching novel is set in Syria and focuses on the struggles of young people under the civil war. ' As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow was trending on BookTok two years ago and I remember the Muslim, Arab, and South Asian community hyping it up [so much] that people outside the community started reading it,' Ayman mentions, adding that her For You page was filled with videos of the novel. The author, Zoulfa Katouh, was delighted to hear that was how Ayman came across her novel, 'I like Ayman's videos a lot. She's very creative with them,' she says. The author was told by her publisher and readers that her debut novel became popular because of BookTok. Zoulfa says that the platform's word-of-mouth recommendations by readers have paved the way for diversity in representation. She believes that if a reader takes time out of their everyday lives to recommend a book on their TikTok, then it must truly be impactful, 'It feels so organic and real when you see videos of people crying and saying a book is amazing.' New routes to travel She adds that BookTok is breaking communication barriers all around the world, 'The way that diversity is being spoken about in TikTok right now for books is helpful for people to widen their perspective of books that they probably never would have thought of reading or have come across on a bookshelf.' BookTok has evolved by leaps and bounds in the past five years with a strong focus on marginalised communities. Even so, Ayman believes that there is still room for improvement, 'My hope is for it to be more diverse and inclusive. It is great how far we've come but I still think we need a lot of work, and I would like to see bookstores and publishers give more space to minority creators and authors.' With bookstores worldwide now housing tables and shelves dedicated for BookTok recommendations, Ayman remarks that the impact of BookTok is astonishing, 'There's a space for any type of reader and anyone who wants to be a reader. It is one of the most diverse communities I've ever been a part of. It's changed book publishing and bookstores forever.'
