BookTok Boom: Social Media Helps Drive Sales in Some International Markets

A recent Nielsen BookData and GfK Entertainment report on global book sales for the first eight months of the year shows “rising revenues in fiction, while sales of nonfiction books are declining in many regions. The TikTok community BookTok is playing an increasingly important role.”

The overall finding of the research, released during this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, is that the “global book market in 2024 is facing a challenging environment. While the fiction segment saw increased revenues in 14 of the 16 territories surveyed, and children’s and young adult books also showed growth in nine regions, nonfiction struggled. Only five countries reported growth in this segment, which also impacted the overall market. Revenue grew overall in only six of the 16 territories, while this was also true in terms of unit sales.”

The report looked at revenues in individual national markets. “Spanish and Portuguese-speaking book markets have had an especially good year so far. Countries like Mexico (+16.1%), Spain (+12.3%), Brazil (+9.5%), and Portugal (+9.0%) all saw increased overall revenues. India’s revenue achieved +18.3% growth, although its total volume was relatively modest compared with some of the larger markets tracked, with 27 million books sold.

“In contrast, France (-0.6%) and the UK (-0.8%), by far the largest book markets in the survey with 191 million and 116 million books sold respectively, recorded slight declines in revenue terms, with the official guest of honor at the 2024 Frankfurt Book Fair, Italy, managing to maintain a relatively flat change year-on-year at -0.1%. New Zealand saw the largest drop, with a decline of -9.3% year-on-year.”

Another finding of the report was that price increases were less steep than in previous years. Although average prices continue to rise in 12 of the surveyed territories, such as in the UK by 1.9% to £9.02, 12 regions are seeing lower price increases, or even falling prices, compared to the previous year. This includes Ireland (-1.0% to €12.57) and the Netherlands (-1.0% to €16.30).

Among the fiction genres seeing the most growth are crime and thriller novels, sales of which are up in three-quarters of the surveyed countries, with revenue increases ranging from +3% in Wallonia to +56% in Portugal. Science fiction and fantasy books are performing even better, with double-digit growth rates across the board, while romance novels are also trending. According to the research: “The TikTok community BookTok plays a key role in driving these and many fiction genres, bringing attention to authors such as Freida McFadden (The Housemaid series), Rebecca Yarros (The Empyrean series), and Colleen Hoover (It Ends with Us/It Starts with Us).”

According to Nielsen: “The decline in nonfiction can partly be attributed to the absence of top titles like Prince Harry’s biography Spare, which sold in huge volumes in many territories last year. Nonetheless, 2024 still boasts some global bestsellers in this category. One notable example is James Clear’s step-by-step manual Atomic Habits, which was among the top five bestselling nonfiction books in 13 territories. However, many segments, including the travel sector, which was enjoying a rebound post-pandemic, are in decline. History books and lifestyle guides are continuing to perform relatively well.”

The survey is based on print book point-of-sale data from January to August 2024 for Australia, Belgium (Flanders/Wallonia), Brazil, Colombia, France, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Switzerland and the U.K.

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