TikTok for Authors: How to Take Advantage of This Fast-Growing Platform

TikTok is a social media platform for short-form videos on an extremely wide variety of subjects. It’s currently one of the fastest-growing platforms on the market, and it’s still expanding.

In this article, we’ll be exploring why this particular platform is perfect for marketing your works and growing your audience. Because sure, sometimes it’s cringey, sometimes it’s funny, but it’s also undeniably popular and addictive.

TikTok Tips for Authors

As a video-based service, TikTok can be trickier to master. You have to think of unique video content to publish and present it in an entertaining and interesting way.

Most people fail to attract attention in this space simply because they aren’t as “video-smart” as others, but that can be overcome. Here are some tips you can use to jumpstart your TikTok journey.

1. Create an awesome profile

When I say awesome, I’m talking about creating a profile that’s complete, unique, and memorable. The more you personalize your profile, the more you’re separating yourself from the countless other accounts that populate TikTok.

Think of your profile as your house. If it’s bare and lacks decoration, it feels unwelcoming, but if it’s clearly cared for, viewers are more willing to dive into your content. Like in all other social media sites, a great profile includes:

A photo of you that clearly shows your face. People naturally want to know more about people they’re interested in following, and that includes your appearance. There’s even an option to use a short video clip as your profile photo.
A short bio explaining who you are and what you do.
Links to your website, other social media accounts, and works, if you have them.

This is an opportunity to show off your personality. Include some of your interests in your bio, or use a photo that shows you doing a hobby. Take a look at writer Chloe Gong’s TikTok profile below:

Her profile picture (which is actually a video clip) clearly shows her face. She further leveraged its use by also including her book, These Violent Delights, into the frame. Her short bio also explains a bit of information about her, including her occupation as a writer.

2. Post consistently

Posting consistently means you always have a chance of being recommended by TikTok’s algorithm to people interested in your kind of content. And when they do follow you, consistent content keeps you fresh on their minds.

If you stop posting or irregularly do so, there’s a large chance they’ll forget you exist as there’s a lot of content going on in the platform. Or maybe they’ll think you’re not worth it so they’ll unfollow you instead.

3. Utilize hashtags

Just like they’re used in other social media sites, hashtags are a way of indexing content, signaling the platform’s algorithm that your content belongs or relates to a specific topic or category. They make your content more searchable, allowing for a better chance to be discovered by the audience you’re targeting.

Take a look at the photo above as an example. It automatically shows content that specifically uses the hashtag “#writersoftiktok” in their descriptions. There are more than 190 million collective views — something you can tap into if you use the hashtag.

4. Appeal to trends

TikTok videos that follow trends are some of the most successful ones on the platform, simply because the content is, well, trending. There are tons of people currently interested in the topic, who actively search for it and consume content that’s related to it.

Take advantage of the trend either by following it or adapting it to your niche. For example, a possible trending video format is “5 movies of 2021 I recommend”. You can easily change that to books you’d recommend instead.

Take a look at this currently popular video format called BookTok, which has become a massive community within the TikTokverse. It’s where book lovers share their recommended books or post reviews about books that they love or hate. That’s more than 21 billion views!

Trends aren’t just about the video format. Sometimes there are video filters or even sounds that grow popular. You have to be more careful with these, though. Just because they’re trending doesn’t mean they’ll fit with the subject of your content.

5. Don’t be all about promotion

Nobody wants to watch content that’s always just about promotion. It’s boring, feels salesy, and doesn’t really bring much value to potential viewers. This will drive away your current followers, and prevent you from attracting more.

While it’s okay to promote once in a while, make sure you’re not constantly doing it. Make variations to your videos by doing writing tips, book recommendations, and reviews, or even show them what your writing routine’s like.

6. Use platform resources and features

TikTok offers a lot of filters, templates, songs, sound bites, and other kinds of effects to make your content more enjoyable. Tiktok differs from other social media platforms in the way that these effects can also go viral. For example, there are songs (such as BENEE’s Supalonely and Doja Cat’s Say So ) that became famous simply because they’re used in many TikTok videos.

Most of these features trend because of “internet challenges” that regularly go viral. These include the Booktok, videos where people record themselves having a duet with someone else’s videos, and Colgate’s #MakeMomSmile challenge.

Incorporate a few of these features into your content, especially if they’re currently popular. But don’t just add them in because they’re trending though. Make sure that they suit your content, otherwise people will be confused when watching your videos.

7. Showcase your personal interests

You’re not only on TikTok to promote your books, but also to promote yourself. People who like your content and follow you will naturally want to know more about you. Plus, your account is your personal space, so why not personalize with?

Don’t limit your content on writing-related stuff alone, although they should be a large part of it. Show your followers the person behind the content they love by making posts about your hobbies and other interests.

TikTok Hashtags for Writers

There are hundreds of author-related hashtags you can take advantage of on TikTok. According to TikTok Hashtags, these are some of the most popular:

#writer
#writers
#authors
#poetry
#poet
#quotes
#author
#writerscommunity
#poetrycommunity
#poem
#writingcommunity
#words
#artist
#writerslife
#writersblock
#writersnetwork
#pubtip
#selfpublishing
#booktok
#booktokchallenge
#bookrecommendations
#books
#writertok
#writersoftiktok
#bookwriter
#writerproblems
#writerlife
#writingtips
#writingprompts
#writingchallenge
#writingadvice
#writinglife
#writinganovel
#authortok
#authorsoftiktok
#authorlife
#aspiringauthor
#publishing
#publishingtips
#bookpublishing

You can use other hashtags that don’t appear on this list. Fiddle around with the platform and you’ll see which currently trending hashtags you can use. Search for a random writing-related word and you’ll probably find a hashtag that’s perfect for your content.

Just remember not to overload your posts because too many hashtags make your content look like an eyesore. Try to limit it to 4-5 hashtags per post by focusing on the most relevant ones.

Is TikTok Good for Authors?

TikTok is a great platform for authors to grow an online presence. It’s extremely popular, easy to get into, and is still rapidly growing. One viral video can lead a lot of people into discovering your other social media accounts, websites, and most importantly, your works as an author.

It’s also the fastest-growing social media network. With over half a billion users in other parts of the world, and over half a billion users in its exclusive Chinese version (Douyin), it currently boasts roughly 1.2 billion users worldwide. Even if the Chinese market isn’t available to you, that’s still more than 600 million potential people you can market to.

What’s more, engagement on TikTok is incredibly active. For example, Jennifer Lopez has 45 million and 14 million followers on Twitter and TikTok, respectively. She posted a video on both platforms, getting 2 million views on Twitter, and more than 10 million on TikTok. Despite having fewer followers on TikTok, the video did five times better there.

And while TikTok is most known for dancing and lipsync videos, there’s actually quite a big community of writers book lovers on the platform. If you search for common author-related hashtags (such as #writer, #bookrecommendations, and #writingtips), you’ll see that they receive millions of views.

So if you want to become more visible as a writer, go ahead and create a TikTok account. It doesn’t cost you any money and takes less effort than you might think.

But like other platforms, you need to be prepared to play the long game. While you can most definitely go viral, it’s not every day that you will. Concentrate on keeping a consistent pace and putting out quality content.

Do you already use TikTok to grow your author presence? Share your experience in the comments below!

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