Dylan Burkett/The Cougar
Romance novels and the publishing industry are thriving as book sales have spiked because of Generation Z TikTok users.
Before the tremendous boost TikTok gave to the entire industry, it was heading rapidly to bankruptcy.
Various Barnes & Noble store locations were closed around 2020 because of COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the once dying publishing industry is now reviving as young readers are finding an increased interest in romance novels.
Authors like Colleen Hoover, Tessa Bailey and Monica Murphy are some of the few romance novel writers that have been repeatedly recommended by book reviewers on TikTok. Their novels “It Happened One Summer,” “It Ends With Us” and “Ugly Love” are a few of them.
All these novels and many more have been part of the New York Times Best Sellers list.
Gen Z young adults are one of the main consumers of TikTok content with around 22 percent of them on the app.
Because of them, Colleen Hoover’s sensation, “It Ends With Us,” was what many say started the book trend.
Under the hashtag #BookTok in the TikTok app, a person can enjoy 74.6 billion videos relating to the same topic, precisely romance book suggestions.
“It Ends With Us” is considered a romance book and has its own TikTok hashtag, #itendswithus, with its whopping 1.4 billion views on content related to the novel.
Nowadays, many people view being trendy as going to a coffee shop, holding a tote bag and having a trendy book in hand.
Books like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings have been the books with the most sales for quite some time now and romance books might catch up with them.
Anyone interested in picking up a romance book any time should know that it comes with several benefits including increasing your empathy, reduces stress and relieves depression symptoms.
As college students, a lot of time is spent on textbooks studying everything ranging from algorithm theory to the history of physics. Sometimes it’s okay to clock out of that environment and pick up a book to escape into another dimension.
Romance novels are making a comeback so make sure you are taking a look to find your next escape.
Sofia Contreras Rueda is a freshman English major who can be reached at [email protected]
