Young people's "Sobbing" on Tiktok saved the dying book industry

Young people brush short videos, and young people also read books.
Author | Yu Sanhao Editor | Jingyu In May 1924, Franz Kafka, who suffered from increasingly severe tuberculosis, stopped his work and went to Kierling Sanatorium in Vienna for recuperation, but the God of Fortune did not care about him.
Only a month later, Kafka died.
The first edition of his first novel collection, Observation, printed 800 copies, but only 11 copies were sold.
At the end of his life, Kafka, who was not understood and appreciated, asked his friends to burn all his works.
Fortunately, his friends did not do so, so Kafka became famous after World War II.
But for Kafka himself, it was too late.
"Good books will eventually meet their readers.
I hope that writers can witness this day in their lifetime, instead of being like Kafka." Of course, even Kafka did not expect that a hundred years later, young people would "meet" their own works on a mobile app full of 15 second brainwashing videos.
Many young people choose to share their favorite books on TikTok | In the epidemic ridden year of 2020, TikTok, where the number of users has increased dramatically, has young people sharing their books with tears in their eyes, and finally gave birth to the label "BookTok".
Two years later, this topic has been broadcast more than 50 billion times.
Don't underestimate the "15 second touch".
BookTok has promoted book sales.
According to the statistics of NPD BookScan, TikTok's influence on the book industry has soared since 2020.
In 2021, American readers bought 825 million paper books, the highest sales volume since records;
In the UK, these videos also promote book sales.
The latest annual report of the British Publishers Association shows that the sales of the publishing industry will reach 6.7 billion pounds in 2021, an increase of 50% over the previous year.
A new reading ecology is taking shape.
In addition to promoting the development of the publishing industry, more and more teenagers are sharing their reading experience on BookTok, realizing self-expression and forming a strong community atmosphere.
This time, short video is no longer just a "teat music" that kills time and indulges people.
Instead, it changes and carries the banner of "reading renaissance".
01 "Book Blower" BookTok is reviving books.
In a recommended video under this tag, a young girl with red face and tearful eyes clenched her hands on the novel.
She tried to share her feelings after reading it, but because she was too sad, she just said "OK, good night" for half a day and then hurriedly ended the video.
Another TikTok user used delayed photography to record a video of himself reading the book for 3.5 hours.
When he read the last page, he covered his face and cried.
The video caption was "I am broken".
The novel that made these readers cry is called The Song of Achilles, which is a book about Homer's epic Iliad