Jessica Mendoza

So even before she'd finished writing her books, Penn made an official TikTok account. And it was there that she found a lot of the readers she was looking for. They were on BookTok. BookTok really took off during the pandemic, when many readers were stuck at home. One of the first books that went viral on BookTok is Colleen Hoover's dark romance novel, It Ends With Us.

Hoover's book had already been considered a commercial success when it came out in 2016. But when users on BookTok picked up on it, the sales went bananas. Hoover's publisher told me that by 2021, weekly sales for It Ends With Us were 100 times more than what they'd been two years before. Hoover later published a sequel. And earlier this year, It Ends With Us was adapted into a movie.

Hoover's book had already been considered a commercial success when it came out in 2016. But when users on BookTok picked up on it, the sales went bananas. Hoover's publisher told me that by 2021, weekly sales for It Ends With Us were 100 times more than what they'd been two years before. Hoover later published a sequel. And earlier this year, It Ends With Us was adapted into a movie.

Hoover's book had already been considered a commercial success when it came out in 2016. But when users on BookTok picked up on it, the sales went bananas. Hoover's publisher told me that by 2021, weekly sales for It Ends With Us were 100 times more than what they'd been two years before. Hoover later published a sequel. And earlier this year, It Ends With Us was adapted into a movie.

Other authors have also broken through, like Sarah J. Maas with her fairy series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, which I devoured way too fast. There's also Rebecca Yaros and her novel, Fourth Wing. And while not everyone makes it as big, BookTok has raised up other romance and fantasy authors. TikTok says that this year there was a 300% increase in posts with the hashtag Romantasy.

Other authors have also broken through, like Sarah J. Maas with her fairy series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, which I devoured way too fast. There's also Rebecca Yaros and her novel, Fourth Wing. And while not everyone makes it as big, BookTok has raised up other romance and fantasy authors. TikTok says that this year there was a 300% increase in posts with the hashtag Romantasy.

Other authors have also broken through, like Sarah J. Maas with her fairy series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, which I devoured way too fast. There's also Rebecca Yaros and her novel, Fourth Wing. And while not everyone makes it as big, BookTok has raised up other romance and fantasy authors. TikTok says that this year there was a 300% increase in posts with the hashtag Romantasy.

And the Romantasy genre has grown into a $471 million category. So Penn Cole was able to ride this wave on BookTok. How did you try and build a following or a community on BookTok? What's the secret sauce there?

And the Romantasy genre has grown into a $471 million category. So Penn Cole was able to ride this wave on BookTok. How did you try and build a following or a community on BookTok? What's the secret sauce there?

And the Romantasy genre has grown into a $471 million category. So Penn Cole was able to ride this wave on BookTok. How did you try and build a following or a community on BookTok? What's the secret sauce there?

Penn didn't have all the answers, but she did have a strategy to win over book talk readers. She published the first three books of her four-part series quickly, within a few months, knowing Romantici fans love a good binge. And she used the self-publishing platform on Amazon so Kindle readers could access the book and physical copies could be printed on demand.

Penn didn't have all the answers, but she did have a strategy to win over book talk readers. She published the first three books of her four-part series quickly, within a few months, knowing Romantici fans love a good binge. And she used the self-publishing platform on Amazon so Kindle readers could access the book and physical copies could be printed on demand.

Penn didn't have all the answers, but she did have a strategy to win over book talk readers. She published the first three books of her four-part series quickly, within a few months, knowing Romantici fans love a good binge. And she used the self-publishing platform on Amazon so Kindle readers could access the book and physical copies could be printed on demand.

Penn also posted about once a day on TikTok and other social media platforms. Was there a specific goal you had in mind?

Penn also posted about once a day on TikTok and other social media platforms. Was there a specific goal you had in mind?

Penn also posted about once a day on TikTok and other social media platforms. Was there a specific goal you had in mind?

The video was posted just a few months after Penn released her first book.

The video was posted just a few months after Penn released her first book.

The video was posted just a few months after Penn released her first book.

So Penn refined her strategy. She made sure every post had details like what hashtags to use and a description of her series.