This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hello, Side Hustle School listeners. Thanks for tuning in today. We're gonna open up a new chapter as we explore the world of social media and books. Now, if you've been around for a while, you know I am an author. I love writing books.
I love reading books. I like watching TV and playing video games too, but actually books are my first love, my first medium. So if you are using social media like Instagram and TikTok in particular, you might have stumbled upon the communities known as BookTok, that's a big thing on TikTok, or Bookstagram on Instagram, there are some others. If you have not, well, either way, you might wonder how do these viral book reviewers, how do these social media book reading sharers, how do they make money? So whether it is Instagram's Bookstagram or TikTok's BookTok or something else, our listener today is looking to read between the lines and potentially perhaps profit from a page turner.
What's the deal with BookTok? Well, let's look into it. Quick shout out to our sponsor, then Amelia's question. [Music]
Hey there, it's Amelia from New York. I've been a side hustle school listener for two years now and I'm hoping to turn my passion for books into a business.
I'm keen to understand the economic aspect of the Bookstagram and BookTok communities. Do creators in these niches get paid and how do they monetize their content? Oh, and congrats on your new book, I can't wait to read it. [Music]
Amelia, thanks for the question. I talk about books quite a bit, but I don't know that I've actually said much about BookTok or Bookstagram before.
And for anybody who is not familiar, these are huge communities. Sometimes a book gets popular on BookTok and ends up going on bestseller lists. Sometimes it's a book that's been out for a while and just gets it a tremendous boost when a lot of people get really excited about it and are sharing it in these channels. So they are robust communities where people are sharing book reviews, reading lists and more, but in terms of monetization, which is what we're gonna look at here, those models can differ quite a bit. And a lot of people, let's just be fair, a lot of people are not making much money from it.
So you have to be one of the very popular people. You just have really significant followings to make significant money. Most people are doing it because it's fun, it's a community, they love books, they're building relationships through that, and they might make some money from it. Now, let's look at the difference between Instagram and TikTok. On Instagram, Bookstagrammers, we can call them, they often make money through sponsored posts, affiliate links, sometimes even like brand collaborations.
They certainly get free books in exchange for reviews or sometimes get paid to promote a particular title. One clue there is it's always gonna be new books. Like if you see a book reviewer that's reviewing a lot of older books, then that's almost a sure sign that it's more organic, like they're not being paid something to do that. TikTok is a bit more complex because the TikTok Creator Fund directly pays creators based on various performance metrics. So they can also earn affiliate money, but mostly they're getting paid, if they are getting paid, based on views, based on people coming to watch those videos.
So either way, to make the most of the platforms, you need to build a strong, consistent brand around your book reviews. You need to be sharing content pretty consistently, almost daily, and then also you wanna work smart whenever possible, so a lot of the content you share can go on both platforms. Sometimes it needs to be modified a little bit for one or the other, but sometimes it can just be exactly the same. Either way, consistency and quality are key, and you really need to build a significant following before you're gonna make significant money from these communities. But don't let that discourage you if you're interested in a world of social media and books.
Check it out. Listeners, if you have a question, comment sidehustleschool.com/questions. Let me know what you're up to. New episode comes out every day, seven days a week. It's always free.
You can get it on sidehustleschool.com or wherever you get your podcasts. My name's Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
