TikTok Book Shop: Is it Worth it?

Coinciding with the growing popularity of BookTok, TikTok UK has launched a bookshop in collaboration with WHSmith, Bloomsburg and HarperCollins. Published authors now have a space where they can market their books directly to their TikTok audience. Only TikTok accounts with 1,000+ followers can create a shop on the platform, but after building up your following, is opening a TikTok book shop the next logical step, and is it worth it for new or established authors?  

• Does selling books on TikTok Shop actually work? 

Indie author A.P Beswick told TikTok Merchant “My platform has grown consistently through the year and so has my audience. TikTok and TikTok Shop are genuinely changing my life, as well as the self-publishing landscape”. As a self-publishing author, it’s easier to lead your followers towards buying your books when they are available on the same platform that you promote them on. TikTok boasts that their users are one and a half times more likely to buy products they found on the platform than other platform users. BookTok users in particular are often cited as largely responsible for the large rise in purchases of physical books, re-igniting the passion for reading amongst young people and adults alike. Undoubtedly, there is a large potential audience waiting for you.  
 

• Is it affordable? 

Similar to online book retailers like Amazon, TikTok Shop does not charge authors to list their books on their shop. The initial costs are nil, so automatically you will see a return on your investment. However, similar to most online retailers, TikTok Shop does take a commission fee for each product you sell. Even so, its commission fee is quite low, starting at 1.8% of each product sold for the first 90 days and then 5% from then on. So the initial costs are free, and the return is more than most other online book retailers. Financially it is a safer platform to sell your work on.  
 

• Is it hard to set up? 

The process of setting up a TikTok Shop account is straightforward, especially if you already have a successful and active TikTok account. First, create an eCommerce site for your books through Shopify, Square, Ecwid or PrestaShop. Update the catalogue with your books, and then sign up to be a TikTok Shop merchant. After uploading the appropriate documents to prove you are a genuine seller, you will have access to a TikTok Seller Account, where you can manage your listed products. In the Seller's Centre, you can also see your orders, manage creator partnerships and handle customer service. Managing your TikTok shop yourself affords authors independence, and saves on running costs that typically go towards customer service and set-up fees. Do note that TikTok currently does not allow accounts with under 1,000 followers to create a TikTok Shop account.   
 
With the new TikTok Book Shop, both new and established authors can expand their audience and directly connect them with their work at very little financial cost. It is a valuable tool, and with enough time invested, can quickly become profitable.