Part 1 - Option 2 - Question 1 · Inglés PAU Cantabria Ordinaria 2026

BookTok

1 BookTok is a TikTok subcommunity where people make content about the literature they love. Videos range from book reviews and reading recommendations to “book hauls” and bookshelf setups. What started as a small community of avid readers has now become one of the most popular corners of the social media platform, with #BookTok gaining 92.7 billion views and some posts up to 100,000 likes.

2 Publishing industry insiders say that BookTok has led to an unprecedented boost in book sales. Kristen McLean is the executive director of NPD Bookscan, an industry data provider that tracks book sales. She says that, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, BookTok has definitely been a factor in the recent boom in sales. McLean first noticed the platform’s influence in 2020, when it appeared to drive up sales in the young adult fiction genre before expanding into adult fiction and non-fiction.

3 One example of the “BookTok effect” is the massive success of author Colleen Hoover. Before BookTok became popular in 2020, Hoover had sold only 200,000 copies of her books. In August 2022, she sold 2.3 million copies, six of which entered the New York Times ’ fiction bestseller list. Another example is the number of older books becoming popular years after their initial release. Taylor Jenkins Reid’s The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles went viral years after their publication, and both landed on bestseller lists many years later.

4 Many publishers and book retailers are keen to cash in on the BookTok trend. Some publishers hire younger employees who are familiar with the platform and can help create marketing campaigns that resonate with the BookTok community. Other publishers work directly with influencers, sending them book copies prior to release and paying them to promote the new titles. However, these strategies do not always work, as BookTok influencer Kendra Keeter explains: “A lot of sponsored content doesn’t do well because it just isn’t authentic. How can you trust someone’s book recommendation if you know they were paid to post?” BookTok is also influencing how retailers do business, with many dedicating spaces to “BookTok favourites” in online and physical shops. “BookTok has had an immense impact on sales,” says James Daunt from Barnes & Noble Books, “It’s bringing energy into our shops, with people of all ages coming together around a shared love for reading.”

Adapted from Yahoo! News, December 2025

Question 1 [2 points]

Indicate clearly by writing the words TRUE or FALSE whether the following statements are true or false according to the text and write down the sentence or the part of the text that you consider justifies your answer. The evidence must make sense and be grammatically and lexically coherent.

No points will be given if the evidence is not correct or if the handwriting is not sufficiently clear.

A.

BookTok is not the only reason for the significant growth in book sales.

TRUE

FALSE

B.

The impact of BookTok has been limited to just one category of literature.

TRUE

FALSE

C.

Older people have stopped going to bookshops as a result of BookTok.

TRUE

FALSE

D.

Publishers have had mixed success when interacting with the BookTok community.

TRUE

FALSE