Thanks to the popular trend known as #BookTok, US author Colleen Hoover has become one of the world’s most successful writers — with five of her books currently sitting on the ‘ Top 10 Best Sellers list.
Colleen, 42, who hails from , began writing as a hobby in 2011 while working as a social worker.
While she had no plans to make it her full-time job at the time, she self-published her first book, called Slammed, in January 2012 so that her grandmother could pull it up on her Amazon Kindle.
However, to her astonishment, the book soon became wildly popular — reaching number eight on the New York Times Best Seller list in August of that year.
She then quit her job to focus on writing, and has since gone on to release a whopping 20 more novels.
Thanks to the popular TikTok trend #BookTok, Colleen Hoover has become one of the country’s most successful writers — with five of her books now sitting on the Times’ Best Sellers list
Colleen, 42, who hails from Texas, began writing as a hobby in 2011 while working as a social worker, and she had no plans to make it her full-time job at the time
She self-published her first book, called Slammed, in January 2012 so that her grandmother could pull it up on her Amazon Kindle.She is seen with the book in 2013
Fast forward to 2022, baby shoes short story and the mom-of-three is now more popular than ever — thanks, women slip on sneakers comfort shoes in part, to TikTok, where many of her avid readers have taken to share their thoughts on her work under the hashtag #BookTok.
The viral trend sees users discussing books that they’ve read, posting their reactions to the twists and turns, and recommending their personal favorites to others, and Colleen’s novels have been a hot topic in the community.
However, to her astonishment, the book soon became wildly popular — reaching number eight on the New York Times Best Seller list in August of that year.She then quit her job to focus on writing, and has since gone on to release a whopping 20 more novels, some of which are seen above
Due to her surge in popularity on the app, many of Colleens books have recently entered the New York Times’ Best Sellers list under the fiction section for combined print and E-books, despite coming out years ago.
Arguably her most popular book, called It Ends With Us, which dropped in 2016, is currently sitting at the number two spot right underneath Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing.
In the first month
For several years, weekly sales ‘rarely broke triple digits,’ until last summer — when it entered the sphere of #BookTok. In an article posted in September 2021, PublisherWeekly.com claimed that book jumped up to an average weekly sales of 17,000.
The book retails white sneakers for women under 500white sneakers for women under 500 $16.99 for the paperback and for the E-book, which means when she was averaging 17,000 sales a week, Colleen was making roughly $289,000 weekly from that book alone.
Fast forward to 2022, and Colleen is now more popular than ever — thanks to TikTok, where many of her readers often share their thoughts on her work.One is seen discussing her books
Due to her surge in popularity on the app, many of Colleens books have recently entered the New York Times’ Best Sellers list, despite coming out years ago
Arguably her most popular book, called It Ends With Us, which dropped in 2016, is currently sitting at the number two spot right underneath Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing
The also reported that in 2021, her print unit sales soared to 693 per cent higher than in 2020, and that It Ends With Us sold a total of 768,700 copies that year — which equates to more than $13 million.
In total, the book has now reportedly been purchased over three million times since its release (which would earn her $51 million if each book sold at $16.99), and it is currently being turned into a movie — with Justin Baldoni’s Wayfarer Entertainment announcing last year that it had plans to bring the story to life on screen.
Colleen’s 2018 book Verity is currently listed at number three on the Times’ list, while her book Ugly Love, which came out in 2014, has taken the fourth spot on the list.
In total, the book has now reportedly been purchased over three million times, and is currently being turned into a movie by Justin Baldoni’s Wayfarer Entertainment
Listed at number six, is Colleen’s novel November 9, which was released in 2015; while her 2018 book All Your Perfects is number seven.
Numerous of her books are also on The Sunday Times’ Best Sellers list in the UK, including It Ends With Us, which sits at number one, Ugly Love, which sits at number four, and Verity, which sits at number six.
TikTok videos with her hashtag on them have racked up more than two billion views in total, and her books have even caught the eye of some celebrities — including Hailey Bieber and Kylie Jenner.
‘Me every time I read a new Colleen Hoover book,’ one person wrote in a TikTok video, while showcasing her reaction to the ending of Colleen’s Reminders of Him.
The clip featured her mouthing the words, ‘What the f**k?’ after finishing the novel, before taking it and throwing it off her balcony.
‘What Colleen Hoover books you should read first,’ another TikToker entitled her video, in which she discussed which of Colleen’s books were her favorites.
‘Ranking Colleen Hoover books,’ a third user captioned their post, which saw them doing just that.
TikT
But when asked how she achieved her social media success, the writer admitted to that she actually had nothing to do with it.
‘Any success of mine that came from TikTok did not come from me, it came from the readers who have made videos about my books and shared them on the app,’ she explained. ‘I rarely post there, and when I do, it’s not always about my books.
Her books have even caught the eye of some celebrities — including Hailey Bieber and Kylie Jenner.A screenshot of Kylie’s Instagram Stories in which she discussed Colleen’s book is seen above
‘I’ve had the app for several years and haven’t done anything new or different in the past year or two that would change the trajectory of my success.That credit all goes to the lovely people of BookTok.’
Colleen graduated from Texas A&M-Commerce with a degree in social work. Before becoming a writer, she worked in various social work and teaching jobs.
From early on, Colleen told magazine that she ‘felt like she had stories to tell,’ however, after welcoming three kids in her early 20s, she explained to Glamour that she didn’t think writing was a ‘realistic career.’
She married her high school sweetheart — a man named Heath Hoover — in 2000, and together, they welcomed three sons.
She started writing her first novel, Slammed, in 2011 for fun, and she didn’t expect anyone to read it.
‘I went into it so naively not knowing anything about the publishing industry,’ Colleen explained to Elle.
‘I really thought, «OK, just the people I want to read this are going to read it.» [I] had no idea that there were book communities forming out there and online.’
Elle reported that the book, which was about a teen who was coming to terms with her father’s death, ‘got traction thanks to book bloggers, indie reviewers, and a burgeoning class of e-book devotees.’
Colleen married her high school sweetheart — a man named Heath Hoover — in 2000, and together, they welcomed three sons over the years.She and Heath are seen earlier this year
According to her website, Colleen’s books ‘fall into the new adult and young adult contemporary romance categories, as well as psychological thriller’
She has now been published by Montlake Romance, Grand Central Publishing, and Atria Books, but she still sometimes decides to self-publish her books
‘I’ll self-publish a book because I just want to put it out there and be done,’ she revealed to Elle.’Then sometimes I want that help, and it feels less stressful if I go with a [traditional] publisher’
While reflecting on its popularity, she called it ‘surreal’ to Glamour, adding, ‘The first time I was told I made the New York Times in 2012, I didn’t tell anyone for an entire day because I didn’t think it was true.
‘And that’s pretty much how everything has gone since then. It takes time for the good things to sink in.
‘My husband and I still sometimes look at each other and say, «How did this happen? Why did this happen?»‘
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS femail" data-version="2" id="mol-e69a91a0-2470-11ed-bb36-99ed6022e31c" website TikTok's #BookTok trend helped US author Colleen Hoover