BookTok Broke My Heart Yesterday

Yesterday was rough.


I spend more time on TikTok than any other social media app because it’s easy to use and — as someone trying to market a book — it’s been the best platform for growing a following. But yesterday? TikTok wasn’t my friend. It was my enemy.


The world we live in is scary. Maybe it always has been — but now, with social media and the constant stream of news at our fingertips, it feels louder. More inescapable. And with real violence escalating all around us, it’s the perfect storm to leave everyone overwhelmed.


There’s a corner of TikTok for almost every interest you can imagine: MomTok, BikerTok, WitchTok, AuthorTok, and maybe the most famous of them all — BookTok.


BookTok is where this whole journey started for me. It’s where I got my first book recommendation after a seven-year reading slump. It’s where I made my first bookish friends. It’s where I found other writers who understood this dream I’ve been chasing.


But like every other community, BookTok has its toxic moments. Yesterday was one of those days — nothing but fighting, bickering, and people turning on each other. Why? Because of different opinions about what “celebrating” does or doesn’t look like. That’s a whole other post for another day, but trust me, I’ll touch on it eventually.


By the end of the day, all I wanted was to jump into my book — literally. To walk into my version of Salem, where even though it takes place in 2025, there’s no political turmoil. No COVID. No riots. No constant fighting.


I wrote it that way on purpose.


I wrote it for the people who built safe spaces in their heads as kids — and who, even as adults, sometimes wish they could go back. That’s what Salem is to me. It’s not perfect. Salem has its own problems, its own conflicts, but right now? They feel easier to face than what I’m watching take place in real time.


And maybe that’s the point.



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