Why does BookTok keep recommending the same books?

If your For You page is an endless loop of Colleen Hoover, Sarah J. Maas and the same ten romantasy covers, you're not imagining it.

Researchers have started digging into how BookTok actually works, and the answer sits with the algorithm rather than the readers. A study found that BookTok's recommendation system tends to reproduce the publishing industry's existing focus on white, cisgender, able-bodied authors by pushing the same big names over and over. Another review of the research found the same pattern from another angle: new users are mostly shown content aimed at white, cisgender, heterosexual women, whatever their own tastes.

The numbers back this up. When more researchers analysed the top videos on the BookTok hashtag, the books being promoted were written overwhelmingly by white authors: 72 white women and 18 white men in her sample, with no group of women of colour reaching double figures.

So the sameness of your feed is partly a business model.

TikTok and Instagram optimises for engagement, publishers pile marketing onto whatever is already trending, and the loop feeds itself.

I've written a longer piece on exactly this: what the research says about who gets seen in online book communities, and three habits worth breaking if you care about it. Read the full post on my Substack, and bring me your recommendations while you're there.