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The fortunes of a Notting Hill bookshop have been turned around by a TikTok trend inspiring Gen Z to read more, the family who own the iconic store say.
Sales of books at The Notting Hill Bookshop, made famous when it was copied in the 1999 rom-com Notting Hill starring Hugh Grant, have more than doubled since the pandemic.
The Notting Hill Bookshop inspired the set for the travel bookshop run by Hugh Grant in the smash-hit film ‘Notting Hill’. Alamy
Younger people looking for books that they have seen in videos online recommended by bloggers known as “BookTokkers” have flooded into stores, pushing up profits by 8.5 per cent in 2022, the Association of American Publishers says.
Angelica Malin, who helps run the west London bookshop alongside her uncles, says: “We’re seeing more and more young people coming into the shop – the BookTok phenomenon is helping people discover new books and authors, and the shop more generally.”
The power of BookTok is so significant that bookshop chain Waterstones says it received its largest number of pre-orders ever for one title in a single day – for Iron Flame, the sequel to TikTok favourite Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.
The adult fantasy book, which follows Violet Sorrengail through her studies at Basgiath War College as she battles with a harsh vice-admiral who threatens to come between her and her partner, was hotly anticipated on BookTok.
Notting Hill bookshop’s Malin says the bookshop’s buyers have seen a particular increase in a new genre, which features escapist plots and racy romantic storylines.
“We have eight buyers for the shop, who are all young themselves, and read around 120 books a year to curate the shop. They’ve noticed a rise in popularity of books that combine fantasy and romance – what we’re now calling romantasy – thanks to TikTok, as well as magical realism.”
Malin adds BookTok is also a great way for people to discover new, independent stores in new cities.
The store, a short walk from Portobello Road Market, inspired the set for the travel bookshop run by Grant in the film Notting Hill, in which he, as a hapless bookseller, seduces a Hollywood actress, played by Julia Roberts.
The hashtag “#booktok” has been used on more than 215 billion videos on the social media platform. Young women are the most avid watchers, and the Publishers’ Association research showed three in five 16- to 25-year-olds say BookTok inspired their “passion for reading”.
Leading BookTokkers, such as Jack Edwards, with more than 612,000 followers, or Jaysen Headley, with more than 720,000 followers, offer discount codes and exclusive insight into upcoming releases.
Hugh Grant in ‘Notting Hill’.
Fantasy romps and mythological retellings are some of the most popular genres, with authors including Sarah J Maas and Madeline Miller often featured in clips.
But older releases, including Jane Austen’s classic work, Pride and Prejudice, and Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, have also had renewed interest after going viral on the platform.
Natalie Wall, a researcher at the English department of the University of Liverpool, wrote in The Conversation last September that BookTok’s impact on what young people are reading is “uniquely powerful”.
Sales have also been bolstered by other online book sharing sites, including GoodReads, where users can share book recommendations and follow friends and authors.
Yazmin How, head of lifestyle and education, TikTok UK, Ireland and Nordics, says: “We have seen #BookTok grow into one of our biggest global communities that is not only impacting book sales, fuelling genre and author discovery, but is even bringing new customers into their local bookshops.”
