Alex Aster is the award-winning author of the Emblem Island series, the first of which was named Barnes & Noble’s Book of the Month, and the second of which was recently released. She’s active on Twitter @byalexaster here. On her nationwide book tour to over 50 Barnes & Noble stores, Alex posted her journey on her TikTok and Reels—and went viral. Again. And again. And… again.

“In two weeks, I had over five million views on my videos highlighting my book and book tour,” Aster says. “Honestly, I was shocked. And the views translated into real sales.”

She isn’t kidding. One of her viral videos shows a girl at a Barnes & Noble do a double take after seeing Aster signing books, before pulling Emblem Island: Curse of the Night Witch out of her bag. “She told me she had her mom drive her to Barnes & Noble because she had seen my book in a TikTok video! That was the moment I realized how big of an impact TikTok was having on my book.” That video on Reels ended up racking up more than 1.3 million views.

In fact, by the end of Aster’s book tour, most Barnes & Noble stores were completely sold out. And though previous Book of the Month selections were already established, bestselling authors, Aster outsold them. “I owe it all to TikTok, Reels, and my amazing followers,” Aster says.

Aster’s gratitude to the social media app doesn’t stop there. A video describing the concept of her new book racked up over 1.5 million views and helped her snag a 6-figure deal. “I was already on submission with the book, but the views and thousands of comments helped validate my idea. Social media is amazing because it’s a free market validation tool, to show that there is true interest in a concept.”

BookTok has proven to be a powerful niche on the popular app, and, with over 350,000 followers, Aster has found her place at its center, as both a content creator, and author. “I love posting videos for fun,” she says. “The fact that it also helps my books is truly just an unexpected bonus.”