Tik Tok for writers & meet author (and world record holder) Alex Morgan
Plus latest news, events, and opportunities including Booker Prize winner
My dear wordsmiths,
No behind the scenes TV glamour this week, I’m afraid. Instead, more behind the laptop every evening, editing, stressing, editing (write reject repeat) instead. And that’s after a long day at work and other time-stealing activities - so get out the world’s smallest violin for me please. It seems apt that this week’s guest, writer Alex Morgan, has a few wise words for all writers and journalists - and they may not be what you (we) want to hear.
‘If you think there’s another job you could do just as well, choose that instead’.
Alex Morgan
Then again, I don’t think any of us were under the impression any of this would be easy. Writers through time have also, well, written about it. As Maya Angelou once wrote in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, ‘There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.’ Or perhaps Ernest Hemingway summed it up, ‘There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.’
Worryingly, there is even more to it these days. Typing and bleeding isn’t enough, even if you have performed a miracle, gained an agent, a publisher and then a book deal. Oh no, you must also be a public speaker, a marketing genius and it really helps if you are a social media whizz or celebrity. Then, there’s Facebook, X, Threads, Instagram, WhatsApp, Websites, GoodReads, YouTube and the rest. And then there is Tik Tok, or more specifically, #BookTok.
This hashtag is a book-selling phenomenon fuelled by creative book bloggers, authors and reviewers posting videos usually less than a minute in duration. It’s accessible, highly relatable, quick to consume and entertaining - plus it resonates with its audience due to its authenticity.
Authors and book bloggers jumped on the trend and the rest is history - bloggers have become authors, books have been re-popularised and brought back into circulation and millions of books have been sold. Traditional booksellers have acknowledged its power with #BookTok charts #BookTok sections in shops. In 2023, Tik Tok even launched its first book awards.
The #BookTok hashtag has grown more than 160% to over 138 billion views in just the past year as book-influencers have gained massive followings. Euronews.culture
You can’t afford to ignore it. So here is my quick, inexpert, 10-point beginners guide to #BookTok ( bearing in mind there is much more to it and it takes time to build an audience - unless you can go viral!)
Join Tok Tok on your phone, create a profile with a photo/or a brief video (smile)
Craft the profile carefully - say who you are using key words (author, books, romance, historical)
You have one link in profile, use it carefully and make it relevant.
Have a play around - search for and follow popular Tik Tok-ers on hashtag #BookTok to see how its done. The app’s clever algorithm will serve you content it thinks you want (it’s terrifyingly accurate) and offer to link you up with contacts/friends. Do so.
Think about what you want to create - it’s not supposed to be film quality, the more authentic the better. Have fun. I recommend good lighting although Tik Tok filters are incredible - you can also record audio over video later.
A starting point is jumping on trends - use trending audio or video - or use Stitch (where you recreate another video), start practicing your Tik Tok dances (not compulsory!) Copy-catting is positively encouraged.
Post it, use the hashtag #BookTok
Again, don’t forget to follow other users, like and interact (search the hashtag).
Bearing in mind links are not clickable (apart from one of your profile) but you can tag books and products if you set up links with, for example, Shopify.
Struggling? Ask the youngest person you know… they will know better than me.
Meet… Alex Morgan
Alex Morgan is a Scottish journalist and author living in the Lake District. She’s had two books published and is working on two more: a memoir about autism and a gothic novel.
Who?
I'm Alex and earlier this year I founded theautisticwoman.co.uk, the UK’s only comprehensive online source of autism information for women – and others – by an autistic woman. I spent fifty-eight years with undiagnosed autism, almost forty of them working as a journalist.
A writer, sub-editor and editor on everything from women’s magazines to national newspapers, I eventually specialised in personal finance. For the last fifteen years of my career, I combined this with a role in marketing and communications for the National Trust.
‘A writing career isn’t for the faint-hearted’.
Alex Morgan
My first novel, Tandem, won the 2013 Hookline Novel Competition judged by book groups from around the UK, and my first non-fiction book, A Practical Guide to Camping, written with my pal Suzanne Elsworth and my husband, Trevor Morgan, was published in 2022.
When I’m not writing, or raging about the misuse of apostrophes, I spend as much time as possible outdoors, fell walking, wild camping and rowing. A British Rowing qualified coach and member of the international Border Rowers group, I helped set – and still hold – two indoor rowing endurance world records.
What?
Sixteen months ago, after nearly six decades feeling like I was speaking a foreign language without a phrase book, I accidentally discovered that I was autistic. Suddenly, all my struggles understanding and fitting in with the rest of the human race made sense.
Since then, I’ve made it my mission to explode the gendered myths surrounding autism and reveal its true impact on women. It’s thought there could be as many as 700,000 of us living with undiagnosed autism in the UK alone.
Creating theautisticwoman.co.uk and talking about it on TV, radio and in print was the first step. The next was writing Mothertongue, a memoir that tells my own story alongside those of other late-diagnosed women. The proposal is currently on submission to agents and I have my fingers and toes crossed one will pick it up.
Where?
I began my writing career in the early eighties as an unpaid intern at my local newspaper, the East Lothian Courier, during vacations from Oxford University. After that I did a post-grad journalism course at what's now the London College of Communication. I moved from there to work in magazines before heading home to Scotland and a career mostly spent in newspapers.
Why?
Mrs Brown, my primary one teacher, told my mum I would be a writer when I grew up, which is weird as I struggled to learn to read and write. She clearly knew what she was talking about, though. Once I got to grips with the difference between ‘b’ and ‘d’ and all the other baffling stuff, there was no stopping me.
When?
Tandem is out of print, as the publisher folded a couple of years ago, but there are second-hand copies floating around on the internet. A Practical Guide to Camping is available from all the usual outlets, and – hopefully – it won’t be long before Mothertongue is out there too. I’m also working on a second novel, a gothic love story.
How?
A writing career isn’t for the faint-hearted. It used to be that talent alone would get your name in print. But with stable, well-paid work increasingly hard to find, you also need a good dose of single-minded determination.
If you think there’s another job you could do just as well, choose that instead. But if writing, be that journalism or books, is all you’ve ever wanted to do, go for it. Learn from every other writer you meet, from every mistake you make and every rejection you receive (there will be plenty), and you’ll get there in the end.
What are you reading?
I’ve been reading a lot of books about autism recently. Fern Brady’s Strong Female Character and Pete Wharmby’s Untypical were two of the best. I’m just finishing Caroline Criado Perez’s excellent but deeply depressing Invisible Women: Exposing data bias in a world designed for men. It’s not just in diagnosis and understanding of autism that myth and misogyny are rife.
Thanks so much Alex.
News, events and opportunities:
The Booker Prize: Prophet Song by Paul Lynch has won the Booker Prize for 2023, it was announced this week. He is the fifth Irish writer to win the Booker Prize, for his exhilarating and propulsive portrait of a nation sliding into tyranny – and one woman’s attempts to hold her family together. He wins £50,000, with £2,500 awarded to each of the shortlisted authors.
Esi Edugyan, Chair of the judges, said: ‘From that first knock at the door, Prophet Song forces us out of our complacency as we follow the terrifying plight of a woman seeking to protect her family in an Ireland descending into totalitarianism. We felt unsettled from the start, submerged in – and haunted by – the sustained claustrophobia of Lynch’s powerfully constructed world. He flinches from nothing, depicting the reality of state violence and displacement and offering no easy consolation.’
David Walliams book-signing: Walliams will be at Waterstones, Cambridge, to sign copies of his new book for children, The Blunders. Book a ticket in advance to secure a place in the queue. Ticket Price: £14.99, Includes entry and a copy of The Blunders (RRP £14.99) available for collection on the day.
Queen Mary 2’s Literature festival at sea (2024): Perfect for those who like book festivals, cruises, and are feeling flush - you can join the Queen Mary 2 for a seven day transatlantic programme of book-ish events featuring many a lucky author from Lynda La Plante and Clare Mackintosh. Journalist Julia Wheeler, literary agent Luigi Bonomi, and even former Home Secretary Alan Johnson have snagged a sun lounger. Where was my invite?
If you’ve read this far, you are my favourite! Have a great week, I’ll be sharing festive reads next week so please email any suggestions to writerejectrepeat@substack.com Thanks for reading and PLEASE share, encourage people to subscribe! Nicola x