Yes, it’s the latest craze in social media: lots of short dancing videos by buff men and women, grannies, kids, all kinds; plenty of funny cat and dog videos; and some positively shocking videos as well. 

I go down the rabbit hole with #alongcameabby, an adorable little girl who says the more adorable things; and #aymieandgracie and their cat Penny, who loves her ham and throwing raspberries. 

But in the writing world, there’s also #BookTok, so a few of us are dipping our toes into that world. My friend & author Susan McNabb, #Susan_McNabb, who has a wonderfully written book “Opposite of Famous” about her modeling and acting career, is literally posting a #BookTok a day. We are members of the ALWAYS Facebook group – Alliance for Literary Writers and Yabbering Scribes – and she has challenged us all to jump in on the fun. In fact, at the March 10th ALWAYS lunch meeting at Mimi’s in Chandler, we’re all going to try to do a #BookTok video together. 

I’ve decided to jump into the fray, and have posted half a dozen or so TikTok videos so far. They are kinda fun, yet frustrating. Need to find a trending song; add trending hashtags; stay within the square in the center of the frame; figure out how to invert the image so the words aren’t backwards; how to add words to the screen and have them pop up at the right time. 

But once you have done a couple, it’s not so bad. 

Will we sell more books? Hard to know. Some have, some haven’t. 

Will the craze fade eventually? Remember MySpace, Vine and AIM? 

“They” say it’s good to be an early adopter, so I’m jumping in. 

Who’s with me? Have you joined TikTok? What are your favorite people? When will you create your own #BookTok video? Let me know in the comment below or by emailing Laurie@ReadLaurieFagen.com.