World’s most powerful literary critic is on TikTok (newstatesman.com)

I expected that to be a hit job but it's actually rather poignant.

I wish we had more plurality. Not just convergence on one ultra influencer for books, but an ecosystem, with offerings tailored to audiences.

I had to go through a cookie request, a subscribe to us popup and then had to close another popup telling me I could only read two articles.

[flagged]

[flagged]

I acknowledge his expertise in literature. I find his approach to non-fiction sometimes less insightful and note a recent shift toward following popular book trends but it’s still great to see his videos.

I went and looked at the Tiktoks. As far as I can see from the few videos I've watched it's not so much "criticism" as "plot overview, small background details, and what I liked about it".

It's kind of weird it's being framed as a tiktok sensation when there's nothing to really differenciate him from other booktokers? Other than perhaps more subscribers than usual.

Also, per the article:

> Edwards champions BookTok and also defends it...

Kind of interesting to note given his video saying he doesn't like booktok books[1]. I suppose he knows not to piss in the pond he drinks from.

[1] https://youtu.be/AuEipfQbHrU

influence ≠ powerful I admit if you are permanently only this might blend together.

How good is the book he successfully sold to HarperCollins, The Uni-Verse? Either he's pretty good, or he was quite lucky, or he had some inside track.

[flagged]

Sort of an aside, but what's next now that Tiktok is deeply into end-stage enshittification? It'd dead now, a formerly fun app morphed into grotesque eyeball milking system owned by one of the worst people on the planet. I deleted the app this week after the feed ramped ad content up to being an ad every other video, frequently with ads back to back to back.

It's cooked.

How interesting. I thought booktok was an aggregated list of the books people were most talking about on TikTok or something. Turns out it’s just one guy making recommendations.

Guys, this is an ad.

If you’re not on TikTok yet, and are curious, just don’t. Your life will be so much better if you just stay away.

Why are all these institutions so susceptible to bring led by so few people? Can't they figure out what books to get without being told?