A 1992 guide to building sheds and barns, Monte Burch’s "How to Build Small Barns & Outbuildings," has experienced a significant sales increase, largely due to its promotion by influencers on the social media platform TikTok. The book's resurgence is part of a broader trend where BookTok, a community dedicated to book reviews and recommendations, is breathing new life into older and less conventional titles.
Several BookTok creators, including @onedopepawpaw, @toddcawood, and @masked_gamer_, have featured Burch's manual in viral videos, leading to a surge in demand. One video alone garnered 1.3 million views, with the creator humorously presenting the book as a guide for "how to builds." Charlotte Bryla, director of advertising and social commerce at Hachette Book Group, which publishes the title, reported that the company's website sold out of its inventory within days of the videos' release and required restocking. Bryla noted that what was typically a steady backlist seller saw an "exciting spike in sales" after going viral.
This phenomenon extends beyond DIY guides. Hachette has also observed a similar increase in sales for Catherine Newman's children's books, "What Can I Say?" (published in 2022) and "How to Be a Person" (published in 2020). These life-skills titles, despite their original publication dates, have recently appeared on The New York Times bestseller list for the first time. Bryla indicated that books on subjects such as crocheting and livestock care have also gained popularity through the BookTok community.
Data from TikTok reveals a substantial growth in sales for major publishers on the platform. The Big Five publishers—Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Hachette, and Simon & Schuster—collectively saw their platform sales increase by 1,300% year-over-year from the 2024 holiday season to the 2025 season. As of the first quarter of 2026, the number of books available on TikTok Shop in the United States reached 4.5 million products. Globally, the hashtag #BookTok had generated 80 million posts by June 1.
For some BookTokers, promoting overlooked backlist titles offers a sense of accomplishment alongside potential financial rewards. Steph Pilavin, a BookTok user and operator of an online book club called Celestial, expressed a desire to contribute positively to the broader literary community by highlighting older books.