How to Use Short-Form Video to Market Your Book

Between email newsletters, online advertising, and live events, there are countless ways to market your book in the modern age. However, short-form video has emerged as one of the most effective tools for book discovery, particularly among younger audiences.

In this post, I’ll walk you through how to use short-form video to market your book — with an emphasis on TikTok and Instagram, the main platforms where this kind of content reaches readers. I’ll share practical tips to improve and enhance your content, along with examples to show what other authors are doing right.

Choose a platform to prioritize

Before diving into short-form video production, you’ll want to prioritize a platform. There are two main options: TikTok and Instagram.

While the type of video content that succeeds on one can work well on the other, there are a few platform-specific quirks worth evaluating before you immerse yourself in either algorithm.

First, consider your target audience and where they might gravitate. You might imagine these platforms would divide along generational lines, with Instagram being more millennial-friendly and TikTok catering more to Gen Z. But in fact, the more significant breakdown is gender-based:

• On Instagram, up to 55% of users are women, while 45% are men.
• On TikTok, those stats are reversed — the global TikTok audience consists of around 55% men and 45% women, and male users aged 25-34 make up nearly a quarter of TikTok’s entire user base.

This gender breakdown won’t be relevant to every author, and it may not reflect your readership on these platforms. But it could be worth considering as a starting point if you write in a slightly “gendered” category, genre, or subgenre.

In addition to audience demographics, think about where you’re starting from as an author. Here’s what we’ve observed based on our Reedsy marketing campaigns:

• On TikTok, videos from small accounts can still gain lots of views quickly if the algorithm favors them. If you use TikTok, just think about how frequently you see new memes and trends — and how fleeting that trend cycle seems to be. Yes, you can go viral at any time on TikTok, but the downside is that it doesn’t guarantee long-term visibility.
• On Instagram, the algorithm weighs higher follower counts and engagement history more heavily. This is why you’ll often see the same Reels featured repeatedly on your feed and Explore page; on Instagram, pure novelty is less important than what Instagram already “knows” about you and what you like.

If you’re starting an author page from scratch and feel open to experimenting, TikTok might be a better bet. If you already have some followers (anywhere from 500-1,000 or more) and you’d like to keep your brand fairly consistent, you might go with Instagram instead.

All that said, many authors start by posting on both platforms just to see what happens. It’s not hard to upload the same content twice; the challenge is engaging with your followers on each platform. So consider trying both apps to start — but then shift to whichever one gains traction, so you don’t burn yourself out going back and forth.

Start with simple, engagement-friendly clips

While it’s true that some of your most important marketing will occur around the time of your launch, that doesn’t mean you should wait until publication to begin marketing your book. On the contrary, the earlier you start, the better.

For books that aren’t quite ready to publish, character introductions are a great place to begin with video content. Introduce your protagonist with a quick text-on-screen breakdown of their personality, or a tidbit about their backstory. Visual accompaniment will go a long way here — so add some art of your protagonist, or a real-life model who fits your character to a tee.

As an example, fantasy writer Doro Becker garnered thousands of views with the below TikTok about finding great “fancast” photos for her female MC. The video is engaging because she shares her own excitement about the unknown model, and also subtly invites comments by saying she doesn’t know who it is, spurring her followers to speculate:

A cover reveal is another great way to build buzz. Short-form video is a visual medium, so a striking cover (or the promise of one) makes all the difference. Start small by sharing a cover close-up, color palette, or a teasing image collage. Historical romantasy author Sasha Peyton Smith does all three here, along with a dramatic “3-2-1” countdown:

Keep your content authentic and relatable

Aside from creating content about your book and characters, posting other relatable clips about “the writing life” can work wonders.

Because they don’t require any wider context about your work to be enjoyed, these videos can have incredible algorithmic reach. They’ll help you attract a general book-loving audience, whom you can then convert into readers invested in you and your story.

Particularly on TikTok, you might take a lighthearted or comedic approach, as fantasy author Shad Jay does here. Their video (with 671k views) uses wacky cuts and memes like “galaxy brain” to make viewers smile. The ironic juxtaposition with classical music — plus the fact that the video is only 12 seconds long — makes for a perfect storm of TikTok virality:

Or take a more earnest tack by sharing anecdotes and experiences from your author journey. This kind of candor does fairly well on both platforms — but more so on Instagram, aligning with the algorithm’s penchant for “deeper” engagement and investment.

Take this emotional clip from author Louisa Carmody, accompanied by a caption about her book finally getting picked up by Hachette. Louisa generally sees much more engagement on these types of posts on Instagram than she does on her TikTok. The satisfying combination of seeing her hard work pay off and her raw, relatable response to success has racked up 197k views on Reels:

Depending on your publishing process and the resources at your disposal, there are plenty of other ways to turn your journey into compelling video content. If you’ve printed physical copies of your book, for example, you could film a book unboxing video for readers — or even show what your book looks like on local shelves. You could also try offering a giveaway, reviewing other books in your genre, or cross-promoting with fellow authors.

The opportunities are endless; check out this post for even more short-form video ideas to try.

Hook viewers in the first few seconds

In the world of short-form content, you only have a few seconds to grab potential readers before they swipe. On TikTok, this was historically known as the three-second rule — though recent reports from creators indicate that users are swiping even faster in 2026.

You have more leeway on Instagram, especially if users are finding you via the Explore page (which shows multiple posts and Reels all together). But that element of visual “grabbiness” remains crucial. A user will never click on your video if the thumbnail doesn’t intrigue them.

To that end, lead with a strong visual (your book cover, your face on camera, or some striking imagery) paired with clear, high-contrast text. And once users click, don’t be greedy with their time! There are various timing recommendations for different types of content and engagement goals, but in general, you rarely want to go above 30 seconds on Instagram. TikTok videos should be around the same — this TikTok for Business primer suggests that the optimal length is around 21-34 seconds, though it depends on the type of content.

As for the content itself: comparative titles (or “comp” titles) are one great way to convey a lot of information about your book in just a few words. And while the classic “if you liked X, you’ll love my book!” format can be fun, it can also come across as generic. As an alternative, try pitching your book as an amalgamation of two popular titles, like author HK Smith does here:

This allows you to be precise about your book’s tone and aesthetic. At the same time, you can appeal to readers from two distinct literary spaces — potentially doubling your reach.

You might also try leading with the core appeal of your story, especially if that appeal is largely emotional (which can work great on Instagram). Similar to the comp title approach, the goal here isn’t to explain your plot in great detail. Instead, aim to communicate what readers will get out of your story. Perhaps your story subverts standard genre conventions (like Monty K. Rue’s The Last Dragon, told from a male POV) — or maybe it includes a well-loved trope, like found family or enemies-to-lovers.

Use whichever aspect of your book is most likely to hook potential readers. Make sure the text is centered and big enough for viewers to read from a thumbnail in someone’s feed. Free editing apps like CapCut or InShot make it easy to trim clips and add text.

Also, while this is probably obvious from all our examples so far, don’t disregard that overlay text — or captions for spoken audio! Not only are these measures important for accessibility, but they also just make sense practically, since so many people scroll TikTok and Instagram without sound. Fortunately, it’s easy to turn on auto-captioning on both TikTok and IG Reels; you’ll find further guidance here and here.

Take advantage of trending audio

This final section is more pertinent to TikTok, though do look out for “audio trend creep” over to other platforms — especially with actual music, which tends to do well on Instagram.

Still, it’s undeniable that white-hot audio trends often originate on TikTok; think of last year’s “Nothing beats a Jet2Holiday” sound, or the recent musical mashup of Nicki Minaj’s “Beez in the Trap” with 4 Non Blondes’ 1993 hit “What’s Up?”.

If you don’t know what kind of audio is currently trending, start by searching “booktok + [your genre]” and look at top results. Don’t forget to check the dates — TikTok keeps its “For You” content pretty topical, but when you’re seeking out a term, the algorithm often surfaces older content. Try to find posts from the last week or so.

The “Others searched for” feature can be helpful here, especially if your initial search doesn’t yield much. For instance, searching for “booktok thriller” on TikTok turns up related queries like:

• “psychological thriller books”
• “thriller book recs”
• “books that will emotionally destroy you”
• “books that you can’t put down”

Start scrolling, following, and building your own algorithm to discover more. In truth, the best way to know what’s trending is to see it on your own feed rather than searching it retroactively — so if you want to succeed on TikTok, you’ll have to get pretty hands-on. And of course, with every bit of trending audio, you must find a way to make it your own — like these authors did with their own unique gestures and mannerisms around a “worldbuilding” sound:

Finally, you may notice that many TikTok tags are dominated by original audio rather than trending audio. Don’t be afraid to get on the mic yourself! Talk about your own favorite books, your most beloved tropes, or what you’re struggling with in your draft. Try to be responsive as well — answer other creators’ questions; reply to your followers’ comments with new videos; get involved in discourse around new releases and adaptations.

Consistently using writing-specific audio — whether trending or self-created — will signal to the algorithm that your content belongs in the book community. And again, the more you fill your TikTok FYP or Instagram Explore page with these videos, the savvier you’ll become about what content to create: a viral cycle!

The tips in this post should provide a solid foundation for your short-form content, but the best way to learn what works for you is to simply start posting. Upload consistently, pay attention to what gains traction, and make adjustments as you go. Best of luck!

The views and opinions expressed in this guest post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of BookBub.

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About Nick Bailey (Guest Blogger)

Nick Bailey writes about anything and everything in the realm of writing and publishing for Reedsy. Nick aims to provide valuable insights and practical tips to the Reedsy community in his blog posts. Aside from books, Nick enjoys hiking, electronic music, and filling up his personal cookbook with new recipes.