5 Convincing Reasons Authors Should Choose YouTube Over TikTok

We know you’re hearing this book marketing advice everywhere:

You should join TikTok as an author!

BookTok is totally the “thing” right now!

If you want your book to be seen, TikTok is the place to be!

This marketing advice isn’t wrong, necessarily. But it’s not exactly right, either. Let us explain.

First off, we have no hate for TikTok. It IS an incredible platform for creatives, especially authors.

(Related, if you don’t follow @harrybakerpoet, please do. This guy’s poetry is phenomenal, and we love how he’s making poetry accessible to the TikTok generation!)

That said, TikTok is not for everyone. It’s just not.

And if you know us here at Evergreen Authors, you know we are all about finding a personalized marketing strategy that is going to bring you JOY for the lifetime of your book.

So while we do love TikTok, and we love how it works for some authors, and we love how it’s encouraging more people to read, learn, and grow, we have to say that we remain partial to YouTube for creating content that draws in readers and keeps your community growing.

Here are five convincing reasons why authors should choose YouTube over TikTok right now:

1) YouTube is much easier to use.

Okay, okay, hear us out.

TikTok is easy to use in some ways. Download the app, start creating, right? Not exactly.

The thing that makes TikTok great is that there are so many ways you can use filters, music, and other distractions to amplify your message.

For some creators, this is the fun of being on TikTok! And for others, it’s downright paralyzing and confusing.

With YouTube, the expectations for short, witty, colorful, noisy, and filtered sound bites just don’t exist.

We would argue that some of our best performing videos on TikTok aren’t filled with any fancy production… they are simply honest, unedited, and imperfect. People really like that.

2) YouTube is far less time consuming.

Yes, you can make TikTok videos that are only a few seconds long. But you’re going to have to make a LOT OF VIDEOS, and multiple times per day, if you want to get any traction when it comes to views and followers.

Any roundup of tips for going viral on TikTok are going to lead to the same conclusion – you need to spend a LOT of time on that platform if you want it to start resulting in book sales.

YouTube doesn’t have the same algorithm, meaning content you create there can go viral today, tomorrow, or 5 years from now.

With YouTube you get to focus on quality content that you can use in multiple ways for many years to come.

3) YouTube content is evergreen.

While your content on TikTok might also be considered “evergreen”, keep in mind that because the platform rewards new content and trends, the likelihood of a post you make today following a certain trend also being popular in a couple months is very low.

In other words, to use TikTok right, you need to be on trend, at all times. Again, YouTube’s algorithm simply doesn’t work that way.

Your content there doesn’t need to jump on any sort of trending hashtag in order to be seen.

You can create content that you can use over and over again, and not be worried that your content needs to be updated every few weeks in order to capitalize on whatever music or hashtag is popular at the moment.

4) YouTube is a powerful search engine.

You know how we feel about using platforms as search engines (it’s super important to make them part of your book marketing strategy!)

Pinterest, Amazon, they can be thought of as “google” for readers looking to solve problems or find content meeting their needs.

YouTube is also a search engine, and a powerful one.

When people search YouTube, you want your hashtags, description, and of course the content to make it so your video comes up for people searching for it.

TikTok is also a search engine in some ways, but again, given how much the platform rewards new content, the likelihood of your content coming up at the top of any search is low, no matter how many hashtags you use.

And just like any social platform, advertising on TikTok is not cheap. Compare that to advertising on YouTube!

5) YouTube isn’t going anywhere.

We couldn’t write this post without addressing the elephant in the room: the threat of a potential TikTok ban.

While we aren’t experts on any of this political stuff, we do know that the volatility of the platform is making a lot of creatives feel uneasy about putting all their eggs into the TikTok basket, and for good reason.

YouTube is owned by Google, and while there are plenty of articles out there about how AI is taking over Google, we don’t see that happening in the foreseeable future.

For busy authors who are looking for the longest lasting, “safest” bet to connect with their audiences, YouTube is far superior to TikTok in that regard.

We can never stress this enough: TikTok is amazing!

But just like any platform, you want to go into it knowing what you are truly getting yourself into.

If TikTok is too time consuming or stressful for you, skip it. Same with YouTube.

Same with anything that doesn’t bring you joy!

The most important thing is that you as a creative feel empowered to connect and create in a way that makes sense for YOU for the long term.