Booktok and Bookstagram: how @kevintnorman conquered both

[Dimaeiya333]

Book lover and LGBTQ+ activist Kevin T. Norman (@kevintnorman) started creating content for TikTok during the pandemic, when he was laid off from his job as a waiter and suddenly had a lot of free time. Since then, his community has grown to 240,000 followers and he has been selected as TikTok’s pioneering LGBTQIA creator in the United States. Perhaps more impressive, however, is Norman’s performance on Instagram, which he joined in April 2023 and where his ever-growing community of 105,000 followers generBook lover and LGBTQ+ activist Kevin T. Norman (@kevintnorman) started creating content for TikTok during the pandemic, when he was laid off from his job as a waiter and suddenly had a lot of free time. Since then, his community has grown to 240,000 followers and he has been selected as TikTok’s pioneering LGBTQIA creator in the United States. Perhaps more impressive, however, is Norman’s performance on Instagram, which he joined in April 2023 and where his ever-growing community of 105,000 followers generates a whopping 24.5% engagement rate on Reels. In this interview, Norman talks about his exponential growth as a content creator, dealing with negativity on the internet, and what he sees for the future.


How did you get started as a creator?
TikTok was a new platform that everyone was talking about. As a creator, I thought it was a great opportunity because I knew the platform was going to become more and more popular. On TikTok, you have to find your niche . One day, I saw a video about books and I was like, “Oh my god, I love books, I can talk about books.” Then I had to specify what kind of books I wanted to talk about. When I was trying to figure out my sexuality and come out, I was turning to books to understand it. So I decided to focus on queer and diverse literature, and create this online resource for other queer people who want to come out, learn more about their sexuali vp design officers email database ty, or just find stories that represent who they are. I didn’t think about it, but then I made a video: “If you like Call Me By Your Name [by André Aciman], check out these other books.” I posted it, went to dinner with my mom, and the next day the video had 50,000 views. I’d never had anything like that happen to me before. I realized that people were interested in this, so I started making more videos and it grew intoates a whopping 24.5% engagement rate on Reels. In this interview, Norman talks about his exponential growth as a content creator, dealing with negativity on the internet, and what he sees for the future.


How did you get started as a creator?
TikTok was a new platform that everyone was talking about. As a creator, I thought it was a great opportunity because I knew the platform was going to become more and more popular. On TikTok, you have to find your niche . One day, I saw a video about books and I was like, “Oh my god, I love books, I can talk about books.” Then I had to specify what kind of books I wanted to talk about. When I was trying to figure out my sexuality and come out, I was turning to books to understand it. So I decided to focus on queer and diverse literature, and create this online resource for other queer people who want to come out, learn more about their sexuality, or just find stories that represent who they are. I didn’t think about it, but then I made a video: “If you like Call Me By Your Name [by André Aciman], check out these other books.” I posted it, went to dinner with my mom, and the next day the video had 50,000 views. I’d never had anything like that happen to me before. I realized that people were interested in this, so I started making more videos and it grew int