In 2020 and 2021, book sales surged, reaching a near 20-year peak, according to industry data. 2021 sales of Hoover's books were up 650% over 2020 sales, with 1.9 million copies sold, according to data from NPD BookScan, the largest book sales tracker in the US. Since mid-2020, TikTok has been the driving force of an unprecedented surge in book sales, industry insiders say. The strategy of marketers has always been to push and advertise newer books, industry experts said, and those usually sell better. Then, around Halloween 2021, sales rose steadily to about 2,000 copies a week.

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