“There was this really big gap between then and when someone preordered,” Aster said. Neither of Aster’s previous middle-grade novels published in 20 had the amount of success - or hype - as “Lightlark” had buzzed, so then the waiting period began to set in for the books to be printed and to get an official release date. “I have seen BookTok be kind of a level playing field because like anything can go viral. “I’m Latina, I’m Colombian, and unfortunately, books from POC authors don’t necessarily always get the strongest publisher support,” she said. I was able to kind of shout into the dark void of the Internet and say ‘Hey, would you read this?’ And like a million people were able to shout back like, ‘Yes, we would.’”Īster walked away with a six-figure advance from Abrams Books as part of a two-book deal - nearly unheard of for a first time young adult author. “The thing that I’ve learned from TikTok is that it’s almost like a market validation tool, or that’s at least what I used it for. “So (TikTok) really gave us leverage,” she said.

And because of the user interest suggested by that TikTok data, the novel went to auction between a handful of remaining publishers. But it’s like again, I had literally nothing to lose.”īut the next morning, she checked TikTok, and it had over a million views and thousands of comments asking how to purchase the book and how to read it. “And so it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m proving everyone right, no one wants this concept,’” she feared as she went to bed. Courtesy Jennifer TrahanĪnd at first, it flopped. Alex Aster, 27, is the author of 'Lightlark' and two other middle-grade books. “Like, OK, publishing is saying this isn’t going to sell well, but like, I really believe in myself.”Īster told TODAY that while she has pursued writing for over a decade, and previously published two middle grade books called the “Emblem Island” series, she went out on a whim and posted a TikTok in March 2021 asking if anyone would be interested in reading the plot of what would become her young adult novel, “Lightlark,” publishing Aug. “I felt very powerless and hopeless,” Aster told TODAY of the chances of her book getting published.

Alex aster lightlark