“Having readers share their experience of a book in compelling ways that spark others to read those novels? That’s amazing. “It’s thrilling to see how #BookTok is bringing new readers to backlist titles,” said Nowlin’s current editor, Annette Pollert-Morgan. If He Had Been with Me currently sits at the #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list in the young adult fiction category with more than 12,000 copies sold in April. “I had heard about #BookTok’s influence, but I figured it was too late for it to affect me unless I released something new,” Nowlin said.Ĭonsidering the hashtag #IfHeHadBeenWithMe currently has 70.8 million views, and the hashtag for the forthcoming companion novel #IfOnlyIHadToldHer currently sits at more than 1 million views, Nowlin’s book found readers at the perfect time.

About a year ago, she began to receive messages from readers who had pointed to TikTok as their source for finding her book, though she wasn’t entirely sure what #BookTok could do for her then nine-year-old novel. Nowlin believes she was the first to notice the book’s rise to #BookTok fame. If He Had Been with Me has been met with praise and recommendations in the form of tearful videos on the social media platform. Highlighting the book’s evergreen themes of young love, angst, regret, and missed opportunity, fans on TikTok have been anything but quiet. “ If He Had Been with Me has always had a quiet cult following.” “The thing is, though the book faded, it didn’t vanish,” Nowlin told PW. Her debut received a starred review from Kirkus, as well as positive reviews from School Library Journal and Junior Library Guild, and earned her a small but committed following of readers. When tragedy strikes their community, Autumn considers the repercussions of their fallout, and the endless possibilities of what life could have been for them both had their friendship never ended.īack in 2013, If He Had Been with Me had a “very well received, but quiet” release, according to author Nowlin. Ten years after its release, Nowlin will publish If Only I Had Told Her, a companion novel due out from Sourcebooks Fire in October.Īcquired by Leah Hultenschmidt during her tenure at Sourcebooks Fire, If He Had Been with Me follows Autumn, a high schooler with a tight-knit group of friends who can’t avoid the feelings brought up whenever she crosses paths with her former best friend Finn. Laura Nowlin has joined the league of authors anointed a #BookTok success story with her 2013 debut YA novel, If He Had Been with Me.

Laura nowlin books