TikTok, arguably the most popular social media platform has aided many authors in increasing the popularity of their writing. The hashtag “booktok” became progressively popular over the last few years, and gave many authors a push in their success and sales. Stores such as Books A Million and Barnes and Noble began to put together sections dedicated to BookTok and gave traction to many authors.  A few examples of these authors would be Colleen Hoover, Emily Henry, and Ali Hazelwood. Though those authors already had a growing reputation, there is one author who gained a jumpstart in her career because of one viral video on TikTok. Alex Aster, who has been an author since she was twelve years old posted a video pitching the plot of a new series she was to begin writing, called Lightlark. The pitch was simple but seemed to intrigue a vast audience and some say it resembled the Hunger Games series. This video had over two million views, and Aster’s career was changed from that day on. The timeline of her success is remarkable, and she became very successful before the book was even released. In January 2022, a few months after posting the pitch, she posted a video asking her audience on TikTok to pick between two book covers, immersing them directly into the book’s release process. In February, the book cover was revealed in Times Square on a billboard. In March, the producers of Twilight and The Maze Runner reached out to Aster with an offer to work on a movie deal but had not confirmed the deal quite yet. In April, Aster released Lightlark to over 30 foreign countries, and during that same month, Business Insider wrote an article about the series and her success. In May, Universal Studios offered Aster a movie deal and bought the rights to Lightlark with a seven-figure deal. Fast forward to July, Aster announced the creation of the movie at Comicon in San Diego and in the Hollywood Reporter. In August, Lightlark was released and broke the young adult fiction debut in its first week, with 25,000 copies sold. The book continued to debut on every bestseller list at #1 and continued to be a New York Times Bestseller for four-plus months after the release. In November, Aster was invited onto the Kelly Clarkson show with Kristen Bell. In December, she was named Forbes 30 Under 30. All of this success happened within one year, and it is shocking to see how much TikTok may be transforming the careers of authors in such a short time.