Former The Bachelor lead Luke Bateman recently took his love of reading to BookTok, where he shares short clips of himself reviewing novels, which led to him landing a book deal.
Luke launched his book account on TikTok in late April, and the first post was flooded with thirsty comments asking him to review risque books, which he did. Just over a month later, his publishing deal was officially signed.
The announcement has caused an uproar on social media from people who’ve questioned why Luke managed to land a deal so quickly, but marginalised authors who have been trying to land deals for years are unable to.
Luke told Chattr that he understands the frustration and wants to use his platform and privilege to bring attention to those authors.
“Obviously, a lot of these conversations are very new to me, and I wholeheartedly understand that so many people have felt let down by the industry,” he said.
“I have so much empathy, love, and grace for people who struggle, and I have no idea what they’ve been through in their life, the challenges they’ve faced, or, you know, the discrimination.
“So I can wholeheartedly understand how angry and resentful these things would make people.”
“For something to incite such a severe response in people, it’s obviously something that’s really, really close to their heart.”
@chattrau Luke Bateman (aka @lukesreads) has responded to the #booktok backlash regarding his two-book publishing deal with @Atria Books #booktokfyp #aussiebooktok #diversebooks #bookrecommendations #lukebateman #lukesreads #publishing #booktoker #bookdeal ♬ Daylight by Taylor Swift sped up – brooke ⎕ âš
How Luke Bateman wants to use his book deal to bring attention to marginalised authors
Luke’s TikTok post about his book announcement has been flooded with comments from people calling out his privilege in getting the publishing deal.
“This opportunity is the intersection of white privilege, male privilege, and pretty privilege. Not a reflection of worth,” one person wrote on his post.
Luke told Chattr that the comments encouraged him to speak to marginalised authors to hear how he can use his platform to help them.
“I’ve actually spoken with a few [people]. I was speaking with a Latino woman yesterday who was sharing her story, and she was actually saying that she was just at a conference on the weekend,” he said.
“The authors in there were saying how publishers had told them to publish under different names, or, yeah, or do stories — I won’t quote because I can’t remember exactly what she said — but basically, do stories that would fit more into a different audience,” he said.
He added that the conversations he’s been having have been eye-opening and he’s planning to review and promote books from marginalised authors on his BookTok, which has 175,000 followers.
“I just said, like, I obviously have advantages that other people don’t. How do I capitalise on those to help lift everyone up?” he said. “If I can use my platform and my voice and my privilege and position in society to help uplift others.”
“[I want to] promote indie authors and self-published authors, reading more books that they obviously publish [and] promoting those, sharing those and talking about those.”
Luke added that while he can recognise his privilege, he’s still excited about the opportunity to fulfil his dream of becoming a published author.
“We can hold two truths at the same time. I can still feel very satisfied, and I can still hold a lot of joy for myself, while also understanding that there are other battles fought by people and that I can help with. You know, those two things don’t have to be separate things, those two truths can be held simultaneously.”
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