We had the joy of collaborating with author Leah Cupps for her book One Last Bite. A book described as ‘a delicious psychological thriller with a shocking twist’. Leah’s books have great ratings on Goodreads and Amazon and she has found a large community of enthusiastic readers. Leah had the desire to also connect with Booktokers. Since Booktok was a playground she was unfamiliar with, she reached out to us to help her.

We arranged a book tour which helped her get in touch with booktokers that filmed engaging videos about her book. We also organized a live broadcast on TikTok in which we discussed her book with two readers and a host on screen while others participated in the chat. And lastly, we pushed the TikTok videos about One Last Bite with TikTok SparkAds which led to her videos reaching a large audience.

Now that the campaign has ended, we were curious to know how Leah experienced her first steps on Booktok and we asked her some questions.

Hi Leah, thanks for wanting to answer our burning questions! Please tell us a bit about you as a writer and the types of books that you write.

I am an avid reader of psychological thrillers, so it’s no surprise that I write them as well. I’m particularly intrigued by the concept of deception, both from a character’s perspective and in terms of playing with readers’ perceptions. I also incorporate quite a bit of action in my books, as it’s something I personally enjoy in both books and movies.

How did you come up with the idea for One Last Bite?

I love a good Michelin-starred restaurant as much as the next person. One Last Bite came to me because I hadn’t read many psychological thrillers set in a restaurant environment. The book was born from combining my love of food with the thrill of a good book twist.

One Last Bite scores a 4.2 rating on Amazon with 1,669 ratings. Many authors would love to receive such an impressive amount of reviews! Please spill your secret…

I can’t take credit for the reviews. I give all credit to my publisher, Inkubator Books, who does a fantastic job both marketing and securing reviews for my books.

We connected you to a group of readers on Instagram and TikTok. They received One Last Bite and shared content about it. How did you experience your collaboration with our community?

I really enjoyed getting feedback from the community. While I have many written reviews of my book, I don’t often get to see live videos of people talking about what they’ve read, which was really exciting. I especially enjoyed the TikTok Live—it was wonderful to hear others discuss my work.

We ran an advertising campaign for your book on TikTok resulting in more than 110,000 views. How do you feel about BookTok and the importance of this community for book sales?

One of the reasons I reached out to you is that I understand the power of BookTok. I’ve read numerous articles about books going viral and gaining significant exposure through the TikTok BookTok community. I had no idea where to start or how to crack the BookTok code, and Bookinfluencers.com did a wonderful job arranging a tour for me and getting me much more exposure than I could have achieved on my own.

We hosted a BookTok Live (1 hour online discussion on TikTok) about your book. How did it feel hearing people speak about your book? And did you hear anything that surprised you?

The BookTok Live was a ton of fun. I especially enjoyed the first 15 minutes or so when I was just listening to everyone discuss the book without my input. Getting to interact with readers who had experienced my book was really rewarding.

In the second half of the discussion you joined in. What was that like?

As a writer, I prefer to be behind the computer instead of live on screen, and in some ways I operate in a vacuum, so it was great to get other people’s feedback and ideas. It was also fun to hear about other books people enjoy that are similar to my own.

When may we expect a new thriller from you? Can you tell us a bit about it?

I currently have three thrillers released with Inkubator Books—all psychological thrillers, including One Last Bite, You Are Not Alone, and Sweet Little Lies. Sweet Little Lies was just released in January. My next book is a psychological thriller about a young woman on the run from an abusive husband who gets caught up in a tornado. It has many fun twists and family drama woven throughout. I’m nearly finished with it and I’m chomping at the bit to get it to my editor. I hope it releases this summer.

We can’t wait! Are there any last thoughts you’d like to share?

Thank you to Bookinfluencers.com for doing such awesome work! Their attention to detail was really helpful in creating a great experience for both myself and the influencers.

Thank you so much, Leah. It was lovely working with you and we can’t wait for future collaborations with you!