Younger readers and BookTok influencers like having physical books to hold up in videos and display on their shelves. — Amir Hamja/The New York Times
ByteDance, the Chinese technology giant that owns TikTok, made an initial move into publishing digital books last year. Now the company’s publishing imprint, 8th Note Press, is planning to significantly expand its retail footprint by publishing print editions and selling them in physical bookstores.
To do that, 8th Note Press is teaming up with Zando, an independent publishing company, the companies announced Wednesday. The new joint imprint plans to release 10 to 15 books a year, with the first titles arriving in early 2025. It will focus on genres that have proved popular with millennial and Generation Z readers – mostly romance, romantasy and young adult fiction.
Expanding into print was always part of 8th Note’s plan, said Jacob Bronstein, head of editorial and marketing at the company.
“Physical books are still overwhelmingly the most popular format, and certainly in specific genres, some of which we’re playing in, they’re still super important,” he said. “So we knew that we needed to be in physical books.”
At the same time, 8th Note is closely tracking what’s trending online, including on BookTok, and is “building backwards” by acquiring books that feed into those trends and conversations, Bronstein said.
“We’re thinking first, what do people like reading, who is reading these books, how are people talking about these books, how are these conversations happening online, and where?” Bronstein said. “Genre comes second.”
Since its launch last August, 8th Note Press has acquired more than 30 books, including two books in Tara Lush’s cozy romantic mystery series about a gator trapper in Florida; Rachael Craw’s “The Lost Saint,” a time-travel fantasy series; and Peach Morris’ “Learning to Fall,” a sapphic coming-of-age teen roller derby romance. Still, the lack of a print operation put the imprint at a disadvantage in a retail landscape where the majority of readers still prefer paper books.
The company’s move into print could make it more of a serious competitor to legacy publishers, particularly if 8th Note is able to engineer viral hits by boosting its authors on TikTok.
Over the past few years, TikTok has become an indispensable way for publishers and authors to market books to younger readers. Book reviews and reaction videos have proved incredibly popular with the platform’s users. There are more than 38 million posts tagged as #BookTok, and BookTok videos have grown by nearly 15% in the first nine months of this year compared to 2023, according to a TikTok representative.
And younger readers and TikTok influencers, it turns out, prefer to have physical books to hold up in videos and display on their shelves.
In 2024 so far, print sales for authors with large audiences on BookTok – including Colleen Hoover, Sarah J. Maas, Freida McFadden and Rebecca Yarros – have reached 41 million units, a 23% increase compared to the same time last year, according to Circana BookScan, which tracks roughly 85% of print sales in the United States. By comparison, in the total adult fiction market, print sales are up only 6% over last year.
“Readers are finding out about books in ways we didn’t quite realise, they’re having conversations about books and they’re sharing books, and they’re doing so on this particular social media platform,” said literary agent Melissa Edwards, who sold a novel by Syed M. Masood, “The Last Man in Paradise,” to 8th Note last year. “That enthusiasm can be harnessed by a publisher who knows where to find these readers.”
For Zando’s executives, partnering with 8th Note offered a way to gain insight into how to reach particular communities of readers online. Zando, which launched in 2020, already has a track record of running joint imprints and collaborative marketing campaigns. It has nearly a dozen imprints with media brands and celebrities, among them John Legend, Sarah Jessica Parker, Gillian Flynn, The Atlantic magazine and the podcast company Crooked Media.
“8th Note is thinking about a constituency of readers and understands the power of digital platforms to support these books for the right audiences,” said Molly Stern, Zando’s CEO.
Some literary agents and authors say that 8th Note’s entrance into publishing is welcome in an era when the book business needs to innovate and adapt to survive, as publishers, like all legacy media, are losing audiences to social media.
When agent Saskia Leach was shopping a debut romance series by novelist Ally Wiegand, she received offers from four publishers, and ended up selling it to to 8th Note, in a three-book deal announced in January.
The offer from 8th Note appealed in part because of its extensive online marketing plans, she said. “8th Note Press’ focused publicity and influencer outreach on TikTok is certainly a pull for authors,” Leach said. “I knew they’d cater to the BookTok generation’s appetite.”
Some authors and agents see risks in signing with a brand-new company. As a publishing startup, 8th Note still lacks the extensive connections with booksellers and reviewers that traditional publishers have cultivated over decades.
Sanibel, a debut novelist who writes under a mononym and sold her book, “To Have and Have More,” to an editor at 8th Note last year, worried at first that her novel might never make it into bookstores.
“I was very nervous at the beginning that it would be an e-book-only situation,” she said.
She was reassured when she learned about 8th Note’s partnership with Zando, and was thrilled when she found out that her book would be the imprint’s lead title next spring.
“8th Note is a brand-new press, so I knew I was going to be a guinea pig to some degree,” she said. “There’s this very ambitious, building-the-airplane-while-it’s-flying kind of feel.” – ©2024 The New York Times Company
