Books that are trending on TikTok are displayed at a Barnes & Noble book store in New York in June 2023. TikTok owner ByteDance is launching a publishing company.Well, it’s ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok that is getting into the publishing business. ByteDance is apparently distressed that it has a vehicle capable of minting bestsellers but no direct way to profit from this roaring engine of book commerce.
On the one hand, it could totally work. One thing I do know about books is that the most powerful driver of sales always has been and always will be word-of-mouth. If TikTok is word-of-mouth marketing turbocharged, why couldn’t they break authors from their own publishing arm into broader consciousness and big sales?
The legions of “CoHorts” who post videos of themselves crying until the snot flows after going through the emotional wringer of one of Hoover’s books are experiencing a genuine passion they feel compelled to express. That kind of response is not easy to come by. If it was, we wouldn’t be talking about Colleen Hoover as a phenomenon.
Sure, ByteDance has a decided advantage in its ability to attract eyeballs, but with books, that’s only part of the game. Amazon, a company that not only attracts eyeballs but also has customer credit cards on file, has had very limited success as a publisher as opposed to an online seller of books.