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 on 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 proven popular with millennial and Gen Z readers — mostly romance, romantasy and young adult fiction.

Expanding into print was always part of 8th Note’s plan, said Jacob Bronstein, the 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 over 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’s 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 proven 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 per cent in the first nine months of this year compared to 2023, according to a TikTok representative.

New York Times News Service