Book Publishing + Social Media + Streaming

Yes, these three things are intertwined.

Over the long weekend, our resident billionaire and Twitter CEO Elon Musk decided to limit the number of views for users. Verified users (those who pay) can view thousands of posts each day, while unverified users can only view hundreds. Mashable wrote about it here. Further, Musk launched a new version of Tweetdeck—which used to be a third-party Twitter application—that is exclusively available to Twitter Blue users. You can read about it here. Let’s face it; if you want maximum reach on Twitter, you must pay for Twitter Blue. I’m not writing an obituary for the platform yet, but the moves above by Musk don’t bode well.

I won’t rehash what I’ve already written about Facebook and Instagram. Both are still viable platforms, but we now have Bluesky (very similar to Twitter and by invite-only right now), Threads (Meta is launching this Twitter-like service on 7/6 via Instagram), Spill (also by invite-only), Mastadon, Post, and Lemon8 (TikTok’s answer to Pinterest and Instagram), with more platforms to come. You might think more platforms, more reach—but you’d be wrong.

This is where book publishing can learn from what’s happening with streaming services: there are too many of them, and because of that, the attention span of an average consumer is split in several directions. However, Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu hold the most significant market share. The most popular social media platforms, in order, are Facebook (a whopping 74%), Instagram (60%), and TikTok (47%). Twitter’s growth is stagnant, as is Pinterest’s. Still, the number of ways an individual can find entertainment is staggering and reflected in book sales being down compared to the past two years. This is not a coincidence. The economy isn’t great, and consumers are discerning with their disposable income. It would be a mistake to overlook the connection between book publishing, social media, and streaming platforms. There is too much of everything and not enough consumers willing to buy in. This is especially true of content: articles, newsletters, shows, movies, TikToks, tweets, podcasts—the list goes on.

A hard lesson streaming has learned over the past year is that not every show or movie can attract enough of an audience to justify the cost of continuing with a project. There have been layoffs and restructuring, most notably at Disney and its business units. If you prefer a cheaper monthly subscription fee, you'll see ads on certain streaming services. I studied the streaming industry intensely in my MBA program, and the consensus is that there will be a lot of consolidation (Disney is already set to purchase Comcast’s remaining stake in Hulu by the end of 2023). It is anyone’s guess how this will pan out, but the problem of reaching critical mass with content isn’t going away anytime soon.

Book publishing knows where its audience lives but has a growth problem. The number of readers in the US isn’t increasing—it is decreasing. Yet the publishing industry continues as it has for many years: releasing books into the world and seeing what sticks. This is not to say some of those books aren’t worthy of a big audience—they are. The problem is that publishing isn’t doing enough to court the next generation of readers. The industry isn’t doing enough to engage with and grow the current generation of readers. This is how it lags behind the entertainment industry. Granted, publishing moves slowly, but it doesn’t have to remain that way. Great storytelling is indeed an art. We see that in certain films, albums, and shows (Hi, Succession writers), but those are precious—they are talked about and read about by a specific audience rather than the masses. If you love words like me, then you know what I mean. Conversely, streaming and social media operate at light speed to capture audiences and users. Their priorities are growth and retention. I can’t say the same for book publishing. Publishers grow and keep growing their lists, but they’ve forgotten about the audience. Not the Cannes Film Festival audience; instead, the Glastonbury Music Festival audience, where Rick Astley performed a set of The Smiths' greatest hits. It was exciting and made me want to be there! Everyone was talking about it. Rick (we are BFFs, so I can call him that) also played AC/DC and his own music. My point is there was something for a multigenerational audience that engrossed them. When was the last time that happened in book publishing?

There are several factors at play in the current state of book publishing. The expansion of social media platforms is a major one. Sure, we can think about it in terms of more promotional opportunities for authors, but will they all work? They will not. Publishers must not only be nimble on social platforms but also study consumer behavior on them. They must look at engagement rates, views, and sales conversion. Perhaps most importantly, publishers must acquire more focused lists (read: smaller), diversify formats—publish more paperback originals at a lower price point!—and market books more meaningfully and engagingly instead of using the same cookie-cutter methods. They will now have to lure eyeballs away from even more social media to books. It is a difficult equation: social media + authors + promotion=users looking at social media but maybe not buying books because they are too busy on six platforms. However, it is not unsolvable if the content from book publishers becomes more compelling and less everything-but-the-kitchen-sink.

Authors play a part in this conundrum, too. My first piece of advice is this: Spend time where there is audience acquisition. That means yes, maybe you should think about writing a Substack because if you do it well, you will have direct access to your readers. You won’t have to play the guessing game of “Out of my 3000 followers, how many will see this tweet/TikTok/photo, etc.?” because you’ll know the number of subscribers and the open rate of each newsletter. My second piece of advice is: If you are on Instagram and have a decent following, join Threads. It’s very similar to Twitter, but unlike other new platforms, your Instagram following is right there. That differentiation just might be what makes Threads successful. Meta now has a competitor to TikTok (Reels) and Twitter (Threads), but no one has managed to duplicate Facebook. Each platform requires something different, but they are all connected by the same company. There’s something to be said about seamless conversions to different platforms. That seamless experience is why YouTube TV and Apple TV are so popular. It would be great if they could figure out a way for us not to pay for ten different streaming services (I think this is on the horizon).

A quick word about TikTok’s publishing venture:

This week, The New York Times published an article about TikTok’s new publishing venture, which you can read as a gift link. This part of the story stuck out to me:

“Sales driven by more than 100 authors with large BookTok followings reached $760 million in 2022, a rise of 60 percent over 2021, according to Circana BookScan, which tracks print sales. So far this year, sales have gone up nearly 40 percent over last year.”

Whoa. Back up. It’s important to point out that a very tiny percentage of authors on TikTok contributed to $760M in sales. Let us not forget that Colleen Hoover alone racks up astronomical sales numbers. 100+ authors, even if that number were 500, does not mean TikTok/BookTok has created an ecosystem where all authors and the publishing industry can breathe a sigh of relief. If that were so, book sales wouldn’t trend negatively. Further, a social media platform's publishing arm will prioritize its own books in the algorithm. While I don’t feel TikTok’s entrance into the industry threatens traditional publishers, it threatens how publishers market books on the platform.

There is much work to be done in the book industry. The question is, who is

up to the task?

As always, email your thoughts: publishingconfidential@gmail.com

QUICK NOTE!

Please spread the word about this panel discussion about book bans that Women’s Media Group put together on July 17! Link here. Info below:

We are witnessing an unprecedented surge in politically motivated book bans, threatening the free flow of ideas and stifling intellectual diversity within communities nationwide. Join us for a compelling and urgent panel discussion as we confront the escalating wave of book bans and assaults on the cherished freedom to read. In this candid conversation, panelists will delve into effective strategies that libraries, publishers, media, and others can employ to push back against these alarming well-organized challenges, defend intellectual freedom, and safeguard access to diverse and challenging literary works.

All proceeds from this event support the Women's Media Group Educational Foundation.

Meet the panelists:

Dominique Cimina is SVP, Publicity, Corporate Communications and Author Brand Strategy for Random House Children’s Books (RHCB). Over the course of her 15 year career at RHCB, Dominique has developed and executed publicity campaigns, as well as managed relationships for talent including Christopher Paolini, Mary Pope Osborne, Carl Hiaasen, R.J. Palacio, Marie Kondo, Ken Burns, Jason Segel and Jimmy Kimmel. Dominique currently oversees the team that manages PR and event strategy for all authors, illustrators and brands published by RHCB. She leads the division’s internal and external communications efforts, philanthropic initiatives, and has recently began focusing on the development of RHCB’s author brands. She has a B.A. in Sociology from Brown University and a MBA from Columbia University.

Stephana Ferrell is the co-founder of the Florida Freedom to Read Project, an organization that aims to bring together student-centered groups from across the state of Florida and unite our voices to protect every student’s right to access information and ideas. Her primary role within FFTRP is to track the censorship attempts happening around the state as Director of Research & Insight. She is the mom of two children that attend Florida public schools.

Nina Lorez Collins is the board chair of the Brooklyn Public Library, a trustee of the publishing house Spiegel & Grau, and she manages the literary estate of her late mother, the filmmaker and writer Kathleen Collins. Until recently she was the Chief Creative Officer for Hello Revel, a digital events & community platform for women over 40, as well as the founder of The Woolfer, which Revel acquired in 2021. Her book, What Would Virginia Woolf Do? And Other Questions I Ask Myself As I Attempt to Age Without Apology, was published in April 2018. She’s a graduate of Barnard College, has a Masters degree from Columbia in the field of Narrative Medicine, and a long professional background in book publishing, both as a literary scout and then as an agent. She has four grown children and lives in Brooklyn.

Caroline Richmond is the Executive Director of We Need Diverse Books, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to creating a world where everyone can find themselves in the pages of a book. In this role, Caroline develops programs to diversify the multi-billion-dollar publishing industry, oversees grants that support diverse creators and educators, and generates resources to address the book bans spreading nationwide. She is a member of various advisory boards, including the Little Free Library and Mayo Clinic Press, and is also an award-winning young adult author.

Moderator:

Kelly Jensen is an Editor at Book Riot, the largest independent book website in North America. She covers all things young adult literature and has written about censorship for nearly ten years. She is the author of three critically-acclaimed and award-winning anthologies for young adults. She was named a person of the year in 2022 by Publishers Weekly and a Chicagoan of the year in 2022 by the Chicago Tribune for her anti-censorship work. Prior to her work at Book Riot, she was a public librarian for children, teens, and adults in several libraries in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin.