Thanks for these thoughts. Subscribed! I have long thought that trad publishing has had its head in the sand over *any* real reckoning with digital. This is a disservice to readers and authors.
I just want to thank you for your rational and logical guidance and thoughts with this and all the other publishing turbulance we experience. It'll be very interesting to see how this all shakes out, but regardless, we'll be okay.
The possible disappearance of TikTok reinforces the age-old advice to authors to grow your own newsletter subscriber list so you aren't dependent on reaching readers through channels that someone else controls and can shut down for whatever reason. I can't see something as large and influential as TikTok going away but then I thought that about Twitter and look what happened there. Authors are more and more going directly to readers however they can.
I've been waiting for the publishers to start their own Substacks. I'm shocked it hasn't happened already. So many have really robust direct marketing tools, it seems a no-brainer to utilize this platform, too. Granted, M&PR is overworked and spread too thin already, but if TikTok does shut down in the US -- (That's my prediction. I can't imagine a government agreeing to be forced out of a controlling interest in a company that is making them gazillions.) -- there is a vacuum that could be filled here. Video, audio, print... it will take more effort, but also the quality will outweigh the quantity.
If they allocated work differently, they could use the staff in place. I feel like marketing & publicity departments are made to work on too many books with ineffective results because the same things don’t work anymore!
I don’t disagree that Marketing/Publicity and Editorial are all overworked and in many of the wrong, outdated, or ineffective ways. But I don’t think that anyone with the above job description is (or should be expected to be) necessarily the right person to run an entire publisher’s newsletter—and run it well, with some big-picture perspective. I would want to see a centralized director/staff who can solicit ideas and content from those closest to each list/book/author and then create a newsletter/community ecosystem that has a cohesive look and feel. I’ve seen the “patchwork effect” of just kind of forming a subcommittee out of existing employees to do stuff like this, and it usually doesn’t bode well. (I’d love to be pleasantly surprised!)
Of course. I hate to say this, but there will come a point where publicity and marketing get gutted for this reason. Way back, Penguin had a ton of career development education classes in-house so you could upskill. Now, it’s impossible, and not a lot of people can afford NYU’s publishing program. Anyway, I could go on & on about this. There’s gotta be some smart restructuring.
Meanwhile, my husband has dedicated the last 6 months to building a TikTok presence to make money from his music—I mean, he treats it like a JOB, three 3-hour live concerts a week, rehearsal every day, new video content daily, spends hours interacting with other live creators and collaborating on live shows with them, all because “TikTok is where music is happening now.” Enormous investment in the learning curve of becoming a videographer and social media marketer in addition to honing his actual product (sound familiar, authors?!), and potentially all for nought, depending on how this Communist cookie crumbles… Oof.
I like how you always prod the zeitgeist in a good way. But I think it's a stretch for "publishers to take full ownership of marketing their books and create communities on their platforms". I don't think large publishers currently own such social platforms - either collectively or individually. And they don't currently have the in-house skills or technical capability to build, manage and moderate them at any effective scale. Tor's Reactor split will be one to watch as you say, but to compete with genuine platforms which include content creation and aggregation as their raison d'être is a high-risk / high-cost venture. The historical experience of other b2b industries (for that's what publishers essentially are) says stay away. Readers don't care about who published what book. They don't want to struggle to find a book which a friend recommended from multiple publisher marketing silos. They don't want to pay more for 'their' books because of these additional overheads. And authors won't like contracts which will force them into only using their publishers marketing channels. Because I think that's the necessary caveats to make such initiatives worth the money and effort, if at all.
You’re like the people in publishing meetings who simply can’t allow someone to offer a solution without being negative. What’s your solution, then? I’m not talking about them creating their own social media platforms. How do you know what skills people do or do not have in-house? Why can’t restructuring occur to create teams who can accomplish this? Big publishers have capabilities to do a lot more than you think.
I'm just giving an opinion based on my experience, like yourself. I worked with sales and marketing teams in large corporates for two decades to help create innovative solutions for b2b/b2c customer management and on-line interaction. Every industry thinks they're special, but the solutions and workflows are pretty much the same (or vendors would struggle to sell their wares). Restructuring is only a small part of the overall solution. Like many long-standing incumbents, publishing will take time to turn their tanker, even when consolidating and acquiring more agile assets. The slow move to cloud-based solutions is an example of a similar journey. I'll continue to watch the evolution of this with interest.
Businesses go where the growth is. TT was growing massively when all the other social platforms were stagnant or shrinking. You and I might never have downloaded it, but that's where all the new social media users are—users who are younger and thus will be ponying up more disposable income longer into the future.
Sounds True is a publisher with a very good marketing platform- its podcast, which I have listened to for over a decade. And it turned into an event series and private paid community as well. It is partially personality-driven because of Tami Simon, but they really do make an effort to gather their authors and get them in front of people. This would translate differently for books outside of the self-help category of course, but an indication that publishers can succeed when they stand for something.
Thank you for this concise summary of the situation! Totally agree with everything you said about the publishing industry creating its own platform for marketing. Each publishing house having its own podcast would be a great start to the change the industry needs.
Thank you for this! Your interpretations are INVALUABLE. Seriously, thank you for helping me understand this!
Thanks for these thoughts. Subscribed! I have long thought that trad publishing has had its head in the sand over *any* real reckoning with digital. This is a disservice to readers and authors.
Thank you! I really appreciate your guidance and loved your workshop today.
Thanks so much. I’m never sure if people like them!
I was literally waiting for your article on this as soon as I heard the latest TikTok and your insight did not disappoint!
I just want to thank you for your rational and logical guidance and thoughts with this and all the other publishing turbulance we experience. It'll be very interesting to see how this all shakes out, but regardless, we'll be okay.
The possible disappearance of TikTok reinforces the age-old advice to authors to grow your own newsletter subscriber list so you aren't dependent on reaching readers through channels that someone else controls and can shut down for whatever reason. I can't see something as large and influential as TikTok going away but then I thought that about Twitter and look what happened there. Authors are more and more going directly to readers however they can.
Tell me honestly: Are the people who spend time on TikTok actually readers?
I can't stomach videos. I'm about to launch a book with no plans to try to make a video.
Absolutely yes. I spend a lot of time on there myself.
BookTok sold 53 million books last year. It is HUGE with readers
"Are the people who spend time on TikTok actually readers?"
Yes. Many are deep, avid readers. Some are there to FIND books to read because the BookTok community is so large.
I've been waiting for the publishers to start their own Substacks. I'm shocked it hasn't happened already. So many have really robust direct marketing tools, it seems a no-brainer to utilize this platform, too. Granted, M&PR is overworked and spread too thin already, but if TikTok does shut down in the US -- (That's my prediction. I can't imagine a government agreeing to be forced out of a controlling interest in a company that is making them gazillions.) -- there is a vacuum that could be filled here. Video, audio, print... it will take more effort, but also the quality will outweigh the quantity.
Marketing & publicity are spread thin bc they’re focused on the wrong things.
Not gonna argue that...
On one hand, yes! But only if they’d be willing to hire a dedicated, professional team to manage it, which seems…unlikely.
If they allocated work differently, they could use the staff in place. I feel like marketing & publicity departments are made to work on too many books with ineffective results because the same things don’t work anymore!
I don’t disagree that Marketing/Publicity and Editorial are all overworked and in many of the wrong, outdated, or ineffective ways. But I don’t think that anyone with the above job description is (or should be expected to be) necessarily the right person to run an entire publisher’s newsletter—and run it well, with some big-picture perspective. I would want to see a centralized director/staff who can solicit ideas and content from those closest to each list/book/author and then create a newsletter/community ecosystem that has a cohesive look and feel. I’ve seen the “patchwork effect” of just kind of forming a subcommittee out of existing employees to do stuff like this, and it usually doesn’t bode well. (I’d love to be pleasantly surprised!)
Of course. I hate to say this, but there will come a point where publicity and marketing get gutted for this reason. Way back, Penguin had a ton of career development education classes in-house so you could upskill. Now, it’s impossible, and not a lot of people can afford NYU’s publishing program. Anyway, I could go on & on about this. There’s gotta be some smart restructuring.
Meanwhile, my husband has dedicated the last 6 months to building a TikTok presence to make money from his music—I mean, he treats it like a JOB, three 3-hour live concerts a week, rehearsal every day, new video content daily, spends hours interacting with other live creators and collaborating on live shows with them, all because “TikTok is where music is happening now.” Enormous investment in the learning curve of becoming a videographer and social media marketer in addition to honing his actual product (sound familiar, authors?!), and potentially all for nought, depending on how this Communist cookie crumbles… Oof.
That’s exhausting. My husband is a music exec and assures me a ban won’t happen but..
I like how you always prod the zeitgeist in a good way. But I think it's a stretch for "publishers to take full ownership of marketing their books and create communities on their platforms". I don't think large publishers currently own such social platforms - either collectively or individually. And they don't currently have the in-house skills or technical capability to build, manage and moderate them at any effective scale. Tor's Reactor split will be one to watch as you say, but to compete with genuine platforms which include content creation and aggregation as their raison d'être is a high-risk / high-cost venture. The historical experience of other b2b industries (for that's what publishers essentially are) says stay away. Readers don't care about who published what book. They don't want to struggle to find a book which a friend recommended from multiple publisher marketing silos. They don't want to pay more for 'their' books because of these additional overheads. And authors won't like contracts which will force them into only using their publishers marketing channels. Because I think that's the necessary caveats to make such initiatives worth the money and effort, if at all.
You’re like the people in publishing meetings who simply can’t allow someone to offer a solution without being negative. What’s your solution, then? I’m not talking about them creating their own social media platforms. How do you know what skills people do or do not have in-house? Why can’t restructuring occur to create teams who can accomplish this? Big publishers have capabilities to do a lot more than you think.
I'm just giving an opinion based on my experience, like yourself. I worked with sales and marketing teams in large corporates for two decades to help create innovative solutions for b2b/b2c customer management and on-line interaction. Every industry thinks they're special, but the solutions and workflows are pretty much the same (or vendors would struggle to sell their wares). Restructuring is only a small part of the overall solution. Like many long-standing incumbents, publishing will take time to turn their tanker, even when consolidating and acquiring more agile assets. The slow move to cloud-based solutions is an example of a similar journey. I'll continue to watch the evolution of this with interest.
And I am loving reading yours! Thank you for the mention!
Thank you and you’re welcome!
Keep on truckin’
Already I see a some TT folks pushing their videos to Reels now because they don't want to lose the content that they filmed.
Why was Publishing dependent upon TikTok anyway? Millions of us have never downloaded that app. Heck, I barely use YouTube, and I no longer use Meta.
I find myself using Substack more than the other social media companies.
Businesses go where the growth is. TT was growing massively when all the other social platforms were stagnant or shrinking. You and I might never have downloaded it, but that's where all the new social media users are—users who are younger and thus will be ponying up more disposable income longer into the future.
Sounds True is a publisher with a very good marketing platform- its podcast, which I have listened to for over a decade. And it turned into an event series and private paid community as well. It is partially personality-driven because of Tami Simon, but they really do make an effort to gather their authors and get them in front of people. This would translate differently for books outside of the self-help category of course, but an indication that publishers can succeed when they stand for something.
Same with Hay House, now that I think about it. They even make money teaching people how to write.
Hay House was just bought by Penguin Random House, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.
A very interesting article, thank you for sharing.
Thank you for this concise summary of the situation! Totally agree with everything you said about the publishing industry creating its own platform for marketing. Each publishing house having its own podcast would be a great start to the change the industry needs.