For my third and final article covering takeaways from the US Book Show on June 3, I have the latest insights on how publishers are thinking about TikTok. Some of this thinking, particularly the use of TikTok Shop to sell direct, was already revealed in last week’s piece about direct-to-reader marketing. But this panel, “Is Your TikTok Game Sharp Enough?” offered a much deeper dive.
The panelists were:
- Charlotte Bryla, director of advertising and social commerce at Hachette
- Smitty, a content creator represented by the Kensington Grey Agency
- Michael Zhu, head of books & entertainment at TikTok Shop
- Moderator: Alyssa Morris, who writes the TikTok trend newsletter Romancing the Phone. She just joined Trellis Literary Management as an agent last week.
What makes BookTok unique? The keyword is authenticity. This hasn’t changed since I started reporting on authors’ use of TikTok in 2021—it’s the first word that comes up. That authenticity is key to why BookTok works so well for selling books. Bryla at Hachette said, “It’s reigniting a lot of people’s love of reading that we haven’t seen with other major media platforms.” Case in point: the recent New York Times op-ed by a professor talking about the “subversive joy” of BookTok.
BookTok creator Smitty said he comes to it from a different angle: a community feel. “You can start a TikTok tomorrow and suddenly it has 2,000 views. That’s a lot of people caring about you talking about books.” He says it’s been fun to build that community because not many of his friends talk about books, much less go online to talk about books. “You can just sit in front of your camera and talk about books, and TikTok will reward you.”
The TikTok Shop is proving powerful for book sales. TikTok’s Zhu said that BookTok is one of the biggest and most engaged communities on TikTok, and the Shop is trying to harness its power so readers get personalized recommendations and purchase directly on the app. He said 59 million book sales have originated from BookTok content. Bryla said TikTok Shop is applying commerce to entertainment in a way that others haven’t yet. However, she added that operating a Shop comes with a learning curve because it leads to unpredictable book sales and supply chain difficulties—the platform moves fast. Publishers need to be ready to respond to those dynamics if they want to succeed.
Zhu advised authors and publishers that want to drive more sales through the TikTok Shop to focus on creating better content on the platform. “It drives discovery, consideration, and purchase, and that’s how you build people who are paying attention to your brand and the books that you have.”
Bigger is not necessarily better for authors and publishers hoping to get BookTok influencers to talk about their books—to create great content about them. Smitty said, “I would challenge publishing to not only look at bigger creators, but some of the smaller creators. Some of those people are my favorite. They’re doing it for the love of the game. The books that they’re giving you are amazing.” Bryla agreed and added, “Some of the creators that see the largest conversion rate [more sales] have less than 50,000 followers.” Their passion and community engagement is what drives better conversion.
Zhu pointed to the example of Global Brother, based in Romania. (I interviewed the founder earlier this year.) “They’ve been able to find tremendous success on TikTok because they have a targeted affiliate strategy,” he said. An affiliate strategy grants the person making the recommendation a cut of the sale. “They send out thousands of samples to their favorite creators on TikTok. They have higher commission plans to encourage creators to create shoppable content and ensure they have ample inventory,” Zhu said. Global Brother has now sold more than a million books through TikTok Shop. (None of those print sales are tracked by Circana BookScan, by the way.)
How do publishers research the right creators to partner with? When it comes to smaller creators, Bryla said most of their success, in fact, is based on self-selection: Smaller creators will reach out to the publisher with a request for a free copy. Only on occasion does Hachette reach out first to people who have engaged followings. Zhu said TikTok creates tools for communication on both sides: They help creators find books that fit their audience and give them tools to communicate with sellers and they have tools for publishers or sellers to invite creators to sell products. Bryla said these tools have helped Hachette because they’re so scalable—it’s not easy to reach out to thousands and thousands of people directly unless the platform is offering the tools to do so.
Other tips on TikTok:
- There’s huge seasonality to the TikTok Shop, just as with any retailer. The beginning of the year favors book sales focused on health and “new year, new you.” Summer means summer reading picks. And so on.
- Backlist rules. Bryla said that everything Hachette has seen take off is backlist, published before 2020. Echoing takeaways from other panels at US Book Show, Morris commented, “It’s encouraging to see books have this longer life than just the release cycle”; marketing isn’t necessarily concentrated in a narrow window, but now extends 18 months or more. Zhu said, “New generations are discovering these books for the first time,” and argued that’s the power of content on TikTok. Old titles can be popular now.
- TikTok Live author interviews have been gaining traction: “People want to hear from your authors,” Smitty told the publishers in the room. “You have these in-person events, but not everyone can make it.” Having a TikTok Live can help books take off even more. “It’s good for individuals who read to see authors passionately talk about their books, talk about the creator process, and see them as human beings.” Zhu said that livestreaming is something TikTok is really focused on increasing this year.
Bottom line: Bryla said, “We’re grounded in this idea of understanding our consumers, and that’s the most important part of what you do on TikTok.” She says no-filter videos of people talking about books perform the best in tests they run. “Keeping consumers at the heart of what you do is the best way to scale. … Be listening, be present, engage with people.” Zhu said, “The more you experiment, generally the more success you will see in terms of sales, engagement, and discovery.”
Want more TikTok insights? Browse all articles I’ve published on TikTok.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
