BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//InvisionCommunity Events 4.7.23//EN METHOD:PUBLISH CALSCALE:GREGORIAN REFRESH-INTERVAL:PT15M X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT15M X-WR-CALNAME:RMCommunityCalendar NAME:RMCommunityCalendar BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London TZURL:http://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20250330T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20251026T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 8 - January 15th 2025 DTSTAMP:20250118T184532Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:144-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":troy@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n TikTok banning on book publishing\n\n MY THOUGHTS\n\n 1) tiktok is the most popular website in modern humanity so replacing its alg orithm joined to its userbase will be a challenge- many websites will try but i think many will fail\, an expensive failure 2) outside a website wit h a similar userbase size [google/meta] a website with a smaller relative userbase that succeeds with a sharper marketing style will lack the exposu re or outreach of a larger userbase 3) Book readers will survive and at th e end of the day the Booktok model will survive maybe mirrored in various places that will require book lovers to know where to be online. \n\n An interesting time for the commercial structure of the literature business c oncerning the internet\n\n ARTICLE\n\n BookTok shaped a new generation of readers\, authors. What happens if TikTok is banned?\n\n Clare Mulroy\n\n USA TODAY\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n It doesn’t matter if you’re off social media or chronically online enough to know what “faerie smut” is – if you’re a reader\, you’ve probably heard of BookTok. \n\n Reader co mmunities are nothing new. But BookTok isn’t your grandma’s book club or the Facebook fan page of your mom’s generation – in fact\, it gave online book communities of days past a run for their money by boosting boo k sales and birthing an entirely new generation of readers. \n\n But on F riday\, the Supreme Court began hearing arguments to determine whether it should block a law requiring TikTok to cut ties with the Chinese governmen t or be banned Jan. 19. \n\n What happens for booklovers if it all goes a way?\n\n The 2020 pandemic lockdown days and TikTok’s growing popularity primed young adult readers for this online bibliophile's paradise. Backli st sales soared\, especially with romance and fantasy authors like Colleen Hoover and Sarah J. Maas. Hoover's romance book sales increased 693% from 2020 to 2021\, the Washington Post reported. Maas anchored a 75% year-ove r-year revenue increase in 2024\, according to Publishers Weekly. TikTok ’s algorithm also became the silver bullet for many independent and self -published authors. \n\n On a platform where anyone could go viral\, any book was fair game for discussion\, and some authors’ followings balloon ed. \n\n “Because TikTok is free\, so to speak\, it’s a very valuable \, cost-effective marketing tool that authors have used\,” says Regina B rooks\, president of the Association of American Literary Agents. “If yo u find readers who really value your work\, you as the author don’t have to do the same type of pushing because you have ambassadors who will do t hat work for you.” \n\n Bloom\, an imprint of Sourcebooks\, became a bi g name in romance publishing by taking over the distribution and marketing of some of BookTok's viral self-published authors including Ana Huang and Lucy Score. \n\n “It really democratized social media and it really pu t voices all at one level\, including those of our authors\,” says Maran da Seney\, the publisher's senior online marketing manager. “What that d id was really facilitate an openness and vulnerability and a new level of connection between authors and readers. And I do think that TikTok and Tik Tok’s algorithm were incredibly helpful in that.”\n\n Before\, authors were often encouraged to keep interactions with fans limited. Molly Waxma n\, vice president and executive director of marketing at Sourcebooks who has been in the industry for 25 years\, remembers when the fanmail-answeri ng guidance was “let the USPS be the barrier between you and your fans .”\n\n Now\, on TikTok\, authors are encouraged to hop on a livestream o r answer fan questions. Many agents and publishers look specifically to si gn authors who already have a social following. Some TikTok users have eve n secured book deals from their viral videos like Alex Aster's \"Lightlark \" and \"Charlotte Illes Is Not a Detective\" by Katie Siegel\, who both p osted concept videos and caught the attention of publishers.\n\n That emot ional connection between authors and readers has been “powerful” to wa tch\, says Dominique Raccah\, publisher and CEO of Sourcebooks. Rather tha n being on a pedestal\, authors are rewarded for their candidness and auth enticity. “It’s about being human\, you’re on this journey with some body you admire and really love their books and you’re walking every ste p with them\,” Raccah says.\n\n But if TikTok does get banned\, will tha t mentality sundown too?\n\n Rachel Whitehurst is the founder of the marke ting firm The Nerd Fam\, offering public relations support to independent authors who don’t have a marketing team. She thinks the seed has already been planted – support of self-published authors will only continue on the next “BookTok.” \n\n “It will be more important for (indie auth ors) to use that business acumen\,” she says. “It’s unfortunate\, an d I do think that adapting is going to be the most important thing\, but I ’m not worried.”\n\n Authors may have benefitted\, but really\, reader s and content creators are the ones driving the BookTok bus\; finding bubb les of niche reading tastes thanks to an effective algorithm that uses lar ge swaths of data to bring users videos tailored to their interests. \n\n Rachael Beck\, an author and owner of FanCornerCreations\, makes fandom a nd fantasy-themed trinkets like “Harry Potter” wedding ring boxes\, ea rrings and games. “We make the nerdy products no one else does\, with th e passion only a fellow fan can\,” her site reads. \n\n On BookTok\, Be ck found a loyal\, supportive community that valued her creations as much as she did. Her success on the app allowed her to quit her corporate job a nd focus on her business fulltime. Half of the traffic to her website come s from TikTok\, she says\, and it’s how she gets people to visit her boo th at Comic Cons. \n\n “It’s been very life-changing\,” she says. “I really feel like I found my voice because of TikTok.”\n\n To prepa re for a possible ban\, Beck started cross-posting on Instagram but the co mmunity aspect didn’t translate\, she says. When she posts well-performi ng\, well-received TikTok videos on Instagram\, they get fewer views and m ore derisive comments.\n\n “I’m the same human\, sometimes literally ( posting) the exact same content\,” Beck says. “I try to cater it to th e different platform I'm on\, but there’s absolutely no question that Ti kTok’s algorithm puts you in front of more people. And it’s a better a lgorithm\, so the people you’re being put in front of are much more enga ged in the content.” \n\n She’ll continue no matter what happens with TikTok\, but she worries about other small businesses\, who she says need support to feel like they can keep going.\n\n “I think there’s going to be a lot of small businesses who’ve never weathered a big storm befor e\, who just capsize\,” Beck says.\n\n Industry experts are looking to r eaders for the next steps\, confident they'll find them wherever they land if TikTok goes away.\n\n “There’s always going to be an iteration of this. It’s about community\,” says Pamela Jaffee\, senior director of publicity and brand marketing at Bloom Books and Casablanca. “Twelve yea rs ago\, it was the in-person book club that made ‘50 Shades of Grey .’” The book community got online with Facebook\, then blogging\, then Instagram\, with a dozen apps in between. \n\n “The readers took that voice back on TikTok and now that they have that voice\, they’re not goi ng to be silenced. They’re going to share that love and that passion\, a nd I think it just leads to more opportunity to reach readers widely\,” Jaffee says. \n\n Seney concurs: “At this point\, it’s technology’s job to catch up with readers and then to meet us where we are\, which is in this place of community and connection.” \n\n Brooks also sees a sil ver lining in a possible eviction from BookTok – new creative endeavors . \n\n “That platform also kind of turned books into status symbols\, a nd I think in a way that other platforms have not done. And I also think t hat if TikTok goes away\, it could spur a bit more innovation in marketing \,” she says. “I would love to see people be a little bit more creativ e about how books can reach their intended audience.\"\n\n Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY’s Books Reporter\, where she covers buzzy releases\, chats wi th authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram\, check out her recent articles or tell her what you’re reading at cmulroy @usatoday.com.\n\n article url\n\n https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertai nment/books/2025/01/10/tiktok-ban-supreme-court-booktok-publishing/7760163 3007/\n\n\n\n linkedin referral from Regina Brooks of Serendipity Literary Agency\n\n https://www.linkedin.com/posts/regina-brooks_following-its-ris e-in-popularity-in-2020-activity-7284612784460300290-I_pS?utm_source=share &\;utm_medium=member_desktop\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Prior Post\n\n https://aa lbc.com/tc/topic/11422-economiccorner007/\n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n https://aal bc.com/tc/topic/11424-economiccorner008/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n htt ps://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/143-economic-corner-7-january-14th-2025/\n\ n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/165-economic- corner-09-media-properties-dictate-01282025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 01/15/2026 \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12295-whatever-happened-to- the-tiktok-ban/#findComment-79367\n\n\n\n  @ProfD \n\n\n\n \n 26 minute s ago\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n The TikTok ban was a ruse.  The curre nt administration facilitated ByteDance selling part of the company.😎\n \n \n\n\n\n I don't even recall them selling any part of the company.  Last I cognized they were in court or it had been stalled. I need to do mo re research. \n\n\n\n if it was a ruse and the objective was to sell a pa rt\, then what was in the part sold that satisfied those who attacked it? I wonder\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250115 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR