The owner of TikTok, ByteDance, will publish print books available in US bookstores next year. The company already publishes ebooks through its imprint, 8th Note Press. ByteDance will primarily publish genres popular on BookTok, where users share book recommendations. These include romance, contemporary fiction, young adult, and romance.
The expansion comes as TikTok continues to drive unprecedented growth in print book sales. According to the New York Times, print sales for authors with large BookTok followings reached 41 million units in 2024, representing a 23% increase compared to last year. That growth significantly outpaces the broader adult fiction market, which was only up by 6%.
Expanding into print was always part of 8th Note’s plan, said Jacob Bronstein, the company’s head of editorial and marketing. “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.”
8th Note Press’s first print title, On Screen & Off Again by Caitlin Cross, will be published on 4 February. Billed as a “romantic will-they-won’t-they debut with a Hollywood twist,” the novel follows childhood sweethearts Wilhelmina Chase and Daxon Avery, once the stars of a hit kids’ TV show, as they reconnect in their twenties.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
