What does TikTok do for books?

Lots, but not what you think

warning: flashing gif at the end (sorry, I believe I forgot to put this warning in last time I used one!)

Hi all!

I said last week that if my brain weren’t goo, that I’d have written about this article in The Mary Sue about the potential harm a ban on TikTok could pose to the publishing industry. I don’t disagree with the article’s central premise—that TikTok in general and #BookTok in particular have been a huge boon to authors and publishers, and that a ban would harm book sales overall. The article makes its point by completely misunderstanding a key facet of its argument, about which I will now have beef:

However, the loss of the platform means countless authors will lose something that made their foray into the publishing industry a little less difficult. It’s well-known that the publishing industry is notoriously difficult to break into. Often, the industry cares more about how popular authors are rather than how well they can write. Additionally, it pays unlivable wages to authors, to the point many need to pick up side jobs after publishing a bestseller.

This is the major howler: the assertion that what publishers pay to writers is a wage. What a publisher pays to writers is a purchase price for a product; they’re not employing the writer, they’re buying a book. In fact, it’s written into most if not all publishing contract that an author is explicitly not an employee of the publisher, and that the publisher does not have obligation towards them as such. The article linked in the bolded sentence above is about a contractor suing Harper Collins for delaying payment for freelance work done—this is not the same thing! The article doubles down in a later section, reiterating “There’s also the fact that many authors don’t make a livable wage,” and bringing up a specific author who has been vocal about being underpaid by their publisher.

The problem, again, is that an advance is not a wage. An advance is the purchase price for a book; it’s an advance against earnings, and unfortunately, most authors never make enough money from their writing to solely be a writer. Do I think that the correct answer is for authors to receive higher advances across the board? Yes and no! In a historically racist, prejudiced industry, there are authors who have been under-compensated. Those are authors and projects whose advances I would like to see on par with their white, cishet peers.

What I think would actually move the needle for author income is higher royalties. A royalty is the rate at which you earn the advance back, and there hasn’t been a significant shift in the author’s favor since I’ve been in the industry. (The exception being digital-first imprints who build higher royalties into their model—but these imprints often don’t offer an advance at all.) The industry standard for ebook royalties is 25% of net—and hasn’t changed since practically the invention of the ebook! One of the (many) reasons that JK Rowling is so intensely wealthy is that she retained her own ebook rights, and for years did not allow production of an official ebook edition of the series; when she decided to essentially self-publish them in 2011, she was entitled to 100% of the ebook sales. With the supply chain being as borked as it is, and the cost of printing a physical book increasing by the hour, I understand (to a certain extent only) that a substantial increase in print royalties isn’t on the table—but an increase in ebook royalties—a format which costs much less to distribute—would make a difference.

But back to TikTok. The article is arguing that TikTok is a way for authors to supplement their sales and their income—by achieving TikTok fame, they can sell more books, and the income generated by that fame is income in and of itself. And this is true, to an extent—just like any social medium. Earlier in the article it also mentions that some authors have gotten book deals because they are TikTok famous—but this has always been the case! People used to get book deals based on popular Twitter accounts all the time, back before Elon Musk bought the platform and it turned into a barely-usable cesspit of negativity and racist trolls. Bookstagram was a thing, and popular Youtubers got book deals with kind of alarming frequency.

At the end of the day, Booktok can be a great marketing tool, a tool among many others. If it goes away it will be bad for authors and publishers—but something else will come and replace it, I’m sure.

WHAT I’M READING

I read this article in by Steve Martin in The New Yorker about the late art critic Peter Schjeldahl and found a collection of his art writings on Libby—this collection of short pieces (Hot, Cold, Heavy, light: 100 Art Writings 1988-2018) is fascinating and fabulous train reading. In the article Martin says “Peter’s writing was exemplary. Finding a gem is almost too easy: simply open any of his books of collected essays to a random page and put your finger down.” I find myself doing the same, highlighting favorite lines on almost every other page: “Of what use is biography in addressing someone who made himself up?” about Arshile Gorky; “Modern art was born when Manet saw Velázquez and despaired” about the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez; “Most of his portraits are fantastic, in exactly the way other people are when you’re infatuated with them” about Gustave Courbet. I don’t know a lot about art but this has been such a pleasure to read.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

This one has been sitting around for a bit, apologies:

I started querying my manuscript, and so far, the only serious interest I've had has been from one agent who read the first fifty pages of my manuscript and was wild about it but later sexually harassed me at that same conference. Other than that I've sent out about 20+ queries and gotten five rejections and the rest no response. Help! My sense of self-worth is taking a real beating, like, is my manuscript garbage and the only way I'll get it published is through dealing with some loser whose wife I look like (she's twenty years younger than him-- I stalked them on Facebook) and who CLEARLY just wants to get in my pants? Ugh.

First of all, woof. I’m so sorry that happened to you—that’s a totally unacceptable way for someone to behave. You definitely don’t need to deal with a creep to get the book published. Of the remaining queries that you haven’t heard back from, are any of those from agents for whom no response means no? If so, is there someone else at the agency who you could approach? If not, and you’re past the estimated response time listed on the agency’s website, follow up (if they’re on querymanager) or re-send if they accept queries via email.

It may be time for a new round of queries. There may also be something that isn’t working with the manuscript! Do you have a trusted beta reader that you can send it to for feedback? Do you need a new beta reader? Are there writing groups or workshop groups you can attend to get feedback? At the extreme, do you have the budget to pay a freelance editor to take a look at your submission package?

There are many reasons for agents not to respond—they might be busy, they might have other reading, they might be buried with edits or dealing with a complicated offer situation with a publisher. You can’t control any of that. All you can control is your own communication with them and the work you produce. Regardless, keep writing. If this book doesn’t go, the next one might—but you won’t find out unless you follow up and keep writing.

Good luck! And also, monumentally fuck that guy who was a creep to you!

THIS WEEK IN HOCKEY

Pals, my brain was so goo last week that I got the series win/loss status wrong in the Rangers/Canes series. My non-hockey-watching sister texted me to tell me so; I was so embarassed! But in the end it didn’t matter—the Canes did rally and win a couple, but the Rangers came back and won the series. Sorry, Carolina. You had a good run. Elsewhere, the least important player on the Chiefs gave a deranged commencement speech at a Catholic college where he told the female graduates that the degree they’d just attained was meaningless in the face of their true purpose, having babies! Oh, and also, the gays are runining the country. So, another normal day in America.

HOUSEKEEPING

Do you have any questions about the publishing industry? Requests for advice? Thoughts on your recent reads? You can leave them as comments, replies to this email, or fill out this Google form to ask anonymously!

I am open to queries via QueryManager only, which can be found here. Here is my submissions page on the LDLA website, and here is a more detailed MSWL.

My first novel, Marrying In, is available for purchase on Kindle, Nook, and Kobo, and is coming soon to iBooks. If you’ve read it, consider leaving a review—that helps me and the book in the long run!

You can find me on social media on Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, the A Faster No Discord, and now TikTok. If you buy any of the books linked in this newsletter I receive a small commission at no cost to you.

This newsletter is a personal project, and the sentiments and opinions expressed here are my own and not those of my employer.