The craziness continued when Taylor Swift fans convinced themselves that she had written a book, which they then pre-ordered in large numbers. The news then broke that the book they had been ordering was in fact by K-pop mega-band BTS. Hard to over estimate how huge both of their fanbases are, and I’m sure BTS’s book will sell incredibly well, and will be the book of the summer (and I’m predicting the biggest selling book of 2023).
Another huge book that published last week was YellowFace by R.F. Kuang. In book marketing terms this campaign ticked every box possible. HarperCollins really have excelled themselves and it is always impressive to see what a big 5 publisher can achieve when they REALLY back an author. YellowFace is the story of a stolen manuscript and exposes the grubbier side of the publishing industry, this line jumped out at me -
‘Publishing picks a winner - someone attractive enough, someone cool and young …. - and lavishes all its money and resources on them. It’s so fucking arbitrary….it hinges on factors that have nothing to do with the strength of one’s prose.’
Never one to miss an opportunity to critique the industry, I discussed a few key challenges of traditional publishing as I see them. It’s worth having a look at how BookTokers embraced YellowFace - of course, this doesn’t happen by magic, I’m sure working with BookTokers was an important part of HarperCollins’ campaign.
For most authors, this is a campaign we can only dream of, but I do think it’s useful to keep in mind that traditional publishing is mostly arbitrary, and your book might not be a priority of theirs. Worth understanding this and then empowering yourself, especially when it comes to connecting with your readers.
The discussion around AI has continued apace, and honestly I think this will be THE topic for a long time to come. A real clash between tech bros and the creative industries. It was alarming to see Thomas Rabe, CEO of Bertlesmann, the owner of PenguinRandom House talk so positively about AI and how he sees it being adopted.
Interesting times ahead! The tweet about AI below did make me laugh though.
I have found a lot of great content this month which you can find below and as always, happy to hear from you if you have any questions.
Take care
Sam x
