TikTok parent company ByteDance is currently laying the groundwork as it plans to venture into the e-publishing market with a recent mark application for “8th NOTE PRESS”.
A recent filing submitted by ByteDance subsidiary Lemon Inc., which was posted on the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), offered a glimpse into ByteDance’s e-publishing goal.
The filing contains a range of book publishing products and services, which includes online book ordering services, retail bookshop eBooks, audiobooks, physical books, and downloading and discussing fiction eBooks.
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ByteDance move towards e-publishing is seen as a positive step taken in the right direction, considering TikTok’s popularity among book lovers who share content under the #BookTok hashtag. While TikTok might not be directly distributing books, it can help to drive users towards a potential book app, as it has done for Lemon8 by recruiting influencers to promote the platform.
Also, TikTok will make use of users’ data to figure out what users like to read and will therefore suggest it on the content recommendation algorithms that are also used to suggest videos on TikTok.
It is worth noting that ByteDance is no stranger to e-books. In 2020, the tech giant acquired roughly 11% of the publicly traded Chinese e-book reader Yuewen. It also operates one of China’s most popular web novel apps, Tomato Novel, letting readers read for free but with ads or have them pay a monthly subscription fee for an ad-free experience.
In 2021, ByteDance also launched three new novel applications domestically and overseas. The overseas application is called “Mytopia”, while the domestic novel applications are called “Fanyu Novel” and “Xiaoyao Novel,” aimed at the paid novel market. The promotion of overseas novel business is based on the large number of overseas users who enjoy Chinese online novels.
ByteDance entry into the e-publishing market will see it compete with e-commerce giant Amazon which has a stronghold in the publishing market. Amazon’s dominance as a publisher, distributor, and hardware player (Kindle) makes it a formidable rival.
It remains unclear how ByteDance will try to make an impact in the industry, although the tech company has the advantage to earn its place as it can leverage its extensive social media presence, which can enable authors and readers to connect directly, and also enable them to share their thoughts.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s acquisition of social reading site GoodReads in 2013, was the closest it came to fostering an online community of readers, which saw it have a major advantage over e-sellers like Apple.