Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, Business News, News

4.2 • 5.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 December 2024

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

BookTok, the corner of TikTok that’s all about books, has shaken up the publishing world. Over the last few years, the platform has pulled in new readers, especially in the romance and fantasy genres. And now some of the largest publishers in the U.S. are finding new talent and rethinking their strategies because of TikTok. We hear from an author, a bookstore owner and a publisher about how TikTok has transformed the book industry. Further Listening: -The Rise of the Tween Shopper -Inside One Publisher’s Fight Against Book Bans -Scholastic's Succession Drama Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	For Leah Koch, the romance novel is life.
0:09.3	She's loved romance since she was a teenager.
0:12.6	What is it that draws you so much to this type of writing?
0:16.8	Great question. Let's quickly define what a romance novel is.
0:20.9	You need two things to be a romance novel. You need a central love story and a happy ending.
0:25.4	And the happy ending, sometimes people try to get around for some reason. But you can't.
0:31.0	They have to be together and happy at the end. They do not have to be heterosexual married with a baby.
0:37.0	But like one of them can't get hit
0:38.9	by a bus.
0:40.7	Because that's a tragedy, right?
0:42.4	Yeah, or a train la Anna Karenina.
0:44.9	Anna Karenina is not a romance novel.
0:46.7	She dies.
0:47.7	Got it, got it.
0:48.8	Anyway, I read to have fun.
0:51.2	Same.
0:52.3	And romance novels are fun.
0:57.4	Leah loves romance so much that in 2016,
1:02.7	she and her sister opened up a bookstore devoted to it. It's called the Rip Bodice,
1:09.4	and it's got locations in L.A. and in Brooklyn. The store is full of passionate experts,
1:12.2	who can help you find pretty much any kind of romance.
1:21.6	So if you ask somebody for cowboy werewolves, number one, they're going to take your request very seriously.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Wall Street Journal, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Wall Street Journal and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.