Publishing Houses Marketing on TikTok
Last year, during an interview I had, I was asked how I thought publishing houses could better use TikTok for marketing purposes, and at the time, my answer was not great because I had no idea. All I could think of at the time was how it seemed to me that on TikTok, targeted marketing in the traditional sense went absolutely nowhere because it didn’t fit with the off-the-cuff authentic nature of the app. Booktok is a huge part of TikTok, but that was generated by the readers themselves, who genuinely wanted to share books they loved (or didn’t!) with other like-minded souls. An honest exchange of opinions that runs deep, and actually feels like connection between souls about a shared joy. At the time, I couldn’t see how a traditional publishing house, for whom you know their intent is to sell something to make money, could fit into that world and strategically market a newly published book and take advantage of this platform.
In what is definitely a totally normal reaction to not answering a question in a way in which I was satisfied at the time, I’ve been thinking about this question for the last year. Admittedly not just because of this, but also because I absolutely love TikTok and I really enjoy figuring things out. This question didn’t quite become my Roman Empire, but it was up there with ‘Chaos with Ed Miliband’, the Tudors or the various butterfly effects that I run through, but despite the time, thought and consideration I gave to this question, I still didn’t have an answer.
Until the about three weeks’ ago, where I saw the perfect answer. If you aren’t on TikTok, I am not sure if you’ll be aware of the nine-month Ultimate World Cruise that is currently ongoing, by Royal Caribbean. It has really blown up on TikTok and people are watching it unfold like a real-life soap. The passengers are making TikToks to document their travels and life on board, and there are whole TikTok accounts now dedicated to collating and following every piece of news and drama from the Serenade of the Seas. There’s a whole raft of characters for this new ecosystem on TikTok, both on and off board.
There’s the crazy drama of the ‘caste system’ on board, with pinnacle members looking down on lower level members, the full 9-month cruisers not mixing with the ‘baby leggers’ (those who were only on for small parts etc. There is supposed to be unlimited alcohol for passengers, by they ran out of wine at one point, I think around week 2. They’ve not been able to get off at several ports due to weather, they’ve changed routes and there’s rumours they won’t be able to complete the cruise at all because of the conflict in the Red Sea. You couldn’t believably write a script that has as much as has already happened aboard Serenade of the Seas, and it’s only been on the water for a month.
The Ultimate World Cruise Bingo Card, created by @Whimsysoul
There’s an ultimate world cruise bingo that’s ongoing for the TikTok spectactors and one of the spots was ‘brand sponsored passenger’. It has been such a huge thing on TikTok that this square didn’t take long to cross off. The cruise set off on the 10th December, and a brand has already sent someone on board. And that brand is the publishing house Atria Books.
The influencer they have sent on is Marc Sebastian, who had a large following already on TikTok, who put out a plea on the 12th December, “Put me in! Alternatively, put me on the cruise, I’ll go!” And by the 28th December, he was confirmed to be going, sponsored by Atria Books. Part of his brand deal was that he had to set up a book club on the cruise, and read some books (from the Atria Books imprints obviously) on live stream on the ship with some of the other ‘characters’. It’s the perfect marketing combination of BookTok and a current trending topic on TikTok’s FYP.
He’s also gone on and caused drama, truly living up to his original TikTok pitch, ruffling feathers, telling the unfiltered truth of what it’s like to be on board, and a lot of it is not good. On one of his live streams, he was with a pinnacle member in the pinnacle lounge, and someone called from land to notify the ship that a non-pinnacle member (Marc) was sat in the pinnacle lounge, and he was escorted out the lounge on live stream, later revealing he was called to Guest Services Office to be scolded. It’s absurd and silly, but it’s also pure drama. And I am here for it.
He did a TikTok inviting penguins to his book club, with the book in shot. It’s a level of exposure for Atria Books that is just perfect, and what I love as a person who works in publishing and experienced just how slowly the industry is to move or react to things, is how quickly they moved to get this piece of marketing in place. You have to move at a breakneck pace to capture a moment in TikTok trends, and they did it. And they’ve done it in a way that is fun, off-the-wall and does not feel forced or corporate. It’s brilliant. I can’t wait to see what’s next!
