TikTok owner flags move into publishing

TikTok owner ByteDance has filed a US trademark application for a book-publishing entity called 8th Note Press, reports Business Insider.

The company has also begun recruiting staff for publishing roles, including for an online publishing team lead and an acquisition editor to ‘discover and sign authors’ and ‘ensure writer delivery and novel completion’.

According to TechCrunch, the list of products and services registered with 8th Note Press includes an app to read, download and discuss fiction ebooks in an online community; retail bookstore services; ordering books in audio, printed and digital formats; publishing ebooks, audiobooks and physical books, as well as providing online, non-downloadable fiction and nonfiction books.

A ByteDance spokeperson said the initiative was not related to TikTok, noting that ‘ByteDance is always exploring new opportunities’.

In April, TikTok claimed that the hashtag #BookTok had been viewed over 126 billion times across 19 million videos.

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