When 8th Note Press launched in the summer of 2023, the small publisher had a big advantage over other new presses. It was started by the Chinese technology company ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, the wildly popular social media platform where viral endorsements can transform books into best sellers overnight.
That was not enough, it seems, to build a successful publishing business. In late May, 8th Note Press began informing writers that it was shutting down and returning publication rights to the authors.
News of the press’s demise, which was reported earlier by the The Bookseller, came as a shock to authors who were swayed by the possibility that 8th Note could help engineer best sellers with elaborate marketing campaigns on TikTok. Instead, 8th Note has started taking down digital editions of their books, effectively unpublishing them.
The literary agent Mark Gottlieb, who sold the debut novel “To Have and Have More” to 8th Note, said the company was doing “irreparable damage” to its authors by shutting down so haphazardly. While publishing imprints frequently come and go, the books and authors they publish are usually moved elsewhere within the parent company, rather than being taken out of circulation entirely. If a book is published then quickly disappears, it can be difficult to resell it to another publisher, Gottlieb said.
“They’re wrecking careers in the process of doing this,” he said of 8th Note. “If you’re an author and this is your first book, what the history is going to show is that your book published and quickly went out of print.”
8th Note’s precipitous fall was surprising, given its parent company’s vast resources and reach.
Just last year, the press seemed poised to expand. Last October, its executives announced a partnership with the publisher Zando to put out print editions of its books and distribute them to physical bookstores. The plan was to release 10 to 15 titles a year, with a focus on romance, romantasy and young adult fiction. Later, the imprint indicated to agents that it was expanding into science fiction and fantasy.
Representatives for 8th Note Press and ByteDance did not respond to requests for comment, and representatives for Zando declined to comment.
The closure of 8th Note comes at an uncertain time for TikTok, as the prospect of a U.S. ban on the app looms. On Thursday, President Trump again extended the deadline for ByteDance to find a new owner for TikTok so that it can continue to operate in the United States.
8th Note acquired more than 30 titles in its first year, and authors and agents who struck deals said part of the appeal was the imprint’s parent company — and the prospect that 8th Note could deliver sophisticated digital marketing campaigns that took advantage of ByteDance’s data on TikTok trends and influencers. But despite its built-in promotional power, 8th Note did not deliver any breakout blockbusters, and some agents say it did little to market many of its titles. Currently, digital editions of many of its titles are no longer for sale, though print editions for some titles released with Zando can still be purchased.
“It’s been so unfortunate for the authors,” said Jill Marr, an agent at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, who represents two authors who write under the pseudonym June Kaye.
After selling the rights to Kaye’s novel, “37 Questions,” to 8th Note last November, the publication did not proceed smoothly, Marr said. The editor who acquired the book departed and wasn’t replaced. Royalty statements and sales figures that were due to arrive at the end of May still haven’t come in, she said.
“37 Questions” had an extremely short retail run: it was released digitally in February, and taken down after just a few months.
Now her authors are hoping to find another publisher willing to take a chance on their debut, but they are saddled with a launch that sputtered.
“I’m going to try to resell it to other publishers, but its difficult because we didn’t have time to gain any traction,” Marr said. “They’re devastated.”
Alexandra Alter writes about books, publishing and the literary world for The Times.
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