Literary agent Mark Gottlieb, who previously sold a novel to 8th Note, told The Economic Times TikTok was doing “irreparable damage” to their authors by closing the publisher so suddenly.
“They’re wrecking careers in the process of doing this,” he said. “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.”
Elsewhere, Society of Authors chief executive officer Anna Ganley told The Bookseller: “This publishing endeavour from TikTok’s parent company sadly shows how fragile the industry can be and potentially leaves any contracted authors without clear next steps for their books. We appreciate the situation is frustrating and stressful for authors and we urge any members to get in touch with the Society of Authors to seek advice and support.”
