The New York Times [and free link] – “As ByteDance launches a publishing company, many in the book world wonder if it will create an uneven playing field by boosting its own authors at the expense of others…Even under increased regulatory scrutiny over concerns it could be influenced by the Chinese government, ByteDance can reach an audience that is enormous, and growing. Many of TikTok’s users — more than 150 million in the United States alone — are interested in books. In the past year, videos with the #BookTok hashtag have been viewed more than 91 billion times, up from nearly 60 billion views the year before, according to the company. Exposure on the platform has catapulted many authors — Colleen Hoover first among them — to the best-seller list. Posts tagged #ColleenHoover have been viewed more than 4.2 billion times, and her books have sold more than 24 million copies. Sales driven by more than 100 authors with large BookTok followings reached $760 million in 2022, a rise of 60 percent over 2021, according to Circana BookScan, which tracks print sales. So far this year, sales have gone up nearly 40 percent over last year…”