8th Note Press Products and Services
The list of products and services associated with 8th Note Press includes an application for reading, downloading, and discussing fiction ebooks within an online community; retail bookstore services; ordering books in audio, print, and digital formats; publishing ebooks, audiobooks, and physical books, as well as providing online access to non-downloadable fiction and non-fiction books.
Companies regularly file trademarks in anticipation of expanding into new sectors in the future, but they do not specify a timeline or impose obligations on the applicants. Thus, the filing of the 8th Note Press trademark does not necessarily mean that ByteDance is taking concrete steps to enter the publishing world.
A Logical Step for ByteDance
However, publishing and distributing books seem like logical steps for ByteDance, given TikTok’s success in attracting book lovers to share under the hashtag #BookTok on the short video platform. Although ByteDance achieved a record profit last year overall, TikTok recorded increasing losses, according to the Financial Times. ByteDance is likely eager to find new ways to monetize its hundreds of millions of users abroad.
An insider stated that the trademark filing effort is “not related to TikTok” but that ByteDance is “always exploring new opportunities.” It would not be surprising to see ByteDance launch a standalone book app where users can, as the trademark registration suggests, read, download, purchase, and discuss books.
Competing with Amazon
If ByteDance enters the electronic publishing industry, the question is how it plans to compete with the industry giant, Amazon, in terms of book publishing and distribution. ByteDance’s advantage in the book space clearly lies in its vast social media empire where authors and fans can connect directly, and readers can share their thoughts with others.
Amazon acquired the social reading site GoodReads a decade ago, but the integration of GoodReads with other Amazon properties has been limited. ByteDance is no stranger to ebooks. In 2020, the company announced it would acquire about 11% of the publicly traded Chinese ebook reader Yuewen. It also operates one of the most popular online novel apps in China, Tomato Novel, which allows readers to read for free with ads or pay a monthly subscription for an ad-free experience.
In 2021, ByteDance experimented with an English fiction app called Mytopia, which covered romance, horror, and fantasy genres. Before Mytopia had a chance to grow significantly, it was criticized for running erotic ads on Facebook and Instagram. 8th Note Press should learn from this experience.
This article was written based on information provided by the technology news site TechCrunch here.
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