TikTok publisher 8th Note Press looks set to close as authors 'negotiate rights return'

A publishing business developed by the parent company of TikTok to cash in on the success of #BookTok appears to be closing – although neither the publisher or TikTok, nor the platform’s parent company and partners, will go on record, despite being approached by The Bookseller on multiple occasions. 8th Note Press, owned by the Chinese technology-giant ByteDance, was launched as a publisher of e-books intended to appeal to a “Millennial/Gen Z” audience in April 2023.

Peter Burns on his move into children's writing with Shadow Thieves

Peter Burns came up with the idea for his middle-grade novel Shadow Thieves while on holiday with his family in Highland Perthshire. “We were staying in a cottage in the middle of nowhere surrounded by forests and gorgeous mountains. I thought: ‘How cool would it be if there was a hidden school for criminals here?’” he says. A decade later, the first book about the elite international boarding school for thieves will be published by HarperCollins’ imprint Farshore on 5th June.
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