Penn Cole
Appearances
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
It's very real. I actually just had a conversation with my publisher. They, you know, wanted to put viral book talk hit, you know, book talk sensation, Penn Cole, putting it in ads, pretty much everywhere that you need to sort of describe the book. Because that communicates to booksellers in particular, bookstores and buyers for these big book chains.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
That's sort of a code word for this book has a lot of fans. It has a big reader base. But for readers, I think it has a very different connotation. And I had to sit down with my publisher and say, I'm not sure that putting this in reader-facing spaces is necessarily the best idea because there is a big group of people that feels as if book talk books are not any good.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
It sort of gets painted with a broad brush where people discount my books and assume they're going to be fluff. They're not going to be serious. The writing quality will be bad. They'll be unedited or they were, you know, make all these assumptions about what's inside my book without ever giving me a chance.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I can't even count the number of times I have cried or, you know, had to just go and get offline because someone said something really mean. And of course, they have every right to say that, right? Like, we want people to give honest reviews, but as an author, seeing it can be hard.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
Of course, most of my readers were so supportive and so kind about it and said, take all the time you need. But, I mean, to be very honest about it, I had to start going to therapy. I had to seek professional help because it was— I felt so guilty. I really beat myself up over it.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I thought I was given this opportunity to have a bestselling book that was doing really well and that I was going to ruin it. It starts to have an effect no matter how mentally strong you are.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
Traditionally, you know, for as long as books have existed, it has been a handful of gatekeepers in the biggest publishing houses that have decided what readers are going to read. And now publishers are rushing to keep up with what the readers are saying they like, as opposed to publishers telling readers, this is what you get to choose from.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I think TikTok is changing and will continue to change everything about publishing. It's giving readers power that they have never had before. It's allowing authors to hold onto their rights to make money outside of the publishing machine. I think the publishers who pay attention and who adapt rather than resisting are going to really rise to the top.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
So I think that has, it's really like a sea change that is in the process of occurring right now. I don't even think we know yet the full effects of how it's gonna change publishing.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I'm actually getting into sports romance lately, which is fun. I read my first hockey romance.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
Billionaire romance, hockey romance, mafia romance.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
And so I went into a different career for many years thinking, well, someday I'll write my book. Like, I'll get there someday. And then during the pandemic, as I think many people did, I sort of reassessed what I wanted out of life and whether I was really happy with where I was. And I realized that I really wanted to write that book that I'd always been kind of dreaming about writing.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
So I took a risk and I wrote my first book.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I was made of swinging fists and rash words, my edges too jagged and my temper too hot. Nothing about me was delicate. Sometimes I wondered whether Henry's taste had changed or whether he thought he saw something different in me, the nurturing healer who stepped up to care for her family in her mother's absence. But I didn't choose to be a healer, nor did I choose to take my mother's role.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I was never afraid of the business aspect of being an author. The idea of marketing my book, of handling all of the financial details, the legal details, figuring out what the cover would be, all of that stuff excited me. So I knew pretty early on that I wanted to self-publish because, frankly, if you're going to do all of that work yourself...
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
you want to keep the money because when you traditionally publish, you end up giving away quite a bit of your money. And so I thought, well, if I'm willing to do the work, I might as well, you know, reap the benefits of it.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
You have to be where the readers are and find ways for them to see you and to know that you even exist because you're not going to have the big promotions that these huge publishing houses get. Your books aren't going to be on the shelves at Barnes & Noble. You're not going to be listed as a hot book to read in Vogue magazine or something.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
Well, that is the million dollar question. If you knew how to answer that easily, you would make a lot of money.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I think in the early days, I really thought you needed to go viral. I thought that I was shooting for that video that got a million views and that that would make or break my career. I have since learned that is not how it works at all. It is so much more complicated than that. And so what changed your mind and how did you like adjust? At some point, I think I did have a video.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
It wasn't one of my videos, but it was a video somebody else made about my book. Here's the video.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
And I saw a spike and I thought, this is it. Like I've made it, my book's going to be huge. And then two days later, you know, the sales dropped down to what they were before the view stopped because that's what virality is. It's a moment. Right. And I think I learned after that, that this is a long haul thing.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
It was a lot of throwing spaghetti at the wall and waiting to see what sticks. I had joined a lot of groups on TikTok for authors and I was, you know, uploading art and making memes out of my characters. I was... you know, doing videos about me as an author. And so it was just every single day trying something new and hoping that something would strike a chord with readers.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
Girl, how much time did this take? So much time.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I started to see my book growing in sales without a viral moment at a very steady, regular pace.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
And it was just by talking to people, replying to comments when people said, oh, I'm interested in that book, or asking questions about it, looking at videos that people who had read my book, if they made a video about it, thanking them and talking to them in DMs about what they liked or what their theories were, really engaging with them. The first month, I sold maybe 100 copies.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I can't remember exactly. And it was like $1,000, and I was stoked. I was so excited. I thought I had just had the greatest, you know, debut release of all time, making that $1,000. Of course, it cost me way more than that to put out the book, so I was still deeply in the red. And then the next month, it like... quadrupled and then the next month it like added a digit. Wow.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
And it grew and grew and grew. I think by the end of the first year, I think we'd sold like 300,000 copies of the books. Those numbers were just kind of mind boggling.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
There's still a huge segment of the market that doesn't read e-book at all. So I knew that I had the potential to really grow my reader base in a significant way if I could get into those bookstores. But that door was pretty much shut to me, other than a handful of bookstores that had stopped my books.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I think by the end of the year, we're going to hit a million copies sold in about a year and a half of the books being on the market, which is unheard of. I mean, even the average traditionally published book is only selling maybe five figures if they're lucky, right? It's just, it's crazy to think about.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
It's very real. I actually just had a conversation with my publisher. They, you know, wanted to put viral book talk hit, you know, book talk sensation, Penn Cole, putting it in ads, pretty much everywhere that you need to sort of describe the book because that communicates to booksellers in particular, bookstores and buyers for these big book chains.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
That's sort of a code word for this book has a lot of It has a big reader base. But for readers, I think it has a very different connotation. And I had to sit down with my publisher and say, I'm not sure that putting this in reader-facing spaces is necessarily the best idea. Because there is a big group of people that feels as if book talk books are not any good.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
It sort of gets painted with a broad brush where people discount my books and assume they're going to be fluff. They're not going to be serious. The writing quality will be bad. They'll be unedited or they were, You know, make all these assumptions about what's inside my book without ever giving me a chance.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I can't even count the number of times I have cried or had to just go and get offline because someone said something really mean. And of course, they have every right to say that, right? We want people to give honest reviews, but as an author, seeing it can be hard.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
Of course, most of my readers were so supportive and so kind about it and said, take all the time you need. But, I mean, to be very honest about it, I had to start going to therapy. I had to seek professional help because it was— I felt so guilty. I really beat myself up over it.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I thought I was given this opportunity to have a bestselling book that was doing really well and that I was going to ruin it. It starts to have an effect no matter how mentally strong you are.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
Traditionally, you know, for as long as books have existed, it has been a handful of gatekeepers in the biggest publishing houses that have decided what readers are going to read. And now publishers are rushing to keep up with what the readers are saying they like, as opposed to publishers telling readers, this is what you get to choose from.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I think TikTok is changing and will continue to change everything about publishing. It's giving readers power that they have never had before. It's allowing authors to hold onto their rights to make money outside of the publishing machine. I think the publishers who pay attention and who adapt rather than resisting are going to really rise to the top.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
So I think that has it's really like a sea change that is in the process of occurring right now. I don't even think we know yet the full effects of how it's going to change publishing.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I'm actually getting into sports romance lately, which is fun. I read my first hockey romance.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
Exactly. Billionaire romance, hockey romance, mafia romance.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
And so I went into a different career for many years thinking, well, someday I'll write my book. Like, I'll get there someday. And then during the pandemic, as I think many people did, I sort of reassessed what I wanted out of life. And whether I was really happy with where I was. And I realized that I really wanted to write that book that I'd always been kind of dreaming about writing.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
So I took a risk and I wrote my first book.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I was made of swinging fists and rash words. My edges too jagged and my temper too hot. Nothing about me was delicate. Sometimes I wondered whether Henry's taste had changed or whether he thought he saw something different in me, the nurturing healer who stepped up to care for her family in her mother's absence. But I didn't choose to be a healer, nor did I choose to take my mother's role.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I was never afraid of the business aspect of being an author. The idea of marketing my book, of... handling, you know, all of the financial details, the legal details, figuring out what the cover would be. All of that stuff excited me.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
So I knew pretty early on that I wanted to self-publish because frankly, if you're going to do all of that work yourself, you want to keep the money because when you traditionally publish, you end up giving away quite a bit of your money. And so I thought, well, if I'm willing to do the work, I might as well
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
You have to be where the readers are and find ways for them to see you and to know that you even exist because you're not going to have the big promotions that these huge publishing houses get. Your books aren't going to be on the shelves at Barnes & Noble. You're not going to be listed as a hot book to read in Vogue magazine or something.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
Well, that is the million dollar question. If you knew how to answer that easily, you would make a lot of money.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I think in the early days, I really thought you needed to go viral. I thought that I was shooting for that video that got a million views and that that would make or break my career. I have since learned that is not how it works at all. It is so much more complicated than that. And so what changed your mind and how did you like adjust? At some point, I think I did have a video.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
It wasn't one of my videos, but it was a video somebody else made about my book. Here's the video.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
And I saw a spike and I thought, this is it. Like I've made it. My book's going to be huge. And then two days later, you know, the sales dropped down to what they were before. The views stopped because that's what virality is. It's a moment. Right. And I think I learned after that, that this is a long haul thing.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
It was a lot of throwing spaghetti at the wall and waiting to see what sticks. I had joined a lot of groups on TikTok for authors and I was, you know, uploading art and making memes out of my characters. I was... you know, doing videos about me as an author. And so it was just every single day trying something new and hoping that something would strike a chord with readers.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
Girl, how much time did this take? So much time.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I started to see my book growing in sales without a viral moment at a very steady, regular pace.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
And it was just by talking to people, replying to comments when people said, oh, I'm interested in that book, or asking questions about it, looking at videos that people who had read my book, if they made a video about it, thanking them and talking to them in DMs about what they liked or what their theories were, really engaging with them The first month, I sold maybe 100 copies.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I can't remember exactly. And it was like $1,000, and I was stoked. I was so excited. I thought I had just had the greatest, you know, debut release of all time, making that $1,000. Of course, it cost me way more than that to put out the book, so I was still deeply in the red. And then the next month, it like...
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
quadrupled and then the next month it like added a digit wow and it it grew and grew i think um by the end of the first year i think we'd sold like 300 000 copies of the books those numbers were just kind of mind-boggling
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
There's still a huge segment of the market that doesn't read e-book at all. So I knew that I had the potential to really grow my reader base in a significant way if I could get into those bookstores. But that door was pretty much shut to me, other than a handful of bookstores that had stopped my books.
The Journal.
Readers Can’t Get Enough of BookTok. Publishers Are Cashing In.
I think by the end of the year, we're going to hit a million copies sold in about a year and a half of the books being on the market, which is unheard of. I mean, even the average traditionally published book is only selling maybe five figures if they're lucky, right? It's just, it's crazy to think about.