The subculture of “BookTok” on TikTok has allowed followers to find numerous book recommendations, reviews, reactions, and other fan content. Maas has proved to be a particularly popular author here.
When her latest book was released in January 2024, some bookstores opened at midnight to facilitate the demand for the new book. In its first week on sale, the book went to number one globally on Amazon (inc. US, UK, Australia, France, Sweden and Spain). Other books by the author occupied five of the top 10 best sellers slots and she had nine books in the top 20 – the books continue to sell, but the latest release has triggered readers to buy the back catalogue.
TV series and films driving repeat business
Bloomsbury’s authors demonstrate the enduring quality of their IP, driving repeat customers year after year with new audiences discovering the back catalogue of titles and engaging in new formats such as e-book or audiobooks.
TV series and films based on their author’s work inevitably drive higher book sales as seen through the life of the Harry Potter franchise. The company has announced that another author, Cixin Liu, is soon to have a Netflix release based on his “Three Body Problem” series and there have been reports that streaming service Hulu has signed a deal to make a series based on Maas’s work.
The company has also expanded to distribute content through new mediums in recent years. For example, the Bloomsbury Digital Resources division, which sells access to digital content from academic institutions and schools globally in areas such as Fashion and Drama. This provides annual subscription revenues and is higher margin than traditional publishing.
Emerging trends impacting the success of business models
Structural societal forces are incredibly powerful and often irreversible. Whilst we continue to construct our portfolio on a bottom-up and fundamental basis, we must acknowledge that emerging trends will benefit certain business models. By identifying influential themes such as the growth of content creation and value of strong IP, we can identify businesses that could benefit from these structural tailwinds over the long term.
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Footnotes
1 Source: Press Gazette as at 15 February 2024. Colossal decline of UK regional media since 2007 revealed.
2 Source: BBC as at 19 October 2023. Are influencer partnerships the inevitable future of business?
4 Source: Redshark as at 10 February 2024. Streaming wars: Content is king, but kings cost money.
5 Source: The Guardian as at 4 June 2023. The Guardian view on Bloomsbury’s success: publishing wizardry.
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