TikTok Sells A Lot of Books. Now, Its Owner Wants to Publish Them, Too.

For now, ByteDance seems focused on fantasy, romance and mystery, genres that are popular on the platform.

Tricia O’Malley, a best-selling romance author who has self-published about 40 novels, received an offer from ByteDance in April to buy the rights to two of her books. The deal included a social media marketing campaign, royalties and an advance of $3,500 per book — less than the titles earn every month, O’Malley said.

The company…