If you were given $100 and five minutes in a bookstore, which titles would you pick? That’s the premise of Simon & Schuster’s upcoming web series, Bookstore Blitz—the publisher’s latest internet-inspired effort to market its authors.
And Bookstore Blitz is just the beginning. In a recent interview with The Cut’s Cat Zhang, the flagship imprint’s new publisher, Sean Manning, shared his plans to modernize Simon & Schuster into a media powerhouse. Other series in the works include an awards show–style interview program called Read Carpet.
“We’re essentially an entertainment company with books at the center. Every Tuesday, we have a new author who’s a cultural tastemaker,” Manning said. “Why aren’t we using them? Why are we so dependent on outside media?”
There’s a well-documented appetite for book-related content online. TikTok’s book community was responsible for approximately 59 million print book sales in 2024, catapulting previously unknown authors into household names. BookTok’s older, less zany cousin, BookTube, has also long been used to promote new publications and offer free marketing to authors big and small.
Many of the top-selling fiction writers in the U.S. today—including Colleen Hoover, Sarah J. Maas, and Rebecca Yarros—owe their success in part to going viral on TikTok. A single video in the app’s sensationalized style often outperforms traditional advertising, sending authors straight to the top of bestseller lists.
BookTok’s runaway success has forced publishers into the 21st century, pushing them to grow their presence on other social platforms, especially Instagram and Threads. Manning believes his biggest competition is no longer other publishers—it’s social media.
Inspired by brands like Vice, which built a following through YouTube documentaries, and The New Yorker with its podcasts and annual festival, Manning told The Cut he envisions cultivating A24-style brand loyalty—for books.
As for Bookstore Blitz, Manning has big ambitions: “My hope is that inevitably the series could be a promotional stop like Chicken Shop Date or Hot Ones.”
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