S&S UK launches publishing's first romance TikTok creator house

Simon & Schuster UK is launching publishing’s first romance TikTok creator house with six top BookTok influencers in Brighton in July.

There will be exclusive reveals of the company’s biggest upcoming romance titles, including The Long Game by Elena Armas and Wildfire by Hannah Grace, as well as scavenger hunt activity featuring three local bookshops: Waterstones, W H Smith and City Books.

S&S UK will collaborate with content marketing agency Rocket on the project which will take place across the weekend of 1st and 2nd July in Brighton.

A number of TikTok creators will attend including Library of Lina, Ella Simps for Books, Compulsive Book Buyers, Rhysandsbaby and Booked Up, all of whom have a combined following of over 230,000. 

The news comes after HarperVoyager created publishing’s first TikTok creator house with eight BookTok influencers in Hay-on-Wye last year.

Sarah Jeffcoate, marketing manager at S&S UK, said: “As industry leaders in the romance space, we have loved collaborating with content creators on TikTok over these past few years to further amplify the power of romance and reach swathes of new readers.

"Passionate and imaginative, the BookTok community have done incredible things to advance attitudes and further our #RespectRomFic mission, and we’re proud to work alongside them. Collaborating with Rocket on a romance specific creator house feels like the natural next step.”

Georgia Henry, head of publishing at Rocket, added: “Collaborating with Simon & Schuster UK on a romance specific creator house is the next response to the ongoing influence of BookTok. This community of readers has developed since the initial phenomenon on the platform and romance has become by far the most popular genre for TikTok readers. Creator houses provide both brands and influencers with ample opportunity to capture genuine, reactive content by offering a space to prompt creative collaboration."