Want a big $ book deal? Get someone to do a TikTok video about your book.

[LilyBLily]

His daughter did it:

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/book-deals/article/92208-book-deals-week-of-may-8-2023.html

[Bill Hiatt]

I see the potential in TikTok, but I'm waiting for it to clean up its act. The early TikTok challenges, in which high school students were challenged to commit vandalism at school and film the results, were bad enough. But recently a fourteen-year-old suffered burns over 80% of his body as a result of a challenge to create a torch using a lighter and a spray can--because what could possibly go wrong with that?

I mention this only because I think a lot of people aren't aware of how lax TikTok's moderation policies are. It has a lot of marketing potential for us. But I think it needs to stop allowing content that encourages teenagers to commit crimes or put themselves in harm's way. (They're all too prone to impulsive behavior on their own without encouraging them in that direction.)

[R. C.]

Think long and hard about using TikTok. In the TikTok TOS is a passage that allows the app to screen scrape your device! That means you give permission for the app to read EVERYTHING on your device.

R.C.

[Bill Hiatt]

There's also the question of what China does with our data. It's possible it doesn't do anything sinister at all, but at the very least, I support its prohibition in government facilities, just in case.

Of course, we don't really know what large companies in general do with our data. That's a whole different problem. But I've not run across a TOS before that allows access to all data on the device used for the service. It's a good reminder to always read the TOS (which I admit I don't do most of the time).