Simon & Schuster Wants to be the A24 of Publishing
Written by Natalia Zeise
Recently, The Cut published an interview with Sean Manning, the new publisher at Simon & Schuster, one of the “big five” publishing houses. In this interview, Manning expresses a desire to make Simon & Schuster “the A24 of books.” But what exactly does that entail?
To understand what Manning means by channeling A24, we have to analyze its image as a company. A24 occupies a unique space in the film world. One doesn’t frequently hear people say, “Oh, this looks like a Warner Brothers Movie,” but people can recognize that a movie “ looks like A24.” Despite its diverse repertoire of films in terms of plot and aesthetics, A24 carries an association with introspective and emotional storytelling bathed in neon lights. It has evolved beyond a movie distribution company to become a cultural tastemaker. The brand name on a project lends a film a specific credibility that cannot be replicated by other movie production companies or distributors.
It is unclear if Manning is trying to replicate the strange and neon persona of A24, but it is obvious he wants to bring a recognizable brand to the publishing house. Historically, publishing houses have had very subtle branding. This is partly to allow for author’s to receive credit for their work, but mostly due to the sheer variety of books under a single publishing company. It can be difficult to craft a specific and robust brand image with so many different genres and styles under it.
Similarly to the movie production companies that are not A24, consumers recognize authors as what makes a good book, not the publisher behind them. Manning’s first step toward brand construction is an online campaign not dissimilar to Hot Ones and Chicken Shop Date. His result is Bookstore Blitz, a challenge where authors are given $100 to pick up as many books as they can in 5 minutes and then explain their choices in a video to be posted online. Manning makes a point that he no longer believes that other publishers are Simon & Schuster’s biggest threat but rather social media and streaming services. The success of contemporary authors like Colleen Hoover and Rebbecca Yarros can be partly attributed to virality on TikTok, and in the ongoing war for our attention, Manning makes a convincing argument that entering the online sphere may be the only way to convince consumers to put the phone down and pick up a book.
The Bookstore Blitz concept also expands on Manning’s statement that “the persona of the author can be very marketable, right?” Reading has become something of a fashion accessory as of late. Fashion content often features a “what’s in my bag” spread, where the contents of one’s purse are neatly arranged on a surface. More often than not, these spreads include a book or journal (usually with a cover that matches the color scheme).
Paparazzi photos of celebrities also include books, with iconic examples being Addison Rae walking through Beverly Hills while reading Britney Spear’s memoir, The Woman in Me, or Jacob Elordi in an airport looking through books with another book comically shoved in his cargo pants. Authors Ottessa Moshfegh and Mona Awad have earned unofficial titles as “it-girl authors” with stories centering on flawed but ultimately intriguing women. Moshfegh and Awad’s status as “cool-girls” give merit to Manning’s idea of leveraging the author’s persona, but it remains unknown if Simon & Schuster will be able to craft and market other author persona’s in a way that appeals to consumers and feels authentic.
It will be interesting to see if this marketing campaign is executed and, if so, how it will perform. Will other publishing houses follow suit? Will books begin to win back some of our attention from TikTok and Netflix?
Edited by Hana Razvi, Simran Khanuja, Safa Razvi & Sophia Buckholtz
