Public Relations in the Controversy of a Debuting Author
Source: Entertainment WeeklyBackground of Alex Aster and her Debuting Novel, Lightlark
Alex Aster, a former freelance editor had managed to make her dreams of becoming a successful young adult author come true with her debuting fantasy novel, Lightlark. Already having published two middle grade books, things were looking grim for the 27 year old as she had no luck with publishers and had a former agent quit on her because of her new novel,“She had been rejected by more than a dozen publishers, and her agent dropped her over her continued efforts to push a story her agent thought wouldn’t do well.” (Kaplan, 2022). However, all that changed when in March of 2021 she had posted a video on TikTok revolving around the premise of her novel, Lightlark, in hopes of getting the peoples’ attention. Within 24 hours the video had reached the BookTok community and blew up exponentially, “she checked TikTok, and it had over a million views and thousands of comments asking how to purchase the book and how to read it.” (Kaplan, 2022). Thousands of people were flocking to the internet to pre-purchase this novel and it seemed that everything was on the up and up for Aster as she continued to make TikTok videos surrounding her book, Lightlark. The novel had grown so much in popularity that Amulet Books had made a deal with the author, "Within weeks, “Lightlark” had been purchased as part of a two-book deal by Amulet Books, the YA and middle-grade imprint of Abrams Books." (Larsen, 2022). She was even able to gain a movie deal despite the fact the book was not even out to the public yet, “Universal Pictures had acquired the rights to Lightlark and were creating a movie based on the book with the producers of Twilight.” (Garrison, 2022). So what went wrong for this author?
As people gained first access to Lightlark through Advanced Readers Copies (ARCs) they began to notice a difference in the ARCs and the videos Aster had been posting about her book. Many people have begun to get angry with Aster as the book finally released to the public, as the tropes that she had promised to her readers via TikTok were not in her novel at all, "Over half the tropes the author kept posting about [aren't] even in the book.” (Garrison, 2022). There are even scenes that Aster has posted about in her videos that are not in Lightlark, “Reviews on TikTok range from accusing Aster of removing scenes from the book that she talked about on TikTok and having been ‘lied to, scammed (and) taken for fools,’” (Kaplan, 2022). This in itself has caused a rift in the book community and causing many readers to take out their rage over Aster’s lies on book reviewing platforms, some reviewers not even having read the book, “Some reviewers on platforms like Goodreads have been accused of ‘review bombing’ the book due to disappointment with the false TikTok advertisement and personal vendettas against the author.” (Garrison, 2022). However, Aster is quick to explain to outraged readers that the specific tropes and scenes that they were promised are in the universe of Lightlark, just not present in the first book, but in the second book to the series that is to come out.
Source: Alex Aster's TikTokPublic Relations in Connections to the Book Community
One of the things that has seemed to have failed Aster when her novel was growing in popularity before it was out for public consumption was her publicist or lack thereof. A publicist is a professional within the Public Relations (PR) world whose main job is to promote their client and keep them visible and relevant in the public eye (Page & Parnell, pg. 24). The importance of a publicist when they are working for an author such as Alex Aster, is to promote them and whatever work they are putting out. It seems from her TikTok videos that Aster was acting as her own publicist in that aspect, which in practice can be okay; many people who work in whatever form of the entertainment industry are their own publicist and can be very successful in doing so. This can be best referred to as pro bono work, “professional work undertaken voluntarily and without expectation of payment” (Page & Parnell, pg. 51). However, although Aster’s videos gained her many views and brought a lot of attention to her debuting novel, in the end it brought her the wrong kind of attention once people were able to read Lightlark.
Another element that has led to the amount of bad publicity thrown at Aster is the contents of her TikTok videos which can be viewed as publicity stunts, “an event or activity specifically designed to draw attention to a product, service, or celebrity that creates lots of news coverage or publicity” (Page & Parnell, pg. 51). Not to be confused with the videos themselves as inherently damaging to Aster’s image and the image of her novel, but the way the videos were geared towards the public. With her first video, Aster was using the platform to see if people were even interested in her novel, giving a small synopsis of what Lightlark entails. This video alone can be categorized as a great publicity stunt; it gained a lot of attention in a minimum amount of time and gave a great indication of what the novel is about, letting people know what to expect. That being said, as Aster continued to post videos that seemingly revolved around her first novel that was not out yet, she was actually making videos about the second installment to the series and not specifying that. So, when people finally got their hands on Lightlark with certain expectations of what was going to be in the novel and those expectations not being fulfilled, it caused controversy around Aster and her book.
A Personal Stance of Aster’s Methods and the Reactions of the Book Community
Overall, I think that this is just an unfortunate situation for all parties involved. People feel lied to and might feel hesitant to trust other authors publicizing their books and Aster has possibly ruined her chances of becoming a big named author because of misrepresentation. I am sure what many PR practitioners can learn from this situation is that clearly communicating with an audience is so important, because even if the communication is slightly off or misunderstood, it can possibly render a client's career. Also, if a client is partaking in their own pro bono work, to check in on them and the work they are putting out for a public audience.
References
Garrison, A. (2022, August 18). Alex Aster's Book 'Lightlark' Is Generating Drama on BookTok — What We Know. In Distratify. Retrieved from https://www.distractify.com/p/alex-aster-booktok-drama
Larsen, P. (2022, August 17). ‘Lightlark’ author Alex Aster faced repeated rejection for her work. A TikTok video changed everything. In Los Angels Daily News. Retrieved from https://www.dailynews.com/2022/08/17/lightlark-author-alex-aster-faced-repeated-rejection-for-her-work-a-tiktok-video-changed-everything/
Kaplan, A. (2022, August 23). How this author leveraged TikTok to build buzz around ‘Lightlark’. In Today. Retrieved from https://www.today.com/popculture/books/alex-aster-leveraged-tiktok-lightlark-rcna44242
Page, J. T., & Parnell, L. J. (2018). Introduction to Strategic Public Relations: Digital, Global, and Socially Responsible Communication (First ed., pp. 24-51). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
Background of Alex Aster and her Debuting Novel, Lightlark
Alex Aster, a former freelance editor had managed to make her dreams of becoming a successful young adult author come true with her debuting fantasy novel, Lightlark. Already having published two middle grade books, things were looking grim for the 27 year old as she had no luck with publishers and had a former agent quit on her because of her new novel,“She had been rejected by more than a dozen publishers, and her agent dropped her over her continued efforts to push a story her agent thought wouldn’t do well.” (Kaplan, 2022). However, all that changed when in March of 2021 she had posted a video on TikTok revolving around the premise of her novel, Lightlark, in hopes of getting the peoples’ attention. Within 24 hours the video had reached the BookTok community and blew up exponentially, “she checked TikTok, and it had over a million views and thousands of comments asking how to purchase the book and how to read it.” (Kaplan, 2022). Thousands of people were flocking to the internet to pre-purchase this novel and it seemed that everything was on the up and up for Aster as she continued to make TikTok videos surrounding her book, Lightlark. The novel had grown so much in popularity that Amulet Books had made a deal with the author, "Within weeks, “Lightlark” had been purchased as part of a two-book deal by Amulet Books, the YA and middle-grade imprint of Abrams Books." (Larsen, 2022). She was even able to gain a movie deal despite the fact the book was not even out to the public yet, “Universal Pictures had acquired the rights to Lightlark and were creating a movie based on the book with the producers of Twilight.” (Garrison, 2022). So what went wrong for this author?
As people gained first access to Lightlark through Advanced Readers Copies (ARCs) they began to notice a difference in the ARCs and the videos Aster had been posting about her book. Many people have begun to get angry with Aster as the book finally released to the public, as the tropes that she had promised to her readers via TikTok were not in her novel at all, "Over half the tropes the author kept posting about [aren't] even in the book.” (Garrison, 2022). There are even scenes that Aster has posted about in her videos that are not in Lightlark, “Reviews on TikTok range from accusing Aster of removing scenes from the book that she talked about on TikTok and having been ‘lied to, scammed (and) taken for fools,’” (Kaplan, 2022). This in itself has caused a rift in the book community and causing many readers to take out their rage over Aster’s lies on book reviewing platforms, some reviewers not even having read the book, “Some reviewers on platforms like Goodreads have been accused of ‘review bombing’ the book due to disappointment with the false TikTok advertisement and personal vendettas against the author.” (Garrison, 2022). However, Aster is quick to explain to outraged readers that the specific tropes and scenes that they were promised are in the universe of Lightlark, just not present in the first book, but in the second book to the series that is to come out.
Public Relations in Connections to the Book Community
One of the things that has seemed to have failed Aster when her novel was growing in popularity before it was out for public consumption was her publicist or lack thereof. A publicist is a professional within the Public Relations (PR) world whose main job is to promote their client and keep them visible and relevant in the public eye (Page & Parnell, pg. 24). The importance of a publicist when they are working for an author such as Alex Aster, is to promote them and whatever work they are putting out. It seems from her TikTok videos that Aster was acting as her own publicist in that aspect, which in practice can be okay; many people who work in whatever form of the entertainment industry are their own publicist and can be very successful in doing so. This can be best referred to as pro bono work, “professional work undertaken voluntarily and without expectation of payment” (Page & Parnell, pg. 51). However, although Aster’s videos gained her many views and brought a lot of attention to her debuting novel, in the end it brought her the wrong kind of attention once people were able to read Lightlark.
Another element that has led to the amount of bad publicity thrown at Aster is the contents of her TikTok videos which can be viewed as publicity stunts, “an event or activity specifically designed to draw attention to a product, service, or celebrity that creates lots of news coverage or publicity” (Page & Parnell, pg. 51). Not to be confused with the videos themselves as inherently damaging to Aster’s image and the image of her novel, but the way the videos were geared towards the public. With her first video, Aster was using the platform to see if people were even interested in her novel, giving a small synopsis of what Lightlark entails. This video alone can be categorized as a great publicity stunt; it gained a lot of attention in a minimum amount of time and gave a great indication of what the novel is about, letting people know what to expect. That being said, as Aster continued to post videos that seemingly revolved around her first novel that was not out yet, she was actually making videos about the second installment to the series and not specifying that. So, when people finally got their hands on Lightlark with certain expectations of what was going to be in the novel and those expectations not being fulfilled, it caused controversy around Aster and her book.
A Personal Stance of Aster’s Methods and the Reactions of the Book Community
Overall, I think that this is just an unfortunate situation for all parties involved. People feel lied to and might feel hesitant to trust other authors publicizing their books and Aster has possibly ruined her chances of becoming a big named author because of misrepresentation. I am sure what many PR practitioners can learn from this situation is that clearly communicating with an audience is so important, because even if the communication is slightly off or misunderstood, it can possibly render a client's career. Also, if a client is partaking in their own pro bono work, to check in on them and the work they are putting out for a public audience.
References
Garrison, A. (2022, August 18). Alex Aster's Book 'Lightlark' Is Generating Drama on BookTok — What We Know. In Distratify. Retrieved from https://www.distractify.com/p/alex-aster-booktok-drama
Larsen, P. (2022, August 17). ‘Lightlark’ author Alex Aster faced repeated rejection for her work. A TikTok video changed everything. In Los Angels Daily News. Retrieved from https://www.dailynews.com/2022/08/17/lightlark-author-alex-aster-faced-repeated-rejection-for-her-work-a-tiktok-video-changed-everything/
Kaplan, A. (2022, August 23). How this author leveraged TikTok to build buzz around ‘Lightlark’. In Today. Retrieved from https://www.today.com/popculture/books/alex-aster-leveraged-tiktok-lightlark-rcna44242
Page, J. T., & Parnell, L. J. (2018). Introduction to Strategic Public Relations: Digital, Global, and Socially Responsible Communication (First ed., pp. 24-51). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
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