Have you heard of creator burnout? This is something that is becoming more prevalent in the book influencer community. People are creating more and more content and don’t always get paid for it. This can make influencers feel like they are unpaid labour; reading and posting about a book as part of a marketing campaign, with sometimes no remuneration other than the book itself. This then leads to more burnout for creators who feel like they have to be constantly creating for no financial gain. Antina, along with Naomi- founder of Tandem Collective, decided that there is a gap in the market for creators. Enter, ChallyPop! A new platform that gives every creator the chance to be paid. ChallyPop doesn’t take follower count or engagement into account when judging entries to their challenges, instead looking at just the content, creativity and effort taken. I sat down with co-founder Antina to find out more about Chally Pop.

Where did the idea of ChallyPop come from?

Over the years I have heard bookish creators voicing their frustrations about why influencers in other sectors get paid for their reviews and posts. In the book community, however, there can be a feeling that a book is all the payment needed. This is in part why I founded Bookinfluencers.com, and for me, ChallyPop is a progression from this.

We wanted to be able to empower all readers to be creators and influencers. Whether you have 100 followers or 100,000 followers, we believe that you are able to reach other readers and inspire with your content. And we believe that you should be remunerated for this. ChallyPop is here to encourage a new generation of creators who don’t need to worry about their follower count.

We’ve seen the power of micro creators compared to macro creators and paid ads. Some studies show that 61% of consumers place their faith in influencer recommendations, while only 38% show similar trust in branded posts.

The music industry has similar platforms for sounds from track releases, but we haven’t seen this in publishing yet. There is so little communication across industries, and there is so much to learn from each other.

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What is your and Naomi’s background and history?

Naomi and I met working on a campaign a few years ago. Last year I became ill and Naomi stepped in to look after Bookinfluencers.com, while I was undergoing treatment. During that time we would bounce ideas around and talk about new ways to breathe life into the book marketing industry. This was not only a way to help distract me from my illness, but to get ideas from another like-minded business owner. Naomi came to me discussing creator burnout and what we could do, this triggered the same thoughts I had when I launched Bookinfluencers.com about why influencers in other sectors can expect payment for promotions as the norm, whereas in the book world, it is the exception. Together, we formed ChallyPop!

Naomi founded Tandem 8 years ago. Over the last few years Tandem has grown a lot and the team there is really strong. I know Naomi really enjoyed the more hands on work at Bookinfluencers.com when she covered for me. We both love the challenge of a new idea, so although it is scary to launch a new business, it is also so exhilarating.

Where does ChallyPop fit in the bookish community?

I love our bookish community, and the community is everything to Bookinfluencers.com. There can be a cynicism around creator marketing, particularly with the big macro creators running multiple ads and sponsorships. There are a lot of studies that have shown that micro creators have the best engagement rates. Micro creators are automatically closer to their audience and able to interact and engage in a way that feels genuine. We want to show that every reader can influence others’ book buying habits. Word of Mouth marketing is a human behaviour- we are much more likely to buy something if our friend or someone we know has bought it. In the digital age, this stretches to social media too. We are inspired by creators who feel like our friends more than celebrities. We want to empower the consumer to be the creator. This allows the reader to shape the narrative of the marketing.

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How does ChallyPop fit in with existing companies?

ChallyPop fits in between what Tandem and BookInfluencers.com do. We think that ChallyPop could be instrumental on multiple campaign types, from cover reveals to big budget titles where we know people are going to buy the book anyway.

We know that ChallyPop is likely to change and adapt over time, we might end up using it in a way that is completely different to the current plan, but this is something that we love about all our businesses: we are able to change and adapt as we learn and get feedback.

Essentially, at ChallyPop we don’t want to label people as nano-creators, or micro-creators, or macro-creators. We just look for quality content, which anyone can make.

Visit ChallyPop’s website to learn more about their current challenges.