Publishing in 2019--What to Expect

The sales data in traditional publishing for 2018 pointed to some surprising trends. If you want to know what the industry is looking for in 2019, last year’s data is an indicator. I gathered this information from publishers.org and Publishers Weekly.

I’m not going to bore you with numbers and percentages—well, I don’t know if you’ll be bored, but I know I will be—so here’s a quick roundup of the meaning behind the 2018 sales data:

• Paperback books are still the most popular format.

• Audiobooks are the fastest-growth category.

• Adult nonfiction is the highest-growth category.

• Adult fiction took a dip, but only 1.2%.

• Children and YA fiction saw slow but steady growth.

What were the biggest selling subjects of 2018?

• Partisan politics

• Politically-related memoirs

• Diversity initiatives

• “Rise and resist” canon

• LGBTQ-oriented fiction and nonfiction

• Children’s books focusing on diversity

Kids Rule

Publishers are hungry for warm, joyful fiction in children’s books. A book published by Roaring Brook Press called Be Kind did very well. It’s a simple book about, well, being kind, geared to ages 3–6. Another big seller in children’s books was about cultural diversity, All Are Welcome, published by Knopf Books for Young Readers. The success of both books came as a surprise to their publishers. And hence, a trend is born.

Hulu and Netflix and Amazon, Oh My!

In a country with a population of approximately 328 million, 45 million people read 11 or more books in 2018, while 90 million read one to 11 books, and the rest didn’t read any.

How do the Big 5 choose what they publish? Some point a finger of blame at streaming services. Author Margaret Atwood was so jazzed by the success of the TV adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, she has decided to write a sequel to the 1985 novel. Cha-ching.

The Big 5 publishers—Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster—are looking for the possible TV adaptation with every book they publish. But at the smaller publishing houses, it’s a different story.

“TV has no bearing on anything we’re doing,” says Mieke Chew, New Directions Press co-director of publicity. According to Chew, New Directions’ authors don’t expect to hit the New York Times bestseller list because the publisher doesn’t print enough books to qualify. Chew says her company is “built for a completely different long game. The whole back list was built around this idea that each book will become a classic. We don’t think about films, we want the Nobel.”

Where Have All the Critics Gone?

Another challenge to the industry is the slow but steady disappearance of credible book critics and the rise of listicles—a piece of writing consisting wholly or mostly of a list. Many critics have turned to blogs where they drop listicles and best-of roundups that “lack robust conversation around books,” says Chew.

The future of any publishing company is dependent on making audiences aware of its books. In a noisy world populated by people who are bombarded with images and sounds, bringing attention to a book is tricky and time-consuming.

Hey, Where’s My Money?

In traditional publishing, there is limited time and money. How has the industry dealt with these limitations? By publishing fewer books across all categories, publishers can give more attention to the authors and books they promote. And what’s wrong with that? Really fine manuscripts and talented writers get passed over. Midlist authors—those who write the books that are not bestsellers but are strong enough to economically justify their publication—don’t get contracts that provide them with enough money to earn a living.

More money for authors would be nice, like better royalties on hardcover and digital sales. Says Stonesong literary agent Melissa Edwards, “The author and the publisher should be partners in the process… and should be making similar amounts of money on every book.”

That sounds reasonable.

What’s the Plan for 2019?

You might be surprised by the trends for 2019. Will publishers be appealing to avid readers? No. Small publishers want to focus their efforts on those readers who only read one to 11 books a year. They hope to entice them by offering books with broader diversity and appeal.

Atria Books editor Daniella Wexler hopes for increased emphasis on integrity and principle throughout the publishing industry. Wexler boils it down to these areas that require improvement: “How we publish, why we choose the things we do… how we treat our employees, who we hire, how we interact.”

If traditional book publishing is to thrive in this country, publishing houses must diversify in both the content of the books and the faces of the authors they promote. The silver lining—I sense that these changes could be an advantage to a clever and talented author. Like you. Follow publishing trends. Track what the smaller publishers are looking for. This could be your year.

Even George R. R. Martin Needs An Editor

Writing is a craft. You cannot learn a craft and become proficient at it without doing it again and again. I will now make a controversial statement:

Writing is a process that can only be mastered by doing it. You cannot learn to write by reading about writing. You can’t learn to write well by reading well-written books. You can only become a good writer by writing. And editing. And writing. And editing. And so on, until you’ve nailed it.

There, I said it. Argue with me, if you’d like. I welcome your point of view.

Writers Hate Editors

Writers, typically, like to write. What they don’t like is submitting their work to editors. Lots of well-known writers don’t like editors. Here is the opinion of one of the world’s most popular writers, George R. R. Martin, tongue firmly in cheek, addressing CoastCon II in Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1979:

If there were no editors in the world, writers would be very happy. They would frolic and play and publish every word they wrote, and they would have lots of money and lots of sex, since they would be very famous and very charming, having never experienced rejection. Their egos would fill up the world, their books would be everywhere, and they would mate furiously and produce lots of little writers….

Martin is joking. I think. No, I know he is because he goes on to praise editors and lament that their importance in the writing process never garners them credit or notoriety. Or lots of sex. (His opinion, not mine.)

Writers Need Editors

Martin’s tongue is still in his cheek, but less so, with this observation:

…editors can indeed be a source of frustration and anguish in a writer’s life. In most cases, that is not due to any active malice on the part of the editor. Often as not, the real villain of the piece is the publisher, but editors are the hatchet men, out there on the front line, and they are the ones who are forced to deliver the bad news and bear the accompanying karmic weight. Editors also are the source of most rejections, and writers hate rejections…

Writers and Editors Need Each Other

This is my favorite part of his speech:

A good editor tries to figure out what the writer was trying to do, and helps him or her do it better, rather than trying to change them into something else entirely. A good editor doesn’t insist or make changes without permission. Ultimately, a writer lives or dies by his words, and he must always have the last word if his work is to retain its integrity.

Yes, Mr. Martin, you’re right. That is what a good editor tries to do. At least, it is what I try to do. I refer you to an earlier blog post of mine, Editor & Writer, A Team:

I am not your enemy. I gain nothing by sabotaging your work. Excellence in the content and quality of your work is as much a reflection on me as it is on you. I ask that you receive my comments and suggestions in the spirit of fostering teamwork, and allow my editing skills to complement your writing.

What are your thoughts on the relationship between writers and editors? What experiences, good or bad, have you had? I'd love to hear from you.

My Guest Blog on Life at the Intersection

I am proud to have a guest blog article published on the website Life at the Intersection, the brainchild of psychologist and author Terri Lyon.

Life At The Intersection is stories that illustrate creative thinking about the world around us – inspiring readers to focus their passion and change the world.

A healthy ego is a requirement of survival in our world. From a writer's standpoint, a well-balanced ego is essential to creativity and productivity. Maintaining a healthy balance can be tricky though.

https://lifeattheintersection.com/2018/09/10/at-the-intersection-of-ego-and-creativity/