I'm very curious about the possibility that some veteran editors will start their own presses. I've heard similar rumors and I'm hoping it'll lead to a creative, cultural, and political renaissance, ala Barney Rossett with Grove Press in the 1950s.
interesting to read your take after watching Carly Watters today and her predictions. Many dovetail, particularly on AI (good and bad) and shorter length for books. You two should do some joint presentations. One thing I think we'll see more of is partnerships between Big Five and more robust Hybrid presses ala She Writes Press' distribution deal with S & S
I’m reading Blue Ocean Strategy and it’s so relevant to publishing right now. We need to offer something totally new and more consumer friendly instead of competing against each other in a saturated market. As it is, no one is happy. Writers, editors, illustrators, bookstores...everyone feels underpaid and unsure how to make creative work sustainable.
"Self publishing will become more normalized." Agree. People (readers) generally do not care who publishes a book, BUT the BRANDING is important. You know what you get from Hallmark, Tor/Forge, Scholastic, etc. I think niche publishers/niche sole authors who focus on specific brand categories (horror, self-help, diet, etc.) can more easily grow their brand/sell books than the "one-off" author.
Also - "Hybrid" publishers need to be clearer about costs and what they do and (most importantly) do NOT include in their services.
It's interesting: I'm seeing a lot of parallels today with the Victorian era, when newspaper serials were cheap and popular as the population became more literate. We can deliver anything at a click of a button to a smartphone and the global population is booming. The problem isn't putting together a team: it's finding your audience. I think the disillusioned Millennials will go down that route and there's no reason why TikTok can't challenge Amazon on the book front - they are already experimenting with storefronts. I can see a time coming (if it hasn't already) when a brand like Beauty Pie sponsors their own beach-reads list for the summer with an on-site store, with a brand placement in the novels.
As an author with a new book out later this year, and as a book coach helping other authors, I found your trend forecast enormously helpful and insightful. I'm relieved that I may continue to ignore Goodreads! Looking forward to exploring Storygraph. Thanks!
You offer such incredible insights in your posts. I appreciate how wide-ranging your predictions are, and I feel a fierceness of conviction in what you report of what you see and what you want to see happen. Thank you for what your pour into all you do here.
I just started querying agents and this is all so insightful/interesting. Thank you for posting it. Given a lot of these trends, I wonder if we will soon see some type of hybrid agent/editor role emerge. Someone who specifically helps clients navigate self publishing and then takes a cut?
As an author, I find your prediction about self-publishing becoming normalized, encouraging. I am publishing via hybrid publishing and the cost of publishing, marketing, PR is, for me, astronomical. I am also now writing two more books and am considering self-publishing because of economics and the control it gives me. I'd love to see more on this topic in the future. I am currently educating myself on self-publishing and direct sales. I think the mythology that existed about being published traditionally and the dismissal of self-published books is waning. Perhaps this new shift will allow more people to dip their creative toes in waters they previously believed were not available to them. Wouldn't that be a positive thing!
Very interesting and hopeful. At least for me. I write short speculative fiction. Short Stories & Novellas. Or Magical Realism Or what in my home country -Venezuela- is just called fiction. I've thought about self pub. I don't know if I'm savvy enough. But I could try before going down the agent query rabbit hole🐇
I'm very curious about the possibility that some veteran editors will start their own presses. I've heard similar rumors and I'm hoping it'll lead to a creative, cultural, and political renaissance, ala Barney Rossett with Grove Press in the 1950s.
I can almost guarantee it will happen. I have one idea I'm kicking around myself.
Do kick
interesting to read your take after watching Carly Watters today and her predictions. Many dovetail, particularly on AI (good and bad) and shorter length for books. You two should do some joint presentations. One thing I think we'll see more of is partnerships between Big Five and more robust Hybrid presses ala She Writes Press' distribution deal with S & S
I watched both too and feel more confidence in the parallels
Where did you find Ms. Watters predictions? I'd love to hear those too but can't seem to locate them.
Check out her Instagram.
Thank you for a terrific prediction post, and all you do here. I find you to be one of the saner voices.
And thank you for the redirect as well!
Thanks so much for the kind words!
Instagram under Carly Watters "2024 Industry Predictions"
Thanks!
I’m reading Blue Ocean Strategy and it’s so relevant to publishing right now. We need to offer something totally new and more consumer friendly instead of competing against each other in a saturated market. As it is, no one is happy. Writers, editors, illustrators, bookstores...everyone feels underpaid and unsure how to make creative work sustainable.
I have some ideas I am working on :)
"Self publishing will become more normalized." Agree. People (readers) generally do not care who publishes a book, BUT the BRANDING is important. You know what you get from Hallmark, Tor/Forge, Scholastic, etc. I think niche publishers/niche sole authors who focus on specific brand categories (horror, self-help, diet, etc.) can more easily grow their brand/sell books than the "one-off" author.
Also - "Hybrid" publishers need to be clearer about costs and what they do and (most importantly) do NOT include in their services.
It's interesting: I'm seeing a lot of parallels today with the Victorian era, when newspaper serials were cheap and popular as the population became more literate. We can deliver anything at a click of a button to a smartphone and the global population is booming. The problem isn't putting together a team: it's finding your audience. I think the disillusioned Millennials will go down that route and there's no reason why TikTok can't challenge Amazon on the book front - they are already experimenting with storefronts. I can see a time coming (if it hasn't already) when a brand like Beauty Pie sponsors their own beach-reads list for the summer with an on-site store, with a brand placement in the novels.
You still need a team: an editor, a good cover designer, copy editor, etc. TikTok is taking on Amazon in eCommerce.
Absolutely! I think I worded that badly; I can see TikTok as an alternative publisher storefront, partnering with the right brands for their audience.
As an author with a new book out later this year, and as a book coach helping other authors, I found your trend forecast enormously helpful and insightful. I'm relieved that I may continue to ignore Goodreads! Looking forward to exploring Storygraph. Thanks!
Thank you!
Another informative, prescient post. Thank you.
And ‘yes’ regarding a novel’s length and diminishing attention spans.
With that in mind, I spent the last month shaving my novel down to around 70,000 words, and intuitively this feels correct -- for publish-ability.
You offer such incredible insights in your posts. I appreciate how wide-ranging your predictions are, and I feel a fierceness of conviction in what you report of what you see and what you want to see happen. Thank you for what your pour into all you do here.
Thanks so much!
I am impressed with the research and observations that went into these predictions. Thank you.
I appreciate that. Thank you for reading.
I just started querying agents and this is all so insightful/interesting. Thank you for posting it. Given a lot of these trends, I wonder if we will soon see some type of hybrid agent/editor role emerge. Someone who specifically helps clients navigate self publishing and then takes a cut?
As an author, I find your prediction about self-publishing becoming normalized, encouraging. I am publishing via hybrid publishing and the cost of publishing, marketing, PR is, for me, astronomical. I am also now writing two more books and am considering self-publishing because of economics and the control it gives me. I'd love to see more on this topic in the future. I am currently educating myself on self-publishing and direct sales. I think the mythology that existed about being published traditionally and the dismissal of self-published books is waning. Perhaps this new shift will allow more people to dip their creative toes in waters they previously believed were not available to them. Wouldn't that be a positive thing!
Great and informative article
Very interesting and hopeful. At least for me. I write short speculative fiction. Short Stories & Novellas. Or Magical Realism Or what in my home country -Venezuela- is just called fiction. I've thought about self pub. I don't know if I'm savvy enough. But I could try before going down the agent query rabbit hole🐇
Great that you are fully recovered.
Also, your comments about Tik-Tok really stood out as a potential game changer.
Thanks for all the insight.
Thank you so much for this post. I’m listening to you.
Really interesting and insightful as always. It seems to me that many journalists have moved to Substack.