What Concerns You About Book Publishing in 2025?
I want to hear from you.
Hello!
As bad luck would have it, I ended up with a stomach bug over the weekend (I had just recovered from the flu!)., so I’m not quite up to writing an entire post this week. I’m banking on the hope that I’ll get the big illnesses of the year out of the way early. Let’s hope so.
Some of my favorite writers on Substack have been posting excellently about various issues facing authors this year.
and recently wrote must-read newsletters. Their work got me thinking about how I can contribute to the conversation, but what I really want to know should come from you, my subscribers. What concerns you about book publishing in 2025? Tell me in the comments. It’s a conversation we should have.In the meantime:
What I’m Reading:
newsletter. Andrea and I have become fast friends, and I adore her. She is funny, intelligent, and knows her stuff!One of my other favorite newsletters is written by
. We’ve met over Zoom, and she is fantastic. I learn SO much from her newsletter.What I’m Watching: My daughter (who will be 17(!) next week) and I have been watching Ugly Betty. I never watched it when it originally aired, but we both enjoy it.
I’m almost done with my rewatch of Younger, which seems to have found a new audience on Netflix. When it originally aired, I’d roll my eyes at what an unrealistic portrayal of book publishing it was. Now, I find it more nostalgic and kind of a love letter to the industry.
What I’m Listening To: Since confirmation hearings are televised while I’m working, I mostly listen to them rather than watch them. I know this seems masochistic at this point.
Whoo doggies! From the independent publishing world, everyone's hair is slightly on fire at the moment. Here's a list of topics discussed in the past few weeks amongst distro and independent publishers.
1. PRINTER COSTS. Holy smokes. Print quotes are double what they were six months ago. Reprint orders for are coming in so high as to evaporate any margin and in maybe lose us money. (What this means to authors: art books, coffee table books, high-production cookbooks, and full-color anything will cost a fortune to make and publishers may pause acquiring those while this all shakes out.)
2. Transportation chaos. The US pulled out of the global postal agreements a while ago and we're feeling it. Shipping rates to Canada have doubled. Shipping from China is up in the air as we wait to hear about tariffs.
3. Distro costs. Distributors are nickel-and-diming publishers with add-on charges that eat into the bottom line and affect cash flow.
4. Market tolerance for pricing. Books are underpriced compared to both costs and standard inflation rates. Publishers absorb that with shrinking margins but can't absorb much more. Book prices need to increase, but bookstores' pushback means they won't consider stocking books over a specific price point. We anticipate consumers will see fewer choices at bookstores, like Big Five titles only, leaving independent published books outside the bookstore channel.
5. Consolidation. Better performing independent publishers are being bought by Big Five.
6. Ongoing media cuts combined with 'obey-in-advance' thinking. There are fewer and fewer places to amplify books. We anticipate having to work harder to find more niche outlets. Gone are the days of one solid national media hit breaking a book.
7. Federal spending moratoriums and bans. Yes, bans will affect publishers. However, if Fed funding for libraries and schools is stopped or significantly decreased, that sales channel will crash, which will have a more significant impact than specific bans.
8. Increased misaligned expectations of authors. We're seeing authors asking and wanting more...higher royalties, more author copies, bigger marketing budgets, etc....and the money is just not there.
9. Market saturation/attention deficit. There are too many books. There are too many other competitors for folx eyeballs and attention.
10. Existential exhaustion. Everyone you know (outside the C-suite) is working harder than ever for less pay. Everyone is tired.
That's ten off the top of my head!
So many people suddenly recommending Younger! Starting it ASAP :). As for publishing concerns, the reality for authors doesn’t match the dream. Publishing should consider looking at itself and figuring out what they can do to leave less destruction in their wake. So many writers I talk to and work with feel broken by the experience. This won’t happen, but it sure would be nice.