We need to talk about publishing
We have a problem
Twenty years ago, there was a sincere belief that books were about to die. The advent of e-readers spread waves of anxiety among bookstores. Paperback fetishists became vocal: print needed to be defended. But it was a battle that seemed destined to lose.
But shortly before COVID-19, the industry began to claim victory over an impossible battle. The internet hadn’t killed books. Everything was just fine thank you. Hoorah.
No one could predict what would happen next. The threats to publishing are more pernicious and dystopian than anyone realised.
First: books became more popular than ever
In retrospect, it was easy to see the rise of romantasy and contemporary romance coming. While the first decade of the century was shaped by young adult fiction (Harry Potter and the endless stream of dystopian, magical young people that followed), the second decade was shaped by a spike in sexy romance (Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey). The next wave, led by Sarah J Maas and Rebecca Yarros, was inevitable. And thank God, now more people are buying books than ever before. Reading recreationally actually increased.
But no one saw TikTok coming, and fewer could’ve predicted BookTok: a multi-billion community passionate about reading, pioneered by Millenial and Gen Z women. However, the platform’s ubiquity in America also meant a homogenisation of book marketing. To sell a book, you needed to get onto TikTok. And to break into those markets, you needed to get hashtaggable and ultra-genre-specific.
Second: Publishing steered towards BookTok
With no other option, most publishers pushed towards market taste. Many Australian authors comfortable with the mid-tier (doing a festival circuit and enjoying a few thousand book sales every couple of years) were suddenly encouraged by their publishers to move into romance or romantasy. But industry insiders said it was a losing battle. Mid-tier Aussie publishers couldn’t compete with the massive tsunami of international publishers.
Third: local publishing consolidated
In the space of six months, larger firms acquired three independent Australian publishers. Since October of last year Text Publishing, Affirm and Pantera Press all sold. Publishers say they didn’t have an option, and the sale means the support could help Australian authors. The sales represent unprecedented consolidation and uncertainty for the industry.
Fourth: censorship is at an all-time high
The era of extremist politics has meant book bans are at an all-time high in America. Books bans doubled year on year for school libraries. It represents a trend in line with Trump’s broader war on language, which is fitfully trying to rip ‘woke speak’ from all government documents and institutions. It’s being felt in academia as well, with international conferences falling apart thanks to American universities not being able to use dangerous words like ‘feminism’.
What’s next?
BookTok is good for readers, but its future is uncertain. In Australia, the platform is banned for those under 16, and in America, its future remains uncertain thanks to Trump’s concerns over foreign ownership. It’s an incredibly volatile platform, but it’s the one that the entire book industry now relies on. If it were to disappear suddenly (not out of the question), it’s difficult to predict how the publishing market and readers would react.
Meanwhile, Australian authors are left attempting to penetrate an international market. In that sense, little has changed, although it may be more complex than ever. Censorship and a language war are certainly more dangerous in the long term for publishing broadly.
All of this means that self-publishing on e-platforms may look more attractive than ever for writers starting out. The apparent ‘victory’ over e- and self-publishing that publishers claimed pre-COVID now appears naive. The success of Substack is also part of that picture - it tells you something that Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie and others are all writing on this platform.
Read on.