Books | Publishing | Marketing
Traditional Book Publishing Trends Today, in 2020, and Beyond
Insights into popular genres, author marketing, audiobooks, and more
For a look at current trends in book publishing, I immediately turn to industry insider Jane Friedman, author of The Business of Being a Writer and the top resource on the web for developments in the world of traditional publishing.
In her October blog post “Current Trends in Traditional Book Publishing: Fiction, Nonfiction and YA,” Friedman opened with the following insights into the book publishing industry:
• Nonfiction still tops fiction, but political book sales are down.
• Nonfiction categories lead in the young adult (YA) market.
• Graphic novels are big for all age groups.
• Audio books are continuing to grow in popularity.
She then moved to overviews of multiple panels held at the New York Rights Fair at the BookExpo conference in May that featured high-profile literary agents and editors. Friedman’s takeaways (in addition to the points noted above):
• Psychological fiction rules.
• Readers want to escape and indulge in nostalgia.
• Darker narratives are being given more of a chance.
• A…
