Why Every Bestseller Feels the Same: the Formula Behind Modern Romance
theteenmagazine.com – Saturday November 15, 2025
One thing about romance novels is that they're going to hit every time! Well, at least they used to. The swoon-worthy confessions, the character edits on TikTok, the yearning, and cute scenes that made us all feel lonely.
From fake dating to the same three tropes on rotations, romance novels have become predictable. However, authors are relying on this predictability because it sells. It causes authors to play it safe and adds no depth to the genre.
It is no secret that the same copy-and-paste format has a little or a lot to do with the business behind the publishing industry. Literary agents are always looking for the next big thing, the story that will make them revenue and not just dust up on library shelves.
It’s why one of the key things that agents look for in an author is numbers, such as how many followers they have or their network. This is a major factor in the stories and authors that get published, which then leads to literary agents now picking the same type of storylines and similar authors to the point the whole market is overusing the same ideas.
Bright Agency promotes Georgia Tournay-Godfrey to literary agent
thebookseller.com – Friday November 14, 2025
The Bright Agency has promoted Georgia Tournay-Godfrey to literary agent.
Tournay-Godfrey first joined Bright in 2019 as an assistant, before becoming an associate agent. She works across picture books, preschool, non-fiction and graphic novels.
She said: “I’m all about ideas. I’m looking for picture books that take risks but that trust children to notice, question and feel. I’m drawn to creators who resist neatness or convention, whose work is oddly funny and imaginative, or unusually profound. I’m drawn to stories that exist at the edge of the ordinary, that hold space for both the strange and the beautiful.”
Tournay-Godfrey added: “I’m especially eager to champion creators from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The voices too often left unheard, yet rich with perspective, humour and truth.”
New Publisher Listing: Toller Press
firstwriter.com – Friday November 14, 2025
Publishes books that spark a love of reading across a wide range of genres, from adventure and fantasy to real-life drama, humorous tales, and serious narratives featuring either animal or human characters. Material should be engaging for young readers, with strong storytelling that places the reader first and encourages imagination, curiosity, and emotional connection.
BFLA Open Week: What is the most challenging part of your role?
blakefriedmann.co.uk – Thursday November 13, 2025
While we love to celebrate the publishing industry – amazing authors, essential books, and a whole world full of readers – sometimes it can feel like an uphill battle. In today’s BFLA Open Week Question of the Day, we asked the team:
What is the most challenging part of your role?
Please take a look at everyone’s answers below, and come back tomorrow for the final instalment of this year’s Open Week!
Isobel Dixon, Head of Books
Agenting requires a great deal of intelligent nerve, in fighting for your authors, in tricky negotiations, and the mettle required to deliver bad news – rejected submissions, editor departures, frustrating reviews (or lack of them). The trade’s rate of change is swifter than ever before – editor moves, corporate mergers, retailer shifts – and we are the steady point for our clients, supporting and strategising in response to perpetual publishing flux. Physical stamina is required too as we don’t control publishing schedules – several client titles can be published on one day and we have to be prepared and there for each unique scenario.
New Magazine Listing: My Mind Beautiful Magazine
firstwriter.com – Thursday November 13, 2025
A complimentary magazine for Women of Color that articulates and represents the unrelenting courage, strength, resilience, and fragrance of our unrestrained creativity and colorful history while nourishing the human soul and feeding the human spirit. We strive to inspire and empower women. Inside this magazine are "Pages of Purpose" educating and instigating women to reshape our perception of how we see ourselves individually and collectively while overruling the distortions and misrepresentations of Women of Color. What makes this niche publication so unique is that we offer great content. We offer what Women need, what they want, and what they don’t even know they need.
Inside the editorial process of Chapman’s art and literary magazines
thepanthernewspaper.org – Monday November 10, 2025
From poets to music producers, painters to playwrights, filmmakers to photographers, Chapman is home to a thriving creative community. And each semester, art and literary magazines like Calliope, Ouroboros and The Underground offer Chapman creatives of all mediums a home for their work.
But how do the editors of these magazines decide which pieces to accept into each issue? Let’s delve behind-the-scenes into the selection and editing process for Chapman’s art and literary publications.
Calliope, the oldest literary magazine at Chapman, published its first issue as its current iteration in fall of 2014. The publication accepts a wide range of written and visual work, including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, scripts, photography, digital art, paintings and drawings. Currently, Calliope’s editor-in-chief is senior screenwriting major Joshua Olatunji.
Ouroboros, which published its first issue in fall of 2020, specializes in work that falls within the speculative genre. The magazine accepts written and visual works of various mediums including poetry, fiction, scripts, sculptures, animations, photography, digital and traditional art. The magazine’s current editor-in-chief is junior creative writing major Selah Sanchez.
The Stephen King writing tip that changed everything for Aussie thrill-master Christian White
rnz.co.nz – Sunday November 9, 2025
Best-selling novelist Christian White was resigned to being a "starving artist" forever. Then he read Stephen King's non-fiction book On Writing.
Over 15 years, in the spare hours when he wasn't selling sandwiches from a golf cart, picking apples or editing adult films, Christian White penned four books that never saw the light of day.
He and his wife, Summer De Roche, were resigned to being "starving artists forever" when White read American horror master Stephen King's "incredible" book On Writing.
In it, King delivers "incredible nuggets of wisdom", White says, and one in particular - that you should write with the door closed and rewrite with the door open - paved the way for his best-selling debut novel, The Nowhere Child.
In 2018, when The Nowhere Child became the fastest-selling Australian debut novel in history, White says all of a sudden, his entire life "did this complete 180".
"I'd wasted 10, 15 years of writing and not showing anyone else my work. That big change pretty much straightaway led to me getting a publishing deal and everything else so, I really owe that book a lot."
"Suddenly, I could afford to just sit at my desk all day. That was my one thing I had to do. I could write for a living. It's the best job in the cave-like office all day, away from the sunlight, just telling stories. It's amazing."
Once "the dust settled", though, White realised that even with the extra hours, his writing output was still the same as it had been while he was juggling casual jobs.
Rice to launch Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
news.rice.edu – Sunday November 9, 2025
The Rice University Faculty Senate has approved the creation of a new Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, marking a milestone for the School of Humanities and Arts and the Department of English and Creative Writing. The result of several years of collaboration among Rice’s creative writing faculty, the three-year graduate program will welcome its first cohort in fall 2026.
“I salute the opportunity to diversify our graduate training in the humanities to include this new MFA, which is certain to elevate the place of Rice as a national leader in creative writing, while advancing the reputation of Houston as a premier literary and cultural hub,” said Kathleen Canning, dean of the School of Humanities and Arts. “I am confident that this program will quickly gain national visibility as one of the foremost writing programs in the U.S. with an unusual capacity to cultivate a new generation of bold, innovative thinkers and writers whose work is grounded in artistic excellence, interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement.”
Developed by faculty Lacy M. Johnson, Tomás Q. Morín, Kiese Laymon, Amber Dermont, Andrea Bajani, Ian Schimmel and Justin Cronin, the MFA in Creative Writing is designed to nurture emerging voices in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, translation and hybrid forms while connecting students to Houston’s rich literary and cultural landscape. The program joins a growing suite of degrees including the doctorate in English and major concentration in creative writing, reflecting Rice’s expanding commitment to the arts and humanities.
New Publisher Listing: Rockpool Publishing
firstwriter.com – Wednesday November 5, 2025
Publishes Mind Body Spirit; Health and Wellness; Self-help and Gift titles. Projects should demonstrate originality, strong writing, and a clear understanding of the intended audience. Submissions must include a concise cover letter with a synopsis, a table of contents, and sample chapters or a full manuscript. Preference is given to material that aligns with the existing publishing list while offering a fresh perspective or unique angle. Authors are expected to show awareness of the current market and be prepared to participate in the promotion of their work. Fiction, children’s non-fiction, and poetry are not considered.
Oxford University Press announces agreement to acquire Karger
corp.oup.com – Tuesday November 4, 2025
Oxford University Press (OUP) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Karger Publishers. The transaction is expected to complete in December.
Following closing, this acquisition will see OUP welcome Karger to its wider organization, bringing together a shared commitment to quality and scholarly integrity, and extending the reach and impact of Karger’s leading academic and research publishing in medicine and health sciences.
OUP is one of the oldest and largest university press publishers in the world and a department of the University of Oxford. Its mission is to further the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. It publishes thousands of trusted research books and journals every year in a wide range of disciplines and formats.
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