Publishing wants debut authors to produce bestsellers. What happens if they don't?
cbc.ca – Wednesday October 8, 2025
When a debut author doesn't produce a bestselling book, it may signal the end of a career. This is due to the publishing industry's increasing obsession with books' sales data, even though the numbers are often inaccurate.
What happens when the publishing industry focuses more on milking authors for cash rather than nurturing their craft? Today on Commotion, host Elamin Abdelmahmoud discusses this conundrum with ECW Press editor Jen Sookfong Lee and writer Tajja Isen, who wrote an article for The Walrus about publishing's data obsession.
Elamin: Tajja, on the one hand, it makes sense that if your first book is not a success, they have a harder time selling the next one. It makes sense that publishers are a little bit cautious to go, "Should we take a risk on this writer again?" But you point out that this hasn't always been the case, Toni Morrison being a good example of this. Do you want to talk about the story of her first novel?
Tajja: So her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was very modestly published. The publisher didn't have massive expectations for it. It sold maybe 1,500 [or] 2,000 copies. And a few years later, it actually went out of print. And at the time, Morrison was working in publishing, very strapped for cash. And she happened to be working in the same building as Robert Gottlieb, who later became her editor, and he happened to have read the first novel and thought, "Hey, there's something to this writer. She's got some chops." He kept her in-house and published her second novel, published her third. And it was her third novel, with Song of Solomon, where she really broke out. So it was because her editor was able to nurture her across books that she had this incredible career that reshaped literature.
Write Michigan contest open for entries
schoolnewsnetwork.org – Monday October 6, 2025
Education Everywhere — Students are invited to enter their unpublished work in the 14th annual Write Michigan Short Story Contest.
Offered by Kent District Library since 2012, the short story contest has three categories:
- Adult, ages 18 and older
- Teen, ages 13-17
- Youth, ages 12 and younger
There is no entry fee for students ages 17 and younger. Any entrants who are 18 or older pay a $10 entry fee. Three cash prizes are awarded in each category:
- Judges’ Choice – $500
- Judges’ Runner-Up – $250
- Readers’ Choice – $250
New Literary Agent Listing: Seb Flatau
firstwriter.com – Monday October 6, 2025
Represents writers for film and television across numerous genres, with a particular affinity for scripts that are character-driven and grounded in human connection. He takes a collaborative approach to script development, working with the writer to help bring a project into commercial shape.
Murder One, Ireland’s International Crime Writing Festival returns once again to Dublin from 17th – 19th Oct
newsfour.ie – Saturday October 4, 2025
Featuring some of the most well-known and internationally renowned crime-writing stars, Murder One, Ireland’s International Crime Writing Festival, returns to Dublin from the 17th – 19th October 2025 for its 8th year with a whole host of not to be missed events, readings and masterclasses taking place in Dun Laoghaire’s DLR Lexicon Library & Cultural Centre.
If you’ve seen the recent press coverage about Sam Blake and the Sam Fake AI books, this is your chance to see real authors who write real books! Supporting authors has never been more important and Murder One gives you a chance to meet them, and get your books signed!
Supported by the Arts Council and DLR Libraries, the festival features international crime writing talent, including global sensation and international bestselling author Chris Whitaker on his first visit to Ireland, as well as Ruth Ware, Steve Cavanagh, Gillian McAllister, Jane Casey, Andrea Mara, A.J. West, Amanda Cassidy, Conor McAnally and Catherine Ryan Howard to name but a few!
Whether you are an avid crime reader, a budding writer with an exciting idea for a thriller of your own, or a book club looking for a new read, Murder One has something for everyone to enjoy this October.
Founded by best-selling crime author, Sam Blake, after a day of school events on Thursday 16th, the masterclass programme kicks off on Friday, 17th October at 10am, with Sam Blake (also founder of Writing.ie) giving insider tips on how to get published. This is followed by a session with Professor Henry Sutton, who will guide writers through the art of storytelling, from creating a compelling plot that keeps readers on the edge of their seats, to choosing the perfect point of view to bring your characters to life. Henry heads up the UEA Crime Fiction Masters, the leading course of its kind in the UK with some of the world’s most successful writers as alumni. Then, literary agents Simon Trewin (Simon Trewin Creative) and Jade Kavanagh (Darley Andersen Literary Agency) will discuss how to make your submission stand out, and what agents and publishers are really looking for.
Bournemouth’s Romance Writing Festival attracts international audience
dorsetview.co.uk – Thursday October 2, 2025
Bournemouth’s Romance Writing Festival, which takes place on Saturday 18 October, will welcome attendees from across England and Wales as well as from California, Toronto, Belgium and Germany.
Taking place at the Royal Bath Hotel, it will bring together bestselling authors, literary agents and publishing professionals for a day of talks, workshops, networking and book signings.
The mayor of Bournemouth will join writers at an evening reception to honour two distinguished guests and to celebrate the growing literary influence enjoying a renaissance in Bournemouth.
The programme includes 10 panels with Sunday Times bestselling authors such as Paige Toon, Milly Johnstone and Sue Moorcroft, as well as one-to-one sessions with literary agents and editors, and a lively Author Marketplace where published writers will showcase their work. Five authors will also celebrate the launch of their new books at the festival, offering attendees the chance to be among the first to pick up signed copies.
Beyond the hotel, festivalgoers can join beach walks to meet fellow writers in an informal setting, or take part in literary walks of Bournemouth, highlighting the town’s rich heritage as the home and inspiration for writers including Mary Shelley and J R R Tolkien. Afternoon tea with publishing editors will take place at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum
The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem
thewalrus.ca – Wednesday October 1, 2025
Companies keep betting on the next bestseller. Literature is poorer for it
In 1970, a New York publishing company put out a debut novel by an editor and former teacher from Ohio. The press, then known as Holt, Rinehart and Winston, had taken a chance on the book, which had been rejected by numerous other houses. The initial print run was somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 units—modest expectations that looked justified when, in the first year, sales barely cleared 2,000. This despite getting positive reviews in the New York Times and The New Yorker and being assigned to freshman classes at the City College of New York. The attention wasn’t enough. Four years later, the novel was out of print.
The author stayed in the game, albeit precariously. While working on her second book, she was a single parent commuting to Manhattan for a job in publishing. At the time, she was “so strapped for money that the condition moved from debilitating stress to hilarity.” Despite her first book’s lacklustre sales, she found a publisher for her second. The debut had attracted the admiration of a high-profile editor, one who happened to work in the same building she did. He acquired her next title, and the next, keeping her in house as she steadily built acclaim and an audience.
Eventually, the writer scored an opportunity still regarded as a grail of book marketing: her debut was chosen for Oprah’s Book Club. Sales reportedly soared to 800,000 copies. Today, publishers hope that their titles will nab the book club stamp—and the ensuing bump in sales—straight out of the gate. But, in this case, the Oprah endorsement came only at the turn of the millennium, thirty years after the novel was first released. By then, the author had published some half dozen other books and cleared the stable of major literary accolades. She had won the National Book Award, the Pulitzer, the Nobel. The author was Toni Morrison. The novel was The Bluest Eye.
New Literary Agent Listing: Rory Green
firstwriter.com – Wednesday October 1, 2025
Brings a decade of pastoral experience and a deep zeal for encouraging and equipping the Church. Because of his extensive ministry experience, he is passionate about championing strong pastoral voices to guide the next generation.
Open Call - Getting Your Script Ready
bbc.co.uk – Tuesday September 30, 2025
This year the dates for our Open Call are from noon on Tuesday 4th November to noon on Tuesday 2nd December. Ahead of the submission window opening we turned to Hayley McKenzie for some tips and advice on making sure that your script is in its best shape.
How should writers get ready to submit their script to BBC Writers Open Call, or any other opportunity deadline?
Making sure you have enough time to do multiple revisions before the deadline is critical – don’t send your first draft! Building that evaluation and rewrite time into your process is important if you want to send your best work. So, aim to finish a first draft of the script a few weeks before the deadline to give yourself time to really elevate the script and make it the best you possibly can.
We also encourage the writers we work with to have done a lot of development on the idea/premise, characters and story, including outlining, before writing the first draft. That helps gives the first draft of the script more clarity of intent and a strong shape, which means there is less of the heavy lifting to do in the rewriting phase.
Are fandoms becoming the hottest wellspring of material for books and movies?
russh.com – Monday September 29, 2025
For those who have always harboured a deep passion for the written word – and perhaps aspired to write themselves – the world of fan fiction is hardly new territory. Both emerging and established authors have cut their teeth in the sandboxes offered by some of the most popular fandoms.
At the 2024 RUSSH Literary Showcase presentation, Tongan-Australian author Winnie Dunn spoke of one of her first forays into writing. Stolen moments tucked away in her childhood bedroom drafting fan fiction. The admission was met with a knowing smile by the other emerging authors in the room. Some of them later even divulged to me the particular fandoms they used to experiment with.
Reading and writing fan stories was once an activity kept strictly to LiveJournal and remote internet forums. It's undeniable that what used to be a clandestine guilty pleasure, a haven for hardcore fan culture, has evolved into something accepted by the mainstream.
DEI vs. Story: How Publishing Lost the Plot. Part 1 of 7: The Gatekeepers
pjmedia.com – Sunday September 28, 2025
Once upon a time, an aspiring fiction writer had a fighting chance. If you wrote a good story, polished your manuscript, and braved the slush pile, you might just get picked up. The system wasn’t perfect, but it was meritocratic enough that talent sometimes slipped through the cracks and found its way into print.
That world is gone.
Today, agents and editors, the self-appointed gatekeepers of publishing, increasingly use submission guidelines not as a way to filter for quality, but as ideological purity tests. Want to query an agent? You’d better make sure your story features “marginalized voices,” that your characters are “diverse,” and that your personal identity matches the preferred checklist. Otherwise, don’t bother. Some agencies explicitly state they will not consider manuscripts by authors from “overrepresented groups.” Some agents state baldly that they will not be able to represent white males. Others signal subtly or overtly that unless your work advances the current ideological line — the one centered on race, gender, or sexuality — they are not interested.
This isn’t just rumor. It’s been noticed by people inside the industry. In 2022, Joyce Carol Oates, no right-wing firebrand but one of America’s most respected novelists, said that a literary agent friend of hers couldn’t even get editors to look at debut novels by white male authors. “They are just not interested,” she wrote, calling the situation “heartbreaking.” Best-selling thriller author James Patterson said much the same: white male writers face a harder time breaking in, a trend he called “another form of racism.”
Mainstream media rushed to shut them down. CNN ran a feature insisting the data “disagrees.” Their proof? A Penguin Random House audit showing that between 2019 and 2021, 76 percent of their authors were white (only 34 percent were men, but they downplayed that). A New York Times study that found 95 percent of novels in major houses were by white people. “Not a thing,” industry insiders declared.
But look closer. Those numbers are backward-looking, reflecting backlist contracts and long-established names. They say nothing about what Oates and Patterson were pointing out: the front door is closing. How many of those 2019–2021 books were new debuts by white men, as opposed to reprints or ongoing series from long-successful authors? CNN didn’t ask, because the answer might have proved Oates right.
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