BFLA Open Week: So, What’s Going On In The World of Publishing?

5 Key Trends for 2024 and beyond

Written by Finlay Charlesworth

1.   Who Has the Power in Publishing?

Well, before we get into what’s new in publishing, it’s worth remembering that some things seem to always stay the same – and the list of power players of UK publishing is certainly one of them.

The Top 20 UK publishers by revenue remain dominated by the ‘Big Four’: Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins and Pan Macmillan. One of the big stories of 2022 was PRH’s attempt to consolidate further by buying Simon & Schuster being blocked by the US courts – still very much ‘watch this space’ story, with Simon & Schuster now owned by private equity firm KKR, expanding rapidly in the US, and perhaps poised to challenge the UK’s Big Four in the coming years.

Meanwhile, the Independent Alliance – not a single publisher, but a collective of eighteen from across the UK, founded by Faber & Faber – continue to grow rapidly year-on-year, sharing expertise and a distribution network to gain leverage and influence in UK publishing.

2.   Britain vs the World: the Export Race

Did you know that more than half of the UK publishing industry’s income comes from selling books abroad?

Not only that, but the export market for British publishers is growing twice as fast as the British publishing industry as a whole. This is partly down to finding new markets to sell into – such as Mexico, where sales increased by 328% in a single year – and partly down to publishers pushing more into existing markets, most notably the USA and Europe.

Is it all good news though?

Agents, authors and foreign publishers are often wary of British publisher’s attempts to drive sales of their English-language books abroad: export editions usually pay a lower royalty rate to authors, and the wide availability of an English-language edition can impact opportunities for authors and foreign publishers to translate the work into new languages.

3.   Romantasy Came from Nowhere – or Did It?

Barely more than eighteen months ago, there was hardly a reader in the world using the word ‘romantasy’ online.

What a difference just a couple of years can make – from a quick scroll on TikTok to the top of the Bestseller Charts, romantasy has become an unstoppable juggernaut. Combining fantasy and romance is hardly a new phenomenon (not that it was the first, but it’s worth pointing out that TWILIGHT is going to turn twenty next year!), but the new term romantasy has helped to unite a vibrant, diverse and creative collective of readers.

In response, publishers have found new ways to reach those readers: most notably through partnerships with Subscription Boxes, which have been a huge hit amongst romantasy readers in particular, providing beautiful and curated book packages – and rocketing books to the top of the charts while still being sold at (or even above) their recommended retail price: a far cry from the ‘race to the bottom’ seen in recent years, where rival retailers discount books as much as they can to compete with Amazon.

It’s certainly not hard to see why it feels like almost every editor wants a romantasy book on their list!

4.   BookTok Is Here to Stay – or is it?

For years, “the app formerly known as Twitter” was at the heart of the book community online, and while its still the go-to for many publishers and agents, it is clear that TikTok, the new kid on the (tik)block is going from strength to strength.

To date, there have been over 34 million posts tagged with #BookTok, garnering billions of views between them and having a profound effect on the bestseller lists. What was most exciting about the early impact of BookTok was how unpredictable it could be, amplifying books from across the genre spectrum and looking beyond the latest, most-hyped new releases, plucking authors like Coleen Hoover and Adam Silvera out of obscurity, years after their books had first been publishing, and helping them go from selling thousands to millions of copies almost overnight.

However, it does look like publishers are starting to get savvier at using it as a platform for their new books, through a mix of acquiring books targeted at BookTok users and getting their books in the hands of the right influencers early, with new releases like Rebecca Yarros’ FOURTH WING, Gabrielle Zevin’s TOMORROW & TOMORROW & TOMORROW and Emily Henry’s FUNNY STORY quickly gaining traction on the app.

Will this frontlist-first approach dull the allure and spontaneity of BookTok though? And could the ongoing US legal challenge to TikTok’s ownership make it all disappear overnight?

5.   The World of Audiobooks Has Turned Upside Down

And, finally, one of the great mysteries of the publishing world: what is going on in the world of audiobooks?

What we do know for certain is that over the past five years, audiobooks have been at the forefront of growth in UK publishing, consistently growing year on year far faster than print books – just last year, downloads rose by a staggering 17%. This year will further benefit from the boost of Spotify’s dive into the world of audiobooks, which began last October by offering Premium subscribers fifteen hours of audiobooks a month on top of their pre-existing music streaming service – creating for the first time a serious challenge to Amazon-owned Audible’s dominance in the digital audiobook market.

However, a lack of clarity over the terms of Spotify’s royalty payments has been widely criticized, including by the Society of Authors, and there new fears that the addition of audiobooks to Spotify may not only offer a poor return for authors, but dilute musicians’ earnings too. The full effect of Spotify’s intervention in the market, and its fallout, may yet take time to reveal itself.

With audiobooks more available than ever before though – whether through the retail outlets, streaming services, or the increasingly popular apps offered by libraries to access eBooks and audiobooks for free such as BorrowBox and Libby by Overdrive – and production quality on the rise, the potential of audiobooks remains massive and a brilliant boost to authors and readers.

BFLA Open Week: Rejections – An Agent Explains

Written by Sian Ellis-Martin

Rejections are a big part of publishing: authors get rejected by agents, manuscripts get rejected by editors, books get rejected by readers, and often we’re not given a reason why.

At Blake Friedmann, we respond to every submission we receive but we aren’t always able to give individual feedback. We receive hundreds of submissions a week and simply don’t have the capacity to do so. It’s easy to assume that your writing is bad if an agent passes on your manuscript, but it’s often not as black and white as that.

 There are lots of reasons why we might pass on a manuscript. Here are some of the main reasons I’ve passed on manuscripts recently:

 Wrong genre

The quickest passes for me are the ones that are simply not in genres I represent. I’m often sent fantasy and sci-fi novels, or scripts and poetry, and these are areas I don’t work in. Not every agent represents every genre, so if you’re submitting to agents, make sure you check agency websites to find out which genres the agents are looking for. You can see more about the Blake Friedmann team here: www.blakefriedmann.co.uk/team

 Pitch is too vague

The first part of your submission we look at is the cover letter, so you’ve got to make sure that your pitch is super strong to make us want to read your chapters. If your pitch is quite vague (e.g. John meets Sarah and they fall in love and live happily ever after) and doesn’t tell us what’s unique about your work, then we might not feel inclined to read the chapters you’ve submitted.

 The opening takes too long

Sometimes people feel that they need to spend a long time setting the scene and introducing the characters at the start of a book. We definitely want to get a sense of the world you’re building, but pages of long description don’t always make for the most exciting reading. Personally, I like a book to start as late as possible i.e. as close to the main action/storyline/narrative thread as possible so that I can get straight into things. Those details about setting and character can be woven into the story as it unfolds.

 The proposal is not detailed enough

In non-fiction, we ask for a proposal outlining certain things about your book, alongside some opening chapters. Make sure you include that detail – the total word count for a proposal is often around 10,000 words including a synopsis, a chapter plan for the entire work, two sample chapters and some information on where your book might sit in the market (and how it stands out from what’s already out there).

 We don’t connect with the voice

This one’s a tricky one as voice is very subjective. Sometimes a book can be well-written and do everything we say we want it to, but there’s just something that we’re not connecting to. Quite often, that’s the narrative voice. As this is so subjective, there’s a big chance that someone else might connect to the voice better than we do.

 Place in the market/target audience

Offering representation to an author is about more than whether we enjoyed the story or thought it was well-written. We also must have a commercial vision for the novel. Obviously, we don’t want to have an exact copy of another book, but we want to be able to imagine where a book sits in the market i.e. some authors and titles it might sit alongside on the shelf. This is why using comparison titles and mentioning who your story is aimed at in your cover letter is very helpful.

 Lots of people say ‘my book isn’t like anyone else’s!’ or ‘every type of person will enjoy my book!’ but these statements are unrealistic, and don’t help us understand what you’re writing. If we can’t think of a way to pitch or market the book, other people in the chain – editor, marketer, bookseller, etc. – may have the same problem.

 Not following submission guidelines

I would never reject something just because it doesn’t follow our submission guidelines, but if we don’t have all the material we need to consider your submission, it makes it more difficult for us to make a decision or consider your work as fully as we’d like to.

 All this is to say that we understand it can be disheartening to be rejected but there are many reasons – beyond the book simply being bad – why an agent might pass.

BFLA Open Week: Resources & Resourcefulness – Some Tips for Writers

Written by Isobel Dixon

So, you’re a writer. You’ve been putting in the hard yards, sitting at your desk/kitchen table/in bed, with your laptop/iPad/notebook and writing, WRITING, whichever way you can. In fact, you’ve written a lot – short stories, one that’s turned into a bit of a novella, a full War-and-Peace-sized novel manuscript even. Or you’ve started and abandoned books half a dozen times, but now you know that this one, this is The One That’s Not Going to Get Away. But you need help, some guidance, a boost in the right direction. Your family and friends are sick of you going on about your book, or are wondering why you keep disappearing, because you’re too shy to tell anyone that you have ambitions as a writer. What to do now?

There are many resources for writers, at many stages of their writing careers, and though I won’t go into extensive detail here, below are a few ideas and waymarkers. Some pointers, starting with your own practice and reaching out further. If you scroll down you’ll find a list with some links – not an exhaustive list and mostly a UK-focused one, but it will give you some idea of the kind of things you can look out for, wherever you are.

Already, as an observer and chronicler, you are watching and recording. Being ‘someone on whom nothing is lost’, as Henry James said. You’re alive to the world around you, noticing, and writing things down. Robert Louis Stevenson said he always carried two books at any time – one to read and one to write things in. And as a writer, you’re also going to be reading widely and closely – for pleasure as a reader, but also with an analytical eye to understand how plot , structure and narrative form work in practice. You can see a bit more about this in a piece I wrote about ‘voice’ (with some emphasis on poetry, given that I am a poet myself).

As a reader, and a writer aspiring to publication, you’ll be curious about how books are sold and received, so you’ll want to spend some time in bookshops and libraries. Whether you’re buying or borrowing, and whatever genre you are writing in, there is so much information to be absorbed there.

In your reading journey, ask questions of booksellers and librarians as to what they’ve liked and what they recommend in your chosen field. If you’re pressed for time, remember that you can listen to audiobooks via your library too. (And a note here that writers love the royalties they get from book sales, but in many countries, authors, translators, illustrators and audio narrators receive a small amount every time a library book is loaned, if they sign up to the national system, called Public Lending Right in the UK. So borrowing lots of books is good for writers too! If you’re published and haven’t registered your books for PLR yet, there’s no time like the present… And while you’re on the admin, check out the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), who also make payments to authors for registered titles, where there has been photocopying or other licensing use.)

Also ask questions as a writer – libraries and independent bookshops will have knowledge of book clubs and writers’ groups in your area too. At some stage you will need to ‘declare and share’ – acknowledging your goals as a writer, whatever your day job, and showing your work to someone else. This may be via an informal local group or a taught course, in-person or online, but it will be transformative, even as it pushes you beyond your comfort zone.

Beyond your local library, local universities may offer writing workshops – in London I started attending Michael Donaghy’s evening poetry workshop, a short course given by City University, which led me to the poetry friends I still informally workshop with, decades later.

Regional writer development organisations do invaluable work with and for writers, offering courses about the craft, information on publishing, creating networking opportunities, running festivals and prizes – so do check what there is in your region. At the agency, we’re big admirers of the National Centre for Writing in Norwich, with whom I have worked closely for years, New Writing North, Writing West Midlands, Writing East Midlands, Literature Works, Scottish Book Trust, and more. The Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Literary Fund also provide support for writers in different ways – see their websites for more.

The Arvon Foundation runs creative writing courses in Devon, Shropshire and Yorkshire. The Word Factory helps support short story writers, bringing established and emerging writers together for mentoring, helping to develop craft and contacts. They run an Apprentice Award Programme for this. Attending festivals, local author events and live literature nights like Café Writers (Norwich and online) will bring you into contact with more useful organisations and creative people! The many online and hybrid events and festivals now available provide wider access: do investigate online festival passes and what discounts are offered for students and those on low incomes.

Arts Council England, Arts Council of Ireland and Creative Scotland provide information and funding for writers and projects – see what applies to your region and what they showcase online. Literature Wales lists writers’ groups and literary societies across Wales and beyond on its site.

In London, Spread the Word also does excellent work, and Apples and Snakes supports spoken word artists. Recently, my colleagues Juliet, Sian and I enjoyed talking about agenting with the Black Girl Writers group: a free mentoring programme for Black women who write, pairing them with established authors and literary agents and hosting online workshops.  Other towns and cities will have their projects too – too many to mention individually, so do your local research. Sign up to newsletters from organisations like these, and also festivals and venues that offer events and courses that could help you in your writing practice.

If you’re interested in finding out about the publishing industry in general, this year in the UK the Association of Authors’ Agents, the  Publishers Association and the Booksellers’ Association joined together to create a platform called OpenBooks – an initiative designed to reach the next generation of book industry talent, through a series of free, accessible online events. Aimed primarily at 14 to 19-year-olds from underrepresented backgrounds, OpenBooks showcases a range of book-related career options across publishing, bookselling, literary agenting and beyond. Speakers on various panels help to demystify publishing career options and identify routes into the book trade. Various publishers and literary agencies run paid internship programmes, like our own Carole Blake Open Doors Project.

Carole Blake, the brilliant co-founder of the agency, also wrote an excellent book, From Pitch to Publication, about finding an agent, and the path to publication. It’s due an update on some aspects like e-books, but the core principles are timeless and valuable.

The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook is a practical compilation of industry advice including agent listings, author interviews, and information on editorial services. If you want to move beyond courses and workshops, don’t have an agent, and choose to pay for one-to-one editing or writer mentoring, there are many companies and individual freelancers who offer these services. The Literary Consultancy is one that is long-established and supported by the Arts Council.

The Society of Authors also hosts a number of excellent creative seminars and panel discussions around writing and publishing. Membership eligibility covers all types of writers, illustrators and literary translators at every stage of their careers – including journalists, scriptwriters, bloggers, novelists, biographers, translators, poets and games writers. The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) is also a trade union representing professional writers in TV, film, theatre, radio, books, comedy, poetry, animation and videogames.

Do also take a look at the various practical pieces written by Blake Friedmann colleagues over our Open Weeks!  There is lots of information on submitting to agents, what agents do, and much more, and you can access these here. 

Here are just a few good books on writing and creativity (much more to say on this another time!):

Happy writing, and exploring!

 A (non-exhaustive!) list of some links and resources

Open Books – joint UK book industry initiative:
https://agentsassoc.co.uk/2022/11/04/press-release-the-pa-ba-and-aaa-join-together-for-openbooks/

Open Books website
https://www.publishers.org.uk/openbooks/

Carole Blake Open Doors Project
http://blakefriedmann.co.uk/carole-blake-open-doors-project

Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/

Spread the Word
https://www.spreadtheword.org.uk/

Apples & Snakes
https://applesandsnakes.org/

Black Girl Writers
https://blackgirlwriters.org/

Word Factory
https://thewordfactory.tv/about/

Arvon Foundation
https://www.arvon.org/about/arvon-home-of-creative-writing/

The Association of Authors’ Agents (AAA) – UK
http://www.agentsassoc.co.uk/

Association of American Literary Agents
https://aalitagents.org/

The Australian Literary Agents’ Association – Australia
https://www.austlitagentsassoc.com/

Arts Council England
https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/

Arts Council Ireland
https://www.artscouncil.ie/home/

Royal Society of Literature
https://rsliterature.org/

Royal Literary Fund
https://www.rlf.org.uk/helping-writers/

Society of Authors
https://www.societyofauthors.org

Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) – UK
https://writersguild.org.uk/

Authors Guild of America
https://www.authorsguild.org

PEN International
https://www.pen-international.org/

Society of Childrens’ Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) – International
https://www.scbwi.org/

The Writers Union of Canada (TWUC) – Canada
https://www.writersunion.ca/

We Need Diverse Books
https://diversebooks.org/

Public Lending Right (PLR)
https://www.bl.uk/plr

Authors Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS)
https://www.alcs.co.uk

Literature Wales
https://www.literaturewales.org/for-writers/writers-groups-literary-societies/

Conmonword
https://www.cultureword.org.uk/

Literature Works (South West)
https://literatureworks.org.uk/

New Writing North
https://newwritingnorth.com/

Writing West Midlands
https://writingwestmidlands.org/

Writing East Midlands
https://writingeastmidlands.co.uk/

Scottish Book Trust
https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/

Publishing Ireland
https://www.publishingireland.com/

Publishing Scotland
https://www.publishingscotland.org/
https://www.publishingscotland.org/about-publishing/

Independent Publishers Guild
https://www.independentpublishersguild.com/

Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ)
https://publishers.org.nz/

Publishers Association of South Africa (PASA)
https://publishsa.co.za/

And for those in the book trade who are in need, see what BTBS the Book Trade Charity has to offer:
https://btbs.org/

Blake Friedmann Literary Agency Launches Second Online Open Week For Writers

From Monday, 6th of March, we will, once again, be opening our virtual doors with a week dedicated to demystifying publishing and agenting, and supporting writers seeking representation. We will be running live #AskAgent sessions, sharing agent blogs on a variety of agenting and publishing topics, and running book giveaways across our social media accounts between the 6th and 10th of March.

Our aim is to offer helpful insights into what an agent does, how to navigate the submission process to find an agent, how an author and agent work together, understanding the publication process, earning income as an author through the sale of rights (translation, film & TV, audio and book), and how to get into the agenting or publishing industry. All of our book agents (Isobel Dixon, Juliet Pickering, Kate Burke and Sian Ellis-Martin) along with our Media and Translation Rights colleagues will be involved throughout the week, and the team hopes to answer as many questions as possible from writers (published or querying) or anyone wanting to get into the industry.

Alongside this, we will be offering three writers a 20-minute feedback meeting (online) on their submission packages in April. More information on how to submit for this opportunity will be revealed during the week on our social media accounts and on our website.

Kate Burke said: ‘Last year’s Open Week was fantastic in terms of hearing from writers, sharing information and chatting to people interested in getting into our industry. I hope we managed to help people on their publishing journey in some way and, as we mentioned last year, our plan is to run this Open Week annually as our industry is constantly changing and facing fresh challenges. At Blake Friedmann we are committed to supporting writers who feel that the publishing industry is inaccessible to them. It’s clear – from social media and what our agents hear when they give talks at schools, writers’ groups, conferences and festivals – that people have a lot of questions about what agents actually do and how it all works in terms of money, deals and rights, so, hopefully, this Open Week will help clarify much of that. Our goal is to be as transparent and accessible as possible, and we look forward to the first week of March!’

More details about the Open Week and new, daily content will be shared on our website and on our social media channels, using the hashtag #BFLAOpenWeek, throughout the week of 6th of March. This author-focused endeavour follows our ongoing Carole Blake Open Doors Project launched in 2017.

Blake Friedmann Online Open Week for Writers

From Monday 14th March, we will be opening our virtual doors with a week dedicated to demystifying publishing and agenting, and supporting writers seeking representation. With live #AskAgent sessions, Top Tips videos, agent blogs and book giveaways running across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, our goal is to offer insights and transparency: into how book deals work, how to navigate the submission process and find an agent, how an author and agent work together, understanding the publication process, and earning income as an author. All of us (Isobel Dixon, Juliet Pickering, Kate Burke, Samuel Hodder and Sian Ellis-Martin) will be actively involved throughout the week, and we hope to answer as many questions as possible from writers (published or querying) or anyone wanting to get into the industry.

Alongside this, we will be offering three writers feedback on their submission packages with a twenty-minute virtual meeting with Associate Agent Sian Ellis-Martin, in April. More information on how to submit for this opportunity will be revealed during the open week so do check back here.  

Kate Burke said: ‘We hope that our first Open Week will be useful, insightful and encouraging to writers, those who are right at the heart of publishing and the world of books. We are all committed to being accessible at Blake Friedmann – and to supporting writers who worry that the publishing industry is inaccessible to them. It’s clear – from social media and the questions our agents hear when they talk at schools, writers’ groups and festivals – that people still have a lot of questions about what agents do and how it all works in terms of money, deals and rights. So, for some time now, we’ve been thinking about how we can help demystify these topics in an honest and engaging way, using our own public platforms. We want to encourage anyone who is writing to submit to us by being transparent about who we are as an agency and as individual agents and hope that our Open Week will spark conversation, give practical guidance and inspire new writing, and that we’ll be able to repeat this week annually in the future.’

Throughout the week of 14th of March, you will find new content posted here and on our social media channels: Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. If you would like to get in touch, please use the hashtag #BFLAOpenWeek . This author-focused endeavour follows our ongoing Carole Blake Open Doors Project, launched in 2017.

All the content and resources provided during this Open Week are free but, if you are able to make a donation, please give to the Red Cross (https://donate.redcross.org.uk/) or the DEC (www.dec.org.uk/) in support of the Ukrainian refugee crisis. Thank you!