A few days ago, I quickly posted a TikTok about this piece in the Atlantic, which opens with an anecdote from a Columbia university professor named Nicholas Dames.
Interesting... The question that comes to mind for me is how we define literary fiction. Is Sally Rooney literary fiction or commercial fiction? I would have said the latter. And I'm so happy for Betsy. This is the coolest recent publishing news!
Her sales are commercial! But her imprint is FSG… I feel like she’s a “literary” author for the readers who normally read romance and she’s “popular/commercial” for the highbrow readers
I definitely got the sense from reactions to my post that readers are defining "literary fiction" as encompassing a lot of books that publishing industry people consider upmarket! Yr Dead is a great example, the one person I've met who has read it said it was astonishingly, incredibly good but it is "challenging" in a way that I think defines it as literary fiction (+ prose obviously).
Yes! I would love to read your analysis of “upmarket.” Somewhere I got a comment that 20k can’t be right because look at the success of Book of the Month—but aren’t a lot of those upmarket?
I think Book of the Month's great success is that it picks 5 categorically different books each month (roughly; a thriller, a romance, a fantasy, historical, etc, which either allows readers to discover a new book in their favorite category each month or try new categories from a trusted source) and I think of those books as upmarket to commercial, yes! There's a weird aversion to using upmarket as a descriptor but readers like upmarket fiction, it's a neutral descriptive term. I think of McSweeney's, Tin House, Coffee House as publishers that consistently publish literary fiction (while, say, the publishers of the Booker Prize shortlisted books publish literary fiction and upmarket fiction in a given season)... or maybe more succinctly, literary fiction is crafted to reward deep thought. Like Mark Haber's Lesser Ruins, which got a rave review in The Washington Post, which publishes tomorrow (Coffee House) not that I'm biased!!!
I’m worried about the next generation because they are not required to read entire books in school. My daughter is in AP English & it’s all excerpts. While I do think the market for literary fiction is smaller than commercial fiction, there’s a sweet spot of crossover for some books.
Really interesting. I can't imagine how you'd go about quantifying the number of active literary fiction readers. Book industry data is hard to come by.
Interesting... The question that comes to mind for me is how we define literary fiction. Is Sally Rooney literary fiction or commercial fiction? I would have said the latter. And I'm so happy for Betsy. This is the coolest recent publishing news!
Her sales are commercial! But her imprint is FSG… I feel like she’s a “literary” author for the readers who normally read romance and she’s “popular/commercial” for the highbrow readers
So great about Betsy Lerner.
I definitely got the sense from reactions to my post that readers are defining "literary fiction" as encompassing a lot of books that publishing industry people consider upmarket! Yr Dead is a great example, the one person I've met who has read it said it was astonishingly, incredibly good but it is "challenging" in a way that I think defines it as literary fiction (+ prose obviously).
Yes! I would love to read your analysis of “upmarket.” Somewhere I got a comment that 20k can’t be right because look at the success of Book of the Month—but aren’t a lot of those upmarket?
I think Book of the Month's great success is that it picks 5 categorically different books each month (roughly; a thriller, a romance, a fantasy, historical, etc, which either allows readers to discover a new book in their favorite category each month or try new categories from a trusted source) and I think of those books as upmarket to commercial, yes! There's a weird aversion to using upmarket as a descriptor but readers like upmarket fiction, it's a neutral descriptive term. I think of McSweeney's, Tin House, Coffee House as publishers that consistently publish literary fiction (while, say, the publishers of the Booker Prize shortlisted books publish literary fiction and upmarket fiction in a given season)... or maybe more succinctly, literary fiction is crafted to reward deep thought. Like Mark Haber's Lesser Ruins, which got a rave review in The Washington Post, which publishes tomorrow (Coffee House) not that I'm biased!!!
I’ll be there on Friday!
I’m worried about the next generation because they are not required to read entire books in school. My daughter is in AP English & it’s all excerpts. While I do think the market for literary fiction is smaller than commercial fiction, there’s a sweet spot of crossover for some books.
excerpts in AP English!!!
Yup. Not a single full book assigned. Book publishing needs to reckon with this.
🤯
I’m seeing Shred Sisters everywhere. Makes sense your marketing skills had something to do with it! Can’t wait to read 🤘🏽
Really interesting. I can't imagine how you'd go about quantifying the number of active literary fiction readers. Book industry data is hard to come by.
This is all so fascinating. Can't wait to read Betsy's book