Beyond Book Trends: What the Book World Really Needs

Recently, we published a book inclination forecast for 2023 from a BookToker* who told america what we should beryllium anticipating and acting connected successful the publishing satellite successful bid to seizure the fleeting attraction of publication consumers. But, are “trends” what the publication satellite truly needs? Do you retrieve the moment, astir apt sometime astir your 30th birthday, erstwhile you realized you had nary thought what the younker was into anymore? And you weren’t disturbed that your jeans weren’t the close shape? By catering to publication trends, are we not catering to a perpetually aging-out colonisation who pays attraction to and cares astir trends? When lit professors marque their people syllabi, bash you deliberation they are drawn to a peculiar publication due to the fact that it is “Gen Z chartreuse” and frankincense mightiness summation them immoderate credibility with their students? Honestly, I don’t know, the quality makes it look similar assemblage classrooms are beauteous contentious these days, but if I had to conjecture I would accidental I uncertainty it? My constituent is, the publication satellite should determination distant from “trends” and deliberation astir what changes would really service the publication community. 

The forecast was created with a tech-adjacent mindset: what the adjacent societal media level would be, however to seizure the attraction of a societal media generation, etc, etc. But you heard it present first: publishing indispensable bash everything it tin to basal successful absorption to tech. Do not beryllium fooled into advantage-by-proximity thinking: they are coming for our books, indeed, for our WORDS. Therefore, what follows is simply a database of staunchly anti-tech-culture suggestions that are imperative to the endurance of the publication satellite arsenic we cognize it. 

First: books should not beryllium Instagrammable, Facebook-worthy, oregon reliant connected TikTok marketing. Books should beryllium collectibles. Think of your grandparents’ bookshelves, covered successful austere cloth-like covers and shiny golden print. We should marque books similar that again. No much of this flashy colorful screen thing, babelike connected Pantone trends and expensively licensed photos. Every screen should look similar it’s portion of a acceptable — books that volition beryllium work clip and clip again and passed on to aboriginal generations, filling their shelves with beautifully made items. Wait, filling consumers’ shelves with passed-down books isn’t bully for business? Huh. Well, that brings maine to my adjacent constituent anyway.

Let maine propulsion a fewer phrases astatine you: Capitalism. Planned obsolescence (as driven by the tech industry!!). Consumerism. Can we have, like, little of them successful publishing? Are we truly that hopeless to marque a buck? Oh, we are? Okay I volition determination connected to my adjacent constituent since you intelligibly aren’t going to person an unfastened caput astir this one. 

A fewer much phrases: Clout. Celebrity. “A bully following.” We indispensable determination distant from them all. The “trend forecast” takes contented with celebrity-driven anthologies and that is thing I hold with. But, I would similar to spot the instrumentality of a antithetic benignant of collection: literate authors’ collected letters. Whatever happened to a bully posthumously published postulation of letters? Before you telephone maine genuinely naive, I recognize that radical don’t constitute letters similar they utilized to. But listen, I would settee for emails. Let’s get an archive of modern emotion letters going: a database of the things X writer would similar her spouse to prime up astatine the market store – that would beryllium a astir invited collection. We request to reestablish authors, not arsenic societal media celebrities, but arsenic romanticist figures who constitute adjacent their regular correspondence much poetically than america specified mortals. “And bash get immoderate mangos, dear, but lone if, erstwhile you unopen your eyes, their odor and texture conjures the feeling of waves crashing upon achromatic sands. That is the lone mode to spot a ripe mango.” Stunning! 

Let’s speech astir characters. The forecast suggested that we would beryllium seeing a batch of “cute carnal protagonists” successful 2023. That is simply a unspeakable idea, and if you are penning a caller astir Frederick the Aardvark I implore you to halt now. What does Frederick the Aardvark person to thatch america astir beingness and literature? Frederick the Aardvark is conscionable waiting to go a meme connected the internet. “I tin has termites??” If you are going to constitute an carnal protagonist, I inquire that you bash not marque them cute. The publication satellite cannot spend to beryllium lured into cute carnal territory; the satellite lone has clip for SERIOUS carnal protagonists. Contrast Frederick the Aardvark with NAPOLEON THE PIG. One screams of superior metaphor and the different whispers “hug me.” 

The past happening I would similar to refute successful my colleague’s portion is that emojis should beryllium anyplace adjacent publishing. The proposition that a screen show a “chihuahua, rocket ship, shade emoji” is genuinely a unsafe one. Already we trust connected emojis successful our texts, emails, and I person adjacent utilized them invoked successful casual speech (sad eyes). If emojis commencement appearing successful the astir noble realm of words, we are finished. But, you mightiness argue, an emoji is specified an casual mode to convey a feeling oregon effect erstwhile you, what was that, can’t find the words?????? Exactly. The accusation that our top wordsmiths mightiness request to crook to emojis is just…ghastly. If you are a writer, I implore you to halt utilizing emojis successful immoderate context: your texts, tweets, ANYWHERE. 

Listen, telephone maine stuffy each you like, but we indispensable cull tech civilization successful publishing astatine each costs. Covers with nary eye-catching designs, superior carnal protagonists, collected letters (emails), and nary emojis, ever. If publication publishing tin reassert itself arsenic an itch incapable to beryllium scratched by tech, books conscionable mightiness person a warring accidental of seeing retired this century.

*It is me. I americium the “BookToker.” Also I’m not a BookToker.