Trends for Fall - No, not Clothing. Stories.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I'm doing a bit of research of genres and trends in popularity in books right now. It's easy, if you tend to read in one well represented genre (like mystery) to ignore the current fashions. You could find  mysteries in the 1930s, and today, and you'll still be able to read them in 2130 (not on paper, though. The text will be beamed into your eyeballs by your BrainPal©.)

But there are all sorts of genres and sub genres that go in and out of style. You don't see many puzzle mysteries, private eye or noir novels these days. Ditto gothics with the governess running away from the Looming Manor House while wearing a flowing robe (maybe they fell out of favor when we all stopped wearing robes over our PJs?)

 

 

In the late seventies, the Generational Historical Series was huge, kicked off by the success of the Kent Family Chronicles by John Jakes. This was followed in the eighties by another roaring success: the sex and shopping/boinkbuster book (in the US and UK, respectively.) Personally, I LOVED these books. Give me Jilly Cooper's RIDERS or Judith Krantz's PRINCESS DAISY  and I was in hog heaven for a week or more - because these books were looooong.

 

I thought the easiest place to put my finger on the pulse of the current reading public was to go through the USA Today Bestseller list, since it includes ebooks as well as physical novels. And, unlike the NY Times, I didn't have to be a subscriber to search through their weekly lists going back to 2020. 

I only did the last calendar year, however, because, well, like I said. Current. Right now. And dear readers, I have emerged with several pieces of hard won information. (Hard won because I sat at my computer for too long and my operative knee stiffened up like a mother. I had to walk around like Pegleg Pete to loosen things up.

Here's what I now know:

 

We may love mysteries, but the bestseller label goes to thrillers, particularly the sort that Hank writes. Smart choice, Hank!

 

Awards and bestseller status is still important; whenever they can book descriptions lead with NY Times Bestseller, Booker Prize, Pulitzer, etc.

The next best thing? Being in Someone’s Book Club – Reese, Oprah, Good Morning America, someone named Jenny?? 

Reviving a trend from the 19th century, fancy covers with spray painted and/or stenciled edges, end papers, maps, and always beautiful, intricate raised and embossed dust jackets or covers. These go with romance, fantasy, and the recently-dubbed Romantasy. I guess that means I write Romystery?

Limited editions of the above books are available for preorder, which strikes me as a smart way to get those all-important numbers up.

 

 

Cold weather is for mystery, warm weather is for fantasy/romance. You can see the chilly, solo-investigator covers melt as June approaches, and each week after the spring equinox the number of adorable summer-themed romances rises. Either this means the romance readers are out of school for the summer, or, nobody wants to read about dead people in Iceland once the temperature gets above 75F/24C.

 

I puzzled a bit about the obvious importance of beautiful covers - none of that is cheap for the publishers - until I realized another big trend. “Tik Tok Sensation,” “Viral Tik Tok series,” “BookTok sensation,” “taken Tik Tok by storm” and “viral Tik Tok phenomenon” were all liberally used to describe books/authors and series. So, basically, if the US Tik Tok ban goes through, the entire publishing industry will collapse.

Christmas books are start in October and are tapped out by December 16. Don;t come at me, I didn't make the rule.

There are a surprising number of bestsellers that are basically Reylo fanfic. 

Far, far more young writers appear on the USA Today list than on the NY Times Bestseller list, where the same names tend to dominate for years, if not decades. I added up a few weeks worth of NYT bestselling novelists once (yes, I do like weird research, thank you) and discovered their average age was in the late sixties. This includes perennial stars like Nora Roberts (70,) Jeffrey Deaver (74) and Danielle Steel (says 77 but you know, I kind of doubt that. Show us the birth certificate, Danielle.)

That streaming contract/ movie deal really does make people buy your book! Some novels that were on the list for more than one week include DUNE (1965,) THE PERFECT COUPLE (2018,) ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE (2014,) ROMANCING MR BRIDGERTON (2002,) DISCLAIMER (2015) and Fahrenheit 451 (1953.) So, like, if any of you know a script developer in Hollywood, please feel free to thrust one of my books into their hands.

Were you aware of these trends, dear readers? Which ones do you like? What genres do you wish you make a comeback?