Canelo / Arts Council England

Canelo / Arts Council England | 

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Literature in the 21st Century: Understanding Models of Support for Literary Fiction

It is also instructive to look at the sales uplift on pre-prize levels. Sales 

in the week before will already represent a substantial uplift on the 

‘natural’ rate of sale for a title given the media and retail focus on 

shortlisted titles, especially in the immediate run-up. J.M. Coetzee’s 

Disgrace, the 1999 winner, sold only 193 copies in the week before 

winning the prize, and only 1,446 in the 12 weeks leading up to it. In 

contrast Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings, sold 1,206 

and 8,855 copies in the same time periods respectively. We would be 

cautious from drawing too general a pattern from the data. In common 

with the trade as a whole, the years after the crash see a general lull 

from the boom years of the early- and mid-noughties. Nonetheless, 

even the most modest Booker winner sees a trebling of sales, and 

most see long term sales increases of between 1,000% and 4,000%. 

The point is that there seems to be a greater reaction to the stimulus of 

prizes today; but books are more reliant on that stimulus to sell in the 

first place. It suggests that the industry is willing to ‘back winners’ to a 

greater degree. Good for the winners, less good for others. 

It is also worth noting that the Booker is now open to US writers where 

previously it was not – and the winners in both 2016 and 2017 were 

American. It could be argued this doesn’t negatively impact literary 

fiction in the UK, as those books still have UK publishers – but it makes 

a difference in that those UK publishers are not the ‘lead’ publisher 

and may not have export rights. Certainly, it’s now more difficult by 

definition for UK writers to win the Booker, which reduces their chances 

of commercial success and literary prestige. While it arguably makes 

the prize more international, it is also true that it has less presence 

for American authors than the National Book award or the Pulitzer. 

On balance, therefore, it is unlikely to deliver a net positive for the UK 

literary fiction sector. 

The fact is that prizes, especially the more high profile ones, which 

include the Costa and Bailey’s Prizes alongside the Man Booker, are 

an important mechanism for supporting literary fiction in terms of 

profile, but above all cash. They are significant not just in boosting sales 

but also as a source of income in and of themselves. In the course 

of our research we heard of one writer who earned nearly £20,000 

through various prizes at a very early stage in their career: vital support. 

However, when it comes to the benefits conferred by prizes, there 

are several caveats. Firstly, many prizes have uncertain futures. The 

Folio Prize, the Impac and Fiction Uncovered have all recently sought 

sponsorship. Secondly, the proliferation of prizes carries with it the 

risk that the public will become increasingly jaded, and the oxygen of 

publicity and retail support less forthcoming. Lastly, prizes are almost 

by definition only going to work for a small number of authors; helpful 

for the lucky few, but not in themselves enough to support a diverse 

underlying ecosystem. 

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