Canelo / Arts Council England

Canelo / Arts Council England | 

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

around the world and English literary fiction stands out in this regard. 

Many writers will earn significant sums for these deals. There is no sign 

that the demand for English language fiction is slowing down. Coupled 

with booming export sales (built on the spread of reading level English, 

the competitive price of English books and premium demand for English 

language content) this puts British writers in a good position vis a vis their 

colleagues writing in other languages. The Dutch or Chinese writer of 

literary fiction will find securing a major translation deal even harder than 

their English counterpart – although English writers may be successful, 

it’s by no means easy. Nonetheless several editors and agents told us 

confidentially that many of their literary authors were earning more from 

foreign rights than English language sales. If you include rights sales and 

export sales UK publishing exported £2.6bn in 2016, comprising 54% of 

their total revenues

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 – up from £806m in 2009

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. 

However, Europe accounts for 35% of that total: the biggest single 

region of exports. While the impact of Brexit on the publishing market is 

as yet unknown, new tariff barriers, logistical complications, intellectual 

property issues or business constraints would have a chilling impact 

on that total. Export markets such as the Netherlands, Germany or 

Sweden, strong book markets where English is widely spoken, are a vital 

component of both foreign rights and export sales. A further challenge 

looms with regards to US publishers. Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn 

Reidy, for example, has already stated that British publishers’ exclusivity 

on European distribution rights, a common feature in many contracts, 

is untenable post-Brexit. This will add further pressure onto the British 

literary ecosystem in a key redoubt. Many publishers are on the record 

as voicing their fears about Brexit, up to and including the boss of 

Bertelsmann, the €18bn content industries giant and corporate parent of 

Penguin Random House, who claimed the UK’s position as its Intellectual 

property hub was under threat.

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 Then there is a potential domestic 

impact. If the economy sharply nosedived this would have a knock-on 

effect on publishers and authors. The pound has already fallen and this 

means the costs of imports such as paper, and the cost of importing 

books printed abroad, has risen. While the latter point mainly applies to 

children’s and illustrated publishing, it puts more pressure on the system 

as a whole. Furthermore, there are the intangible aspects of Brexit. 

Almost everyone we spoke to voiced fears that the place of UK writing 

was threatened; that foreign publishers would be in some way less 

willing to work with authors and publishers, the public less willing to read 

English language books. While it is too early to say for sure, there will 

be some impact, and this could hit one of the few unmitigated success 

stories of recent years. 

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https://www.publishers.org.uk/media-centre/news-releases/2017/uk-publishing-has-record-year-up-7-to-48bn/ 

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   http://www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk/industries/publishing/publishing-facts-and-figures 

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   https://www.thebookseller.com/blogs/goodbye-all-518251 

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