Canelo / Arts Council England

Canelo / Arts Council England | 

52

 

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

Conclusion 

When it comes to the book world, the glass is perennially half empty, 

but for a period of time in the late 20th century, this was unfair: actually 

the world of books was thriving. Advances and book sales were on the 

up. Now, however, the lot of the literary writer is tending back towards 

its historical norm – they are becoming unable to support themselves 

through literary writing alone. Everyone we spoke to worried about 

the future of literary fiction; no one had a wholly positive gloss on the 

situation and in general, especially in our discussions with agents, 

editors and buyers, the outlook appeared particularly grim. 

The fundamental problem is this. Sales of literary fiction have been 

falling. The value of those sales has been falling in real terms. 

Meanwhile the ebook sales that have boosted commercial fiction have 

not come through to the same extent for literary fiction. The market is 

at best static, at worst quite seriously down on its position a decade 

ago. Despite ‘green shoots’ for the book industry as a whole this hasn’t 

translated into significantly improved prospects for those working with 

literary fiction. Support for literary writers is hence difficult. Everything – 

from the closure of bookshops to the unevenness of advances – flows 

from this. We expected to see a divergence from those at the very top 

and everyone else. What this data suggests though, is that even those 

at the top are down overall. 

In general, then, the old models of literary support are in trouble. Yet 

the relentless pessimism evidenced in our survey is not wholly justified. 

Publishers are maligned for shedding risk, not marketing and dropping 

advances – but they have, at least, survived and continue to publish 

large quantities of high quality literary fiction. They continue to invest 

in marketing, often in new ways. Yes, they can always do more and 

maybe they often do not do enough; but equally whatever they do, it 

is likely that it’s not enough for everyone. Advances are falling across 

the board, but so are book sales; as the number of writers inexorably 

increases, competition amongst writers for attention increases too. And 

we shouldn’t forget that many books do still earn large advances. There 

are notable bright spots around some prizes, film and translation rights, 

and crowdfunding. At the same time, literary fiction is still seen by many 

as a closed shop, an insider network. 

There is, undoubtedly, a need for more support and new models of 

support for literary fiction. That we are returning to a position where 

only the best-off writers can support themselves should be a source of 

deep concern.

---