Friday, September 27, 2024

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?

85 comments:

  1. I didn't have a clue about any of this . . . . I've been known to scan the Bestseller lists [out of curiosity rather than as a way to choose the next book I should read], but somehow I've managed to miss all the trends and fuss and to-do over Someone's book club and/or TikTok . . . .

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    1. If it makes you feel any better, Joan, my daughter (Millennial and Gen Z) a big readers and they've never looked at "BookTok."

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  2. wow, had no idea all this was going on. Thank you Julia for going down the rabbit hole. It is very informative

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    1. I had fun doing it, Dru Ann! I love researching, which, again, is why I DON'T write anything that requires is...

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  3. Working part-time at the library, I've seen the books that the library acquires-- right off the NYT bestsellers list, so lots of those authors, Julia. Also the bookclub picks. I notice trends in reading--lots of our younger female readers are reading those romantasy books--big, thick, and apparently juicy :-)! When word gets around about an author, we'll see a ton of the same books appearing on our hold shelves. There's actually been an uptick in Westerns too. We have a number of older, generally male readers who read this genre and new books pop up regularly. One of the reasons I enjoy working at the library-- seeing what's going on with books! Flora

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    1. Flora, I'm amazed there are still westerns being published. I wonder what will happen when that particular cohort of readers go to the Great Library Above?

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  4. For starters, I had to look up Reylo, and I still don't know who either of them is. Never heard the term boinkbuster or the sex and shopping book. I'm not surprised about the old white people dominating the NYT bestseller list. Check any airport bookstore and that's who you'll see.

    I knew about when Christmas books are published, because that holds true in my subgenre. And I guess I'll never make the super blockbuster list. Writing a thriller doesn't interest me in the slightest. Something that ends up streaming or as a movie? Could happen!

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    1. We'll keep our fingers crossed for you, Edith! And of course, the real return for authors isn't so much the "best seller," but the books that readers keep buying year after year after year.

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  5. Fascinating rabbit holes, Julia. Thanks for going down them on our collective behalf. It is all news to me! Like Edith, I had to look up Reylo and am still not much the wiser, and I look at bestseller lists but always with a slightly jaundiced eye.

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    1. It did make me realize 1) my own reading is in a bit of a rut and 2) I'm not keeping up to date with the business I'm in. Time for a subscription to Publisher's Lunch.

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    2. Had no idea about Reylo until I looked it up. As a Star Wars nerd, it made sense then. lol
      What a wild and crazy look at bestsellers. (Heather S)

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  6. Thanks for doing all that research! So interesting! I wouldn’t mind if Gothic novels made a comeback, or historical sagas. I do like the fancy cover trend, even though I’ve never used TikTok.

    The good thing about being a reader is that it’s fairly easy to read old books if you look for them. I found a copy of Elizabeth Goudge’s A Child from the Sea at the library a few years back. I’d read a lot of her books as a child, but never this one. I immediately relaxed into the novel as if it was a cozy comforter.

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    1. Gillian, I occasionally reread Elizabeth Goudge: THE ROSEMARY TREE, THE DEAN'S WATCH. I agree--these are comfort books!

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    2. Gillian, one of the things that sparked my research was rereading Rosamunde Pilcher's wonderful bestsellers, WINTER SOLSTICE, THE SHELL SEEKERS, SEPTEMBER and COMING HOME. I loved them when they came out in the late eighties/nineties, and I still love them.

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    3. Oh I am so glad you reminded me of Rosamund’s books. I have been in a reading rut and think going back to her books might be a good place for me to start digging out-her stories and writing are like comfort food for me during hard times.

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  7. I have noticed in the Young Adult market there is a trend to inclusiveness -- gay, People of Color, various ethic and cultural themes from around the world, and a tendency to highlight hot button social issues -- all of which must make my beloved governor Ron DeSantis want to chew the carpet in frustration. Woke is not dead; it lives on in YA books.

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    1. As I've seen it said online, Jerry, "The kids are all right."

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  8. Because of this being Banned Books Week, I've been thinking a lot about how things have changed on the reading landscape in my lifetime. When I was in high school some of the books in the photo at the top were displayed on racks in every drugstore in America: Valley of the Dolls, The Carpetbagger, Candy (that one may not have been as easy to find, it was SUPER raunchy, along with My Secret Life, also by Anon), and lots of others. Boinkbusters, as you say, Julia. Later on, the Flowers in the Attic series was hugely popular, with themes of kidnapping, incest, and all manner of weirdness and depravity. I wonder how many of today's pearl-clutching book banners were avid readers of those books. I'm betting on many.

    We are spoiled for choice today, aren't we? Any whim is indulged, what sounds crazy to me might be your dinosaur sex fantasy or monkey detective tale. I can't keep up.

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    1. Karen, I too read a lot of those books, sometimes under cover. Do you remember Payton Place? There was a book as well as the tv series, and it was – shock – raunchy. There was a line in it, that just struck me as ‘the truth’. I copied it out, and later, when I was big into Cross-stich and making my own patterns, used it as the ‘motto’ – I don’t know what else to call it. It hangs on the dining room wall. No one knows the source!
      “It is easier to read or write than to live. That’s the only real difference. Life is too damned short not to be lived every minute.”

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    2. Yes, Margo! I especially remember being sent to bed early on the nights my mom wanted to watch Peyton Place! Mia Farrow got her career start with that show, as did Ryan O'Neill.

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    3. They were VERY raunchy, Karen, and yes, they were everywhere. I got about 50% of my sex education from mass market paperbacks of the 1970s.

      Margo, I never saw the TV series, but when I finally read Peyton Place, oh, maybe ten years ago, I was honestly shocked at some of the events portrayed. Not because they were salacious, but because I couldn't believe Grace Metalious got it published in 1956 by what was then a major publishing house (Julian Messner, later a division of Simon & Schuster.)

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    4. Julia, when we were in 7th grade, my best friend's older brother gave us a dollar to buy a Playboy Magazine for him. From the drugstore. Back when Playboy had truly revealing photos. No one raised an eyebrow at two preteen girls buying it.

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  9. Maybe I am an anomaly but I don't look at any Bestseller lists or book club picks to help choose what I read. And since I mostly read electronic ARCs, fancy book covers don't interest me. I also like read Icelandic books in the heat of summer.

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    1. Of course, when you're reading lots of ARCs, you're already out of season, because they go out for reviews well ahead of their publication date. Which, as I think about it, means reviewers are reading Christmas books as early as June or July! I personally like to read with the season, so if I had one of those ARCs, I'd have to find a comfy spot in a year-round Christmas store before I began...

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    2. GRACE: yes, out of season = cheap air conditioning!

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  10. Add me to the had to look up Reylo, but having done that I am no wiser. It did however, let a thought flit through my mind, that Reylo is the same as trying to talk with one of my kids and spouse, where conversation revolves around Star Wars, Frozen, and Lego – and in this case we are not talking about the grandkids, but the adults. (45!). If they could read (questionable if it is not on the dreaded phone), I suspect they would like it.
    I read and loved the Epic Sagas – maybe that is why I like mystery where the people evolve over time. I sometimes gaze the Best Seller list and check to see if a book that I think should be there, is there, but also then regard it as Amanda says, with a jaundiced eye. If a book is awarded a “Prize”, and is later chosen as a Book Club Book, it generally turns out to be ‘too ethereal for my small mind’. I don’t need to parse and interior inspect what the author is trying, usually too hard or too obtuse, to say. A Critics Choice category to me means – dud!
    Coincidently to this topic, I have just read two books on Shakespeare – one was pure joy, and one was a struggle to finish. In both cases, the book was a semi-anthology of all of his works. The first in the order that they were read (listened to), if I can name names was Judi Dench being interviewed in ‘Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent’, and the second was Jodi Picoult’s ‘By Any Other Name’. See if you can guess which one was the joy.

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    1. I'm going to go straight for Judi Dench, Margo. That woman embodies joy.

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  11. I don't pay attention to trends. I pick my favorite authors and read them over and over, adding in some new book recommendations from friends along the way. But I am reading your post and the comments while sitting in my pj's with my robe on top so I guess that proves I am very un-hip!

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    1. Don't feel left behind, Michelle, I also have several robes I wear with coordinating PJs!

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  12. I tried years ago to read books on best seller lists and realized it just didn't interest me. Nor do books promoted by famous name celebrity book clubs. I'm with Margo there. I don't need to read lofty tomes. I'm at a stage in life where I want to be entertained with nuggets of knowledge thrown in appropriate to the plot.

    I find I cycle through certain types of books - mysteries set in WWI or WWII, a sci-fi or fantasy binge - and then I get enough of that and find another subgenre that piques my interest. I also know that I really do not like inspirational or steamy romance. Just does not float my boat. I've found the best source of new authors is either perusing the New Books section at my library or researching the authors who write promotional blurbs for my current favorite authors. I've discovered a number of new-to-me authors that way. I'm with Grace regarding reading Icelandic authors in summer. Perfect way to cool off! And, as I mature, I've ventured more into nonfiction than I did in my younger days. It took me 25 years of part-time schooling to get my bachelor's degree, and I was pretty much done with nonfiction when I finally graduated. Now at nearly 70, I'm ready to absorb some more knowledge. -- Victoria

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    1. Victoria, nonfiction is my go-to when I'm deep in the throes of writing, because it's so different from mystery. (I don't go for true crime!) It's also my preferred genre for audiobooks. I'm not sure why, but I love hearing facts - I'm a big podcast-listener as well.

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  13. This is awesome market research, Julia. Of course, I'm going to jump on a small section. :)

    Years ago, I was in a bookseller booth at Equine Affaire, the big equine trade show. In the used books section, I had pulled this tome of a novel called Riders by Jilly Cooper, was reading the back cover copy, and wondering if I really wanted a "doorstop" of a novel. One of the clerks at the booth spotted me, and then said, "Ah, Riders," before sighing happily. I asked, while holding up the book: "I've never heard of this. Is it good?" I don't have to describe her face when she said, "Oh, yeah." I put it on my stack of research books, which is how I discovered Dame Jilly Cooper's work.

    I think she's largely unknown over here, except among horse girls, but with Hulu's new show "Rivals" releasing next month on Hulu, I think that's about to change. Britain's Horse & Hound magazine has an article devoted to how to watch the series anywhere in the world. The trailer just came out a couple of days ago, and is easy to find on YouTube. David Tennant stars, but any Cooper reader knows the real star is the dude playing Rupert. ;)

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    1. OH! That looks great--absolutely ridiculously great. Very retro and campy and irresistible. Thank you!

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    2. So I had to look it up too, and I am so glad that I did. Marking my calendar. Thank you!

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    3. I saw the news about Rivals and watched the trailer as soon as it it hit YouTube. I'm so, so glad the producers set it in the 1980s. Jilly Coopers works do not need updating, they're SO much a product of their time.

      I'm not wild about the casting of Rupert. My choice would be another Rupert, Rupert Penry-Jones. Tall, blond, and does a great "I'm an irresistible bastard" look.

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    4. I was surprised about the casting of the fictional Rupert, too. In the books, much was made of Campbell-Black's blond hair.

      This dude with the brown hair is going to have to compensate with some Rupert-tude.

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    5. This sounds fun! Looking it up today!

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  14. WOW, who knew. Never suspected that genres are seasonal. Great information, Julia. As for a return to an old favorite genre - gothics. I loved them when they were popular and would love to see a modern take on them.

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    1. Kait, I'm convinced some clever and imaginative young author is going to figure out a new twist and will start writing gothics for the modern age. And then the whole genre will come roaring back.

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    2. Really late to this party, but there is a bit of a revival of the gothic novel in historical fiction. Hope this link works: https://readingthepast.blogspot.com/2024/06/these-24-novels-showcase-popularity.html

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  15. I am so intrigued by romantasy.--and also the absolutely surge of it--you see the look in edoe=rs' eyes when you mention the genre. It's all anyone wants right now. ANd I have to say, I was at Barnes & Noble the other day, and watched customers come int othe store and BEELINE to the sprayed edge covers. It was incredible.
    And I was talking with some pals the other day, in fact, about how different the NYT list suddenly looks now.
    ANd--if any of you know about TikTok--I mean, the how to and why--could you please let >us< know?

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    1. I've already decided if I were to do Tik Tok, it would actually be Virginia standing in for me. At this point in my life, I unabashedly look like someone's grandmother, and I'm pretty sure the youths don't want that in their feed. Or whatever they call it...

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  16. We all thank you for your hard work and endless efforts, Julia, because all of that I would have had no idea at all. Not that I have given much thought to such things, but I do think that books are better now than say 30 or 40 years ago. Or maybe I'm just better at making book choices. As for thrillers, there are thrillers and then there are thrillers. That doesn't make much sense probably but I'm thinking of a popular series with a new book every year. Well, I was totally disgusted with the last book. The story was very thin, but there was a lot of needless violence. I suppose that might appeal to some people, but not to me. Violence is not a plot.

    Maybe I just like your genre of romystery best, so I'll stick with that.

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    1. Judi, I want to embroider "Violence is not a plot" and hang it over every writer's computer!

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  17. I’ve always preferred mysteries/thrillers/suspense to any other sort of fiction. Ordinary novels tend to not hold my interest. I used to religiously refer to the NYT Best Seller list. Now I check it maybe half a dozen times a year. I have no desire to read books recommended by celebrities, so I ignore the Oprah and Reese, etc, book clubs. I’ve never been a fan of romance. (But I occasionally make an exception for something written by Jen McKinlay!)

    DebRo

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    1. Deb, I know what you mean. I tell folks I am a basic blood and guts reader who branches out into sci-fi and fantasy to change things up or a cozy to "cleanse the palate" before diving back into the action books. Since I look like a classic Goody Two-Shoes mature lady that ends to mess with people's minds. -- Victoria

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    2. You can tell by the way I was astounded by the changes that I don't spend any time looking at best seller lists, DebRo. And Victoria, if you haven't already tried John Scalzi's books (referenced with BrainPal) I highly, highly recommend them.

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    3. I'm a Scalzi fan, too. Try The Collapsing Empire or Lock In, for example.

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    4. I love Scalzi! Old Man's War series is excellent. Don't think I've ever read a bad Scalzi.

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    5. Sorry, that was Victoria raving about Old Man's War.

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  18. Julia, first off, the “someone named ‘Jenny’” is Jenna Bush-Hager from the Hoda and Jenna hour on the Today Show. (She’s also George W. Bush’s daughter, not that that helped her get on the Today Show….)

    As for the trends, I was an avid Kent Family Chronicles, Judith Michael and Judith Krantz reader back in the day. I voraciously read suspense books like Ludlum in the 80s. It was when my mom introduced me to female mystery authors like Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton that I went all in on mysteries. I still read probably 85-90% mysteries, but do read historical fiction, so-called “women’s literature”, and even some romantasy. I guess I’m on trend? (I, too, had to look up Reylo. Once I did I realized I knew who they were because my son is a big Star Wars fan.) And my 25-yo daughter-in-law reads the Rebecca Yarros series and the ones Jerry House mentioned (books featuring previously under-represented characters such as LGBTQ and people of color). I think your research is spot on, Julia! — Pat S

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    1. The proliferation of books with PoC and LGBTQ characters is one of the best things about the entrance of Millennials and Gen Z into the market. They grew up in a much more diverse world than most of us oldsters, and their fiction, thankfully, reflects that.

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  19. Fabulous research job, Julia, and so interesting. Not that it helps me, as I remain firmly in the Romystery column. That is my new favorite term, Romystery! Followed by "boinkbuster!" How did I manage to never read Jilly Cooper?? I've lost another point on the Anglophile scale! Will add Riders to my endless TBR immediately. (And looking forward to Rivals! So wonderfully retro.)

    I loved those flowing-robe gothics and I should think it was about time for those to make a comeback. And the family sagas!

    Oh, I had to look up Reylo, too, then bonked myself over the head. Duh.

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    1. I put the links in for Reylo, but I guess I should have added an article on boinkbusters, Debs. Don't kick yourself; your lack of experience just means you were enjoying good books while I was wallowing in mass market smuttiness. :-D

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    2. Debs: I wonder if you saw Jilly Cooper. Novels at bookstores in England? I learned about the Jilly Cooper novels from the Veronica Henry novels. I love VH novels, though only one novel is available in the USA, I had to order others from Hatchards in England.

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  20. Excellent post, Julia. I would love it if Gothic would come back. Give me some modernized Victoria Holt any day! The online bookie slang for sprayed edges is "spredges" and I desperately want that for
    one of my books. They're just so cool. Stencils? Even better!

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    1. They are extremely cool, Jenn, and as a non-Tik Tok person, I find those gorgeous covers very appealing. I collect old impressed-cover books and sets that look amazing on the shelf, and I'd love to add some of those beauties to my collection.

      Which just makes me realize publishing may be developing a future cohort of book collectors...

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  21. Dame Maggie Smith has died. One of my favourite actresses from the The Prime of Jean Brodie on. So sad, such a loss to theatre but above all, one of the greats!

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    1. I had a special alert about it on Alexa, Margo, so it was a sad way to wake up! I've never seen a single movie that wasn't made better by her presence.

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  22. Let me recommend the audiobooks of Denali Day for a serious trip to romantasy land! Sigh. Her series is built from her experience with Dungeons and Dragons.

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    1. Looking over the kind of fantasy/romantasy that's selling, Judy, I can clearly see the footprints of a generation that grew up with Harry Potter and D&D, using their influences to fuel their own original stories.

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  23. It makes sense to me that Christmas books would be tapped out by Dec. 16. We want to read them before Christmas, so we have to have them in our hands in time to enjoy them. I've usually finished my last Christmas mystery of the year by then.

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    1. It does make sense, Mark. I'm still a little dubious about Christmas stuff coming out in October, but I last year there were decorations in Target before Halloween, so I'm going to put that down to my ignorance of consumer preferences.

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    2. Julia, I went in Kirkland's for a Halloween item, and found all the Halloween items basically in one corner of the store and on sale for 30% and 50% off. There was Halloween merchandise outside in front of the store that they were trying to get rid of, too. The store has been transformed into Christmas, not as much as it will be (when it gets that corner back from Halloween), but there was a beautiful white flocked tree front and center in the store, along with so much else.

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  24. Thanks, Julia for your informative and entertaining research. I am now stuck on anything written that focuses on the 1960's related to historical fiction: mysteries, romance, etc. Sarah Stewart Taylor's "Agony Hill" was a great mystery with excellent historical research for not only the 1960's, but rural VT at that point. I just finished reading Jodi Picoult's "By Any Other Name" and I was blown away by her research and the intensity of the story. I would call that historical fiction although the only part that was mysterious was the part about William Shakespear which was fascinating.

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    1. As you can gather from my enthusiastic blurb, I also loved AGONY HILL, Alicia. If you're okay with romance, let me suggest my current read: BEHIND EVERY GOOD MAN by Sarah Goodman Confino. It's set in 1962, and though I think there will be a romance eventually, it's really about a woman stepping away from her cheating no-good husband and finding her own place in the world (with a little help/hindrance from her mother.) The time isn't just a window dressing; it paints an excellent picture of the way women were legally hindered and culturally constrained. And it's funny, too!

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    2. I loved Sara Goodman Confino’s Don’t Forget to Write. Also set in the early 60s, it’s a good read with lots of humor. — Pat S

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    3. Thanks, Julia! Alicia Kullas

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  25. JULIA: thanks for sharing your research. Though I like to read Christmas novels, I find myself reading the books during Christmas week.

    Interesting to see the books listed on the New York Times Bestseller list. I also like to see which books are on the bestseller list in the San Francisco Sunday papers and these books are more aligned to my tastes. It is rare that I would finish and like a novel from the NYT bestseller list. Usually I do not finish a novel from the NYT bestseller list or if I do finish the book, then it is a book that I finished despite not liking it. Sometimes I finish reading a novel even if I do not like the story because I want to know what happens in the end.

    Regarding Thrillers, I rarely read thrillers, though I read Hank’s thrillers and sometimes Jack Reacher by Lee Child. I am more likely to read the Stephanie Plum which are more like comic thrillers? My personal favorite mysteries are classical mysteries or cozy mysteries.

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    1. I've noticed city or regional bestseller lists often have very different books than the national lists, Diana, so it's not surprising your local newspapers are more aligned with your reading.

      And don;t worry about the kind of books you love disappearing - mystery, like romance, is such a strong and enduring genre I don't think it will ever go away. Will people be reading MY books in a hundred years? I doubt it. Will they be reading other author's mysteries? 100%.

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    2. Julia, your books are still available at the library. I was able to borrow your novel from the library. Yay!

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  26. I meant to say how much I love those gorgeous covers! I've been in B&N (my closest bookstore) several times in the last couple of weeks so have had a chance to view in person. Hopefully they will help get people in bookstores!

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    1. Another thing I got from this research is that I haven't browsed in a bookstore in a long, long time. Even when I buy books from one of our local stores, I call first, pay, and then just slip in and collect it. A habit from the pandemic, of course, but it's also so convenient.

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    2. Julia, I go in specifically for the UK home magazines, which come in about the middle of the month. I hit a bonanza this month--four!

      That's something for a blog post (I bag for my next week.) Who still reads print magazines, and which ones?

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    3. Debs, I still read print magazines at my hairdresser’s.

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  27. Julia, I was fascinated by your research. I'm surprised that Romantasy is a new trend--wasn't the whole Twilight Saga with the vampires Romantasy? Hmm. Maybe it has to do with how much sex they contain!

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    1. I haven't read a Romantasy yet, Kim - I'm sure Jenn has! - but yes, the strong impression I get is that is being bought by readers who cut their teeth as tweens/teens on enormously popular fantasy or dystopian series like the Twilight Saga and The Hunger Games. Now they're grown up, and they'd like more of the same, but spicier!

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  28. Thanks, Julia, for dragging us (me!) into the present. What a world, what a world (quoting the Wicked Witch of the West). Does this feel like what's happening with movies/TV? So many different ways that shows get to us. There's definitely a market for shows with older (much older) characters in mystery stories (Murders in the Building; Moonflower Murders, now Matty and the Thursday Murder Club books and now, Matty). Blowing away the common wisdom that characters have to be youngish.

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    1. As Karen says, above, we're spiled for choice these days. There SO much being published by the Big Five, small pubs and indie authors that there are books to scratch anyone's itch!

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  29. These days, when my reading is so pitifully slow and intermittent, I don't have to think much about what I want to read. My current goal is to get caught up with the Reds' books and other authors I've been reading for some years now--Laurie King, Annette Dashofy, Terry Shames, Anne Cleeland, Wendall Thomas, Paige Shelton, Martin Edwards, Lou Berney, Lori Rader-Day, Tracy Clark, Sara Driscoll, Richard Osman, S.J. Bennett, Louise Penny, Allen Eskens, Leslie Thomson, Cathy Ace, Edith Maxwell, Lisa Jewell, Ovidia Yu, Jim Ziskin, and more. I didn't have to consult any Best Sellers List or Bookclub Pick. I know I love these authors and would have read their latest books by now if I could have. I do admit that there is buzz I hear about a book that sometimes causes me to read it, but the buzzers have to be people I know and trust, not strangers working for a publication, or celebrities who feel they have the tastes of America's readers figured out. I have managed to read Catriona McPherson's Hop Scot (dedicated to my son), but I have two more of hers to go, too. And I doubt anyone who knows me will believe I'm behind on Elly Griffiths. You authors need to take a year's break and let me catch up.

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  30. Good research, Julia. I used to try to keep up, but lately when I open my daily Shelf Awareness, I tend to scroll straight down to the obituary! Bad, bad, bad.

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