The digital ecosystem of literary prestige seems to be returning to where prestige came from previously. That is to say–where Ezra Pound’s patronage was instrumental in slingshoting the careers of H.D. and T.S. Eliot, now patronage networks have arisen again. The increased volume of published work has made it increasingly difficult for aspiring authors to access prestige networks, but a sure bet is the support of a contemporary distinguished author. Where book lists of “100 books all men should read before they die” was a way for the working and middle classes to understand what flavour of taste had been baked in the upper echelons of society, now the Booker Prize determines what literature is “good”. For all that the literary ecosystem has changed in the past few decades, through the rise of social media and the fall of libraries, a few things seem to have stayed the same or at least be returning to centre now.
Popularity, on the other hand, now comes from completely different sources than you might expect in the pre-internet era. The overwhelming amount of content available drives readers to desperately search for any way to discern which of the thousands of fantasy novels they might enjoy. Film and TV adaptations are the preeminent solution here: successfully adapted books see a matching increase in book sales and literary popularity. Reviewers continue from times before the internet, but take a far different form from a write-up in the side column of a newspaper–everyday people explain their bubbly insights on the latest romantasy novel and become BookStagram or BookTok influencers, guiding popular taste to such an extent that going viral on BookTok can sell out an author’s presales. It’s no surprise then that traditional publishers are scrutinizing BookTok closely to try and identify what exactly it is that the nebulous “they” want. They don’t often succeed in replicating individual book successes.
With such a difficulty in finding an audience for any book, it’s no surprise that some publishers are going to the extremes. Celebrities from a variety of backgrounds are transitioning to publishing not just autobiographies and reflections about their life and field, but even publishing works that have no seeming distinctions beyond being written by an actor or singer. These books often see massive marketing campaigns and average substantially more success than most titles published, even published traditionally.
The ways in which authors access popularity now that the digital world has collided with the literary ecosystem has changed dramatically. Prestige, however, seems desperate to recreate the same pathways that have existed as long as literary prestige itself.
Thanks for bringing up romantasy, Eli – that’s another really relevant category when it comes to thinking about genre, taste, value and popularity. Because everyone is (or should be 😁) thinking about podcasts this week, here’s a link to an episode of the scholarly podcast Material Girls by publishing studies scholar Hannah McGregor at Simon Fraser University where she talks about the romantasy publisher Entangled with co-host Marcelle Kosman (a literature scholar), and sets it in conversation with Foucault’s ideas about authorship and the author function. (Also a great example of using the genre of the podcast to talk in an engaging and informal way about complex things and grounding them in established scholarship without being boring!)