25 Trends in Publishing: Diverse Books
October 31, 2018
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November 7, 2018
About the column: A handful of agents and interns who work with Cyle have learned the latest and (sometimes so, sometimes not so) greatest trends in publishing right now. Tune in each week to find out what’s trending, ranging from ABA to CBA, children’s to adult. The authors of these columns have included social media tags at the end to keep up with trends they are finding. They can also be found here.
Trend #13 of 25: Eastern Cultures
Contributor: Hope Bolinger
Take a gander at the recent super hero releases. Or those Hallmark Christmas movies about to blare on televisions worldwide as we suit up for the holiday season.
Just about every book or major movie takes place in New York. This incomplete and short listing gives examples of more than 500 of novels alone in this setting.
Contemporary fiction oozes with Western settings. Of course, by Western, we mean having an influence or origination from Europe or the United States, primarily. Of course, as this setting trends down so do the Westerns featuring cowboys and High Noon duels. (When in doubt, just avoid either in fiction). Modern stories alone don’t stand as the sole culprits of this over-westernization. Even if you take a glance at any Fantasy, it teems of medieval Europe, particularly England. What happened to One Thousand and One Nights?
Publishers now want to explore characters and settings from Eastern cultures. Because fiction has largely untouched these types of stories, a large gap exists in the market.
Some exemplary Eastern titles in the past have included just about every work from author Khaled Hosseini (known for Kite Runner). Another good example is Malala Yousafzai‘s memoir.
If you find you tend to dwell in the Western setting in fiction, consider exploring parts of the world untouched by most authors. Because as much as people love New York City, there’s so much more of the world worth exploring.
Hope Bolinger is a literary agent at C.Y.L.E. Her YA novel Den was contracted by IlluminateYA while she was still in college (to be released June 3, 2019).
More than 200 of her works have been featured in various publications. She is a multi-award winner from being a finalist in the Jerry B. Jenkins short story contest to her one-act earning second place in the Searchlight Playwriting Contest. She has served in various publishing capacities from working at newspapers, magazines, and publishing houses.
She can be found at hopebolinger.com.
