What does the year ahead hold in store for writers, publishers and readers? WM experts and guests share their thoughts on trends in 2019 and what they expect to see over the next twelve months

SMALL PRESS: Farhana Shaikh

Publisher at Dahlia Books and editor of The Asian Writer

@farhanashaikh

“Through collaboration and partnership we can make real change”

2019 felt very much like the year of indecision – with its shared prizes and a paralysed parliament. While uncertainty and the B-word still hangs over us, 2020 seems altogether a different beast. I’m hoping it is kinder and more prosperous.

I’m anticipating that early releases will do well and set the tone for the rest of the year. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara – who won The Asian Writer Short Story Prize 2012 – is high up on my list. Having already set markets ablaze, selling in fourteen international territories, it is one to watch. Short stories continue to capture my attention. I can’t wait to read Costa-shortlisted Mark Newman’s collection, My Fence is Electric, as well as Bristol Short Story Prize winner Dima Alzayat’s debut Alligator.

At Dahlia Books, as we head towards our tenth birthday, it is set to be our busiest yet. Our publishing highlights include a flash collection, The Almost Mothers by Laura Besley and an anthology of ‘kitchen’ short stories guest edited by myself and Susmita Bhattacharya. Susmita’s debut collection, Table Manners, one of our 2018 titles, will be broadcast on Radio 4 Extra in the new year. It is thrilling to think of the wider audience it will now reach.

Of course there is still much to do in terms of embracing workforce diversity and opening the doors to people who may otherwise never get a chance to have their talents recognised. However, through collaboration and partnership we can make real change happen.

My ACE-funded project Middle Way Mentoring Programme – a two year professional development scheme for seven BAME writers – is one such example. I’ll be sharing our findings widely and hoping to attract new partners so we may continue this necessary work.

YOUNG ADULT: Alexia Casale

Author, editor, consultant and director of YAShot literary festival

@alexiacasale

“Exciting boutique publishers have an eye on diversity and risky, innovative picks.”

After a period heralded as a new golden age of children’s fiction, 2018 saw a sharp downturn in Young Adult sales, though children’s as a whole held its own. Children’s sales were up ~5% as of September (partly thanks to a surge in non-fiction), but 2019 is likely to be YA’s worst year yet with a fall of ~15% expected (~13% in the US). The UK children’s market is now worth £65 million annually but YA only accounts for £12 million.

MG continues to boom (watch out for Ross MacKenzie’s Evernight, Vashti Hardy’s Darkwhispers and Struan Murray’s Orphans of the Tide in 2020), but with a glut of MG starting to saturate the market and a paucity of new YA, we’re due an MG decline and a cautious recovery in YA.

When this happens depends not just on publishing fortunes but the rise in reliable streaming and high-quality TV series: one area of growth in YA is series adaptations. (The next big shift will probably be VR-related.) As traditional publishers focus on finding the next breakout YA series to reverse the current decline and establish a new trend, there’s been a proliferation of exciting boutique publishers with an eye on diversity and risky, innovative picks.