Beware - the word literary can mean death to a writing career.
Allegedly, at Waterstones, Piccadilly - probably the largest bookshop in the country – literary is a dirty word. Reporting on a meeting of writers and booksellers, set up by the Society of Authors at the store, Michael Holroyd reports in The Guardian that, “literary fiction was not on the whole welcome in the shop. In fact, the word "literary" is death to sales…”
No matter. Leading ‘Literary’ Agent, Jonny Geller, at a different Society of Authors meeting that I attended, had the answer. Geller, an agent who has clearly adapted to a publishing world where retailers are the key players, announced he no longer pitched books as ‘literary’ because beautifully written books just don’t sell. Content is King was his mantra.
So, if not literary how does he name, thoughtful, content filled fiction?
Non-genre, apparently.
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