On Threads I’ve noticed a high number of self-published authors complaining about lower book sales and blaming the phenomenon on an Amazon boycott. This is odd, because first of all there is no Amazon boycott. A boycott is collective and organized social protest practice. Even if some people dislike Amazon, it does not mean a boycott is taking place. There is no organized protest structure here.
But second of all: traditional publisher sales are also down. In July trade publishers reported a fall of 10.3% in fiction and 18.4% in nonfiction. What’s worse, sales dipped in all formats. In fiction, trade paperbacks had the biggest drop, down 13%, while digital audio fell 12.7%. Drops were even more brutal for nonfiction.
Overall, sales this year have not been very good, dipping for all books. You might say that the year is not yet over and the big sales months are November and December, when people buy books as gifts. But it’s not an encouraging picture.
Why is the slump happening? If you ask me, it’s because the economy is a mess. The back and forth of tariffs has caused chaos, the cost of living continues to rise. In Canada, youth unemployment is the highest it has been in over a decade.
Plus, the demise of Baker and Taylor, which distributed to many libraries, will create a period of instability and generate ripple effects.
When it rains, it pours.
Sales trends
Which leads us to something that I was discussing on Threads last week: what is selling? The answer, I said, is nostalgia.
Three of the big hits of the year have been romantasy novels that began their lives as fanfics of Harry Potter, with Alchemised selling an astonishing 145,000 print copies during its first week of release. Sure, it dropped like a rock the second week, managing some 50,000 copies, but that first week put it in the ranks of Dan Brown’s latest release. Two other reskinned Harry Potter fanfics, The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy and Rose in Chains, sold over 30,000 copies the first week of release. This is not chump change. Incidentally, all numbers used here are taken from Bookscan, which tracks print sales in the US.
What else has been doing great numbers this month? New editions of popular older titles and spiffier editions of past releases. The Twilight Deluxe Collector’s edition netted 35,000 copies the week of its release, while the Twilight Saga Deluxe Hardcover Collection sold 32,000 copies. Not to be left behind Iron Flame (Wing and Claw Collection) and Fourth Wing (Wing and Claw Collection) each sold 50,000 copies the week of their release.
What publishers are investing in
When you talk to agents and editors right now the word on the street is that romantasy is hot. My own publisher is Del Rey. I looked at their acquisitions for 2025. Yep, they have been heavily investing in romantasy. The same can be said of other rival publishers.
I believe that this can easily create a potato famine scenario where publishers over acquire and then can’t sell books. This would not be good.
Predicting the future is difficult, but if you asked me what else is coming, then I would say it’s more reskinned fanfic of popular properties like Harry Potter, more self-published writers with a proven track record being acquired by traditional publishers, and hard times for writers of color.
Look, I don’t want to be alarmist, but things are not looking swell for marginalized writers. We saw a wave of support for Black writers in 2020 which now seems to have died off. Similarly, Latino writers who were eagerly acquired between 2020 and 2022 have now debuted or released books to little fanfare.
No book is assured sales. But part of the downward spiral is the fault of publishers themselves. For example, in 2020 major publishers like Macmillan committed to substantially increasing Latin American representation, from authors to staff, at their companies. Nothing came of this.
I said when it rains it pours, and this remains true. The current focus on nostalgia is not going to help writers of color, who are already underrepresented in the industry. Diversity campaigns and large marketing budgets for BIPOC seem to have evaporated. Plus, people seem to be cutting back on books. Right now, most publishing companies are going to go into safe mode. That’s why nostalgia is so sexy.
Softer sales are bad news for all authors, but marginalized ones are likely to bear the worst of a slump.
What can be done? I have repeatedly said you should review and recommend books by marginalized writers. But lately I’ve had people tell me they simply don’t have the time to write reviews, or they feel they don’t know how to write them.
In that case, I suggest you upvote reviews that are already on platforms such as Goodreads or retailer sites like B&N; reviews that you believe reflect the qualities of the book at hand. You may not be a great reviewer, but by highlighting other reviews you increase the visibility of titles and authors.
And, although I like a long analysis of a book, pictures can be worth a thousand words and in this image driven age taking a snapshot of your latest read and recommending it to your friends may be all it takes to generate a little attention.
There are no easy solutions, but if we recognize the imbalance that is underway, we may be able to help nudge it the other way.
If you’ve read this post consider purchasing my latest novel, The Bewitching, or requesting it from your library. You can also support me via Patreon.