Predictions: what lies ahead for the book trade in 2026?
thebookseller.com – Monday December 29, 2025
As we enter 2026, it is clearer than ever that the way audiences discover and consume content is rapidly evolving, and our priority must be to evolve with them – not just maintaining our existing readership but actively reaching and building future audiences.
There are huge opportunities if we are smart about how we reach readers. At HarperCollins we are seeing global success with responsive, reader-driven publishing, subscription boxes and TikTok Shop and – crucially – developing strategies that are founded on a comprehensive understanding of the reader.
AI enables us to dramatically change the way we interact with and grow audiences. The opportunities are genuinely exciting – finding new ways to help readers discover books they will love, innovating in the ways we market and reach audiences, building new channels and adapting to new methods of consuming content.
Gareth Brown Expands Access to Goldsboro Writing Academy with New Scholarships
firstwriter.com – Monday December 15, 2025
Novelist Gareth Brown has announced financial support for three new scholarships at the Goldsboro Writing Academy, opening opportunities for aspiring writers to join the Academy’s 2026 and 2027 programmes at no cost. The first of these fully funded places will be available from March 2026.
The BSME and Caitlin Moran launch Young Writers’ Prize
inpublishing.co.uk – Thursday December 11, 2025
The British Society of Magazine Editors (BSME) has announced the launch of the BSME & Caitlin Moran Young Writers' Prize: a new annual award designed to discover and support young writing talent aged 18-25 from across the UK.
The prize, announced at the BSME Awards 2025 at Rosewood London, specifically targets young people who show real promise, but lack the connections or financial resources typically needed to break into journalism.
The BSME says winners will receive not just prize money, but a year of personal mentorship from Caitlin Moran, work experience with leading UK editors, and genuine pathways into the industry.
Caitlin Moran said: “At fifteen, I was on a council estate in Wolverhampton, obsessed with the idea of being a writer, but clueless as to how I could get ... there. Into the rooms where it all happens. And then I won my whole career— my whole future— in a writing competition. God bless everyone behind the 1990 Observer Young Writer of the Year, who gave me my first bylines, and showed me those rooms.
Eoin Purcell and Blathnaid Healy launch new non-fiction publishing house
thebookseller.com – Sunday December 7, 2025
Former head of Amazon Publishing Europe Eoin Purcell and news editor and former BBC and CNN media executive Blathnaid Healy have launched a new independent non-fiction publishing house called Full Set.
According to the founders, Purcell and Healy are bringing their "influences from traditional book publishing and journalism into this new venture".
Full Set’s initial focus will be current affairs and business titles, both full-length and essay-length books with the aim of "delivering rewarding reads to audiences in all formats".
The publisher – which is based in Dublin – is actively commissioning for its first list, which they expect to launch in late 2026.
Oxford University Press completes acquisition of Karger Publishers
corp.oup.com – Thursday December 4, 2025
Oxford University Press (OUP) and Karger Publishers are pleased to confirm the completion of the acquisition of Karger by OUP. Announced in early November, the closing of the transaction means that Karger is now wholly owned by OUP and becomes part of the wider OUP organization.
Owned by the Karger family for four generations, Karger Publishers has a long history of high quality publishing in medical and health sciences. The acquisition brings together a shared commitment to quality and scholarly integrity and an opportunity to extend the reach and impact of Karger’s leading academic and research publishing in medicine and health sciences.
Shelf-made men: why publishing still favours the well-connected
nationalworld.com – Wednesday December 3, 2025
In May of this year, it was reported that writing and publishing in the UK is in crisis. There was said to be a “growing marginalisation of working-class people whose stories and experiences are not being heard”, according to the backers of a new literary magazine and platform.
The Bee, edited by Richard Benson, told The Guardian that it was well known the creative industries were “massively skewed” in terms of representation, but that writing and publishing were “even more skewed”.
Their own data describes an industry shaped by the old-school-tie crowd, where opportunity tends to land with the silver-spoon set, and routes into print favour people who already move comfortably inside publishing circles. In simple terms, those born already-inside progress faster than those arriving from estates, factories and night shifts.
In 2014, for example, 43 per cent of publishing staff came from middle-class backgrounds and just 12 per cent from working-class families; by 2019, the middle-class figure had risen to 60 per cent. Sutton Trust research, meanwhile, places only one-in-10 published authors as working class. That is what happens when an entire sector drifts into the hands of the trust-fund brigade and the private-club types who can afford to wait for opportunity.
This matters to me because I know what it feels like to come into writing without wealth, contacts, or the introductions that seem to fall into the laps of toffs and well-connected insiders. I never went to university. I didn’t have family in publishing, teachers who knew agents, or friends who could guide me through the process. Like most working-class people, I had to learn the hard way how publishing works and where someone like me is supposed to stand within it. My success came from long hours of graft and stubborn persistence — the sort of work the Mayfair set rarely has to do.
Andrea Brown Alums Launch Boutique Agency
publishersweekly.com – Tuesday December 2, 2025
Jemiscoe Chambers-Black (bottom), Paige Terlip (top), and Jennifer March Soloway have launched Starling Literary + Media, a boutique literary agency. The trio previously worked at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
“It has been a joy to watch Jem, Paige, and Jennifer grow as agents these many years,” said Kelly Sonnack, president and owner of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, “and we are all cheering them on as they move into this next chapter.”
Starling will represent a broad roster of children’s authors and illustrators, as well as authors of adult fiction and nonfiction.
P.S. Literary Agency launches emerging writers scholarship
quillandquire.com – Tuesday December 2, 2025
P.S. Literary Agency is capping off a month-long celebration of its 20-year anniversary with the announcement of a new scholarship for emerging writers.
The agency turned 20 in November, and announced the creation of the PSLA Emerging Writers Scholarship on Dec. 1. The scholarship includes $1,000 to help cover writing-related expenses and a one-on-one mentorship with a literary agent. Applications for the inaugural scholarship are set to open on Jan. 5, with the first recipient to be announced in summer 2026.
“While our 20th anniversary created a natural moment for reflection, the decision to launch the PSLA Emerging Writers Scholarship was driven by something deeper than the milestone itself,” agency founder B. David Gyulai said in an email. “Over the past several years, we’ve seen a growing need for meaningful support for unpublished and underrepresented writers—especially those who may not yet have access to mentorship, industry knowledge, or financial resources that can help them take the next step in their writing journey.”
Call for Applications – Publishing Scotland 2026 International Fellowship
publishingperspectives.com – Wednesday November 26, 2025
Through the fellowship program and translation fund, Publishing Scotland seeks to bring Scottish literature to readers around the world.
Last month at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Publishing Scotland made an open call to international publishers with an interest in Scottish writers and literature to participate in the program next summer. There are eight slots available.
The fellowship program, which was founded in 2015, seeks to foster relationships between the Scottish market and publishers from around the world with the goal of expanding the network, facilitating the buying and selling of rights, and broadening the reach of Scottish literature. Over the last decade, the program has welcomed 71 publishers from 19 countries for meetings, publisher and agent visits, and insight into the Scottish publishing market.
Taking place in August, the week-long fellowship coincides with the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the expanded Global Ink conference at the Book Festival, and the world-famous Edinburgh Festival and Fringe.
Scotland-based literary agent Jenny Brown of Jenny Brown Associates has been involved with the fellowship since its inception and credits it for bringing Scottish literature to new markets. “The Fellowship has become a highlight in the publishing calendar: it has boosted Scotland’s international profile, enabling us to meet publishers and giving us a deeper understanding of their markets.”
Island Publisher launches Figmentum Books
iwobserver.co.uk – Friday November 21, 2025
Two years ago, I founded the Isle of Wight-based press to champion the work of local writers, and celebrate the Island’s vibrant creative community. Since then, we’ve published fourteen books, including poetry collections, chapbooks, and a guide to the wild orchids of the Island. The fifth issue of our popular literary magazine, The Figlet, is out in January, once more featuring more than 50 IW contributors.
As we move into our third year, Naked Figleaf Press is taking a natural next step with the launch of its new imprint, Figmentum. If the parent press champions the Island’s distinctive storytelling, Figmentum reaches toward the experimental writing that crosses thresholds and explores the spaces between genres, forms and histories. It will be open to submissions from across the UK.
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