Thank you for writing this!! I have very little insider knowledge of the publishing industry, but I've always felt that Sally Rooney's popularity was, yes, about the quality of her writing, but more about her subject: love and relationships, the fact that (and I haven't read Intermezzo!) she's very much in conversation with romance. As far as I can tell, contemporary literary fiction doesn't have a robust pool of romance-adjacent writers, like it does, say, speculative writers (Kelly Link, George Saunders etc). Rooney is the main one who comes to mind. Why isn't publishing building that camp of writers? (maybe they are?) I think what happened is Normal People had a lot of crossover with romance readers who craved literary prose and deep psychological character portraits. Instead of replicating Rooney herself, i don't know why the publishing industry isn't trying to respond to the appetite she clearly feeds (also see, Emily Henry, Carly Fortune, who are proving a huge market for upmarket romance with a slightly more elevated prose styles). My completely lay opinion is that I think there's an underfed appetite for literary stories where the romance plot takes up a lot space and doesn't end badly lol but maybe I'm just speaking for myself. Whenever I pick up litfic with a love story, a lot of times I feel it flinching away from the romance at some points, whereas Rooney leans into it, doesn't flinch from the fantasy of it, even if her prose itself is restrained. Romance is wildly popular, but it's been largely cultivated in commercial or upmarket spaces. I truly think Rooney tapped into this pre-existing popularity with a literary flare. And I totally agree that litfic should be learning from genre/commercial fiction!
This is everything I've been thinking about, specifically the championing of indie literary fiction, those like me who are going it alone and aware of the barriers to visibility. Readers know when they're being pandered to - yes! And readers of literary fiction want the good stuff, but how and where do they find it? My new novel is out next January, and for this one I've hired a publicity agency to run a campaign, just to see if I can break through and reach people. I'll be reporting on my progress here on Substack.
Last year, I started revisiting classics and high school required reading lists. I suspect it had something to do with wanting to feel “smarter” or more capable of absorbing those works now that I’m older. I tell my CW students, “Readers want to feel smart. If there’s any feeling you want them to feel, let it be that.” Something I notice about “popular” literary fiction is it is often very accessible on the level of the line (Normal People, The Road, Never Let Me Go). I’m not saying that literary fiction of today is missing that key element, but I understand why books like The Song of Achilles sell REALLY well while others might fall flat.
Thank you for writing this!! I have very little insider knowledge of the publishing industry, but I've always felt that Sally Rooney's popularity was, yes, about the quality of her writing, but more about her subject: love and relationships, the fact that (and I haven't read Intermezzo!) she's very much in conversation with romance. As far as I can tell, contemporary literary fiction doesn't have a robust pool of romance-adjacent writers, like it does, say, speculative writers (Kelly Link, George Saunders etc). Rooney is the main one who comes to mind. Why isn't publishing building that camp of writers? (maybe they are?) I think what happened is Normal People had a lot of crossover with romance readers who craved literary prose and deep psychological character portraits. Instead of replicating Rooney herself, i don't know why the publishing industry isn't trying to respond to the appetite she clearly feeds (also see, Emily Henry, Carly Fortune, who are proving a huge market for upmarket romance with a slightly more elevated prose styles). My completely lay opinion is that I think there's an underfed appetite for literary stories where the romance plot takes up a lot space and doesn't end badly lol but maybe I'm just speaking for myself. Whenever I pick up litfic with a love story, a lot of times I feel it flinching away from the romance at some points, whereas Rooney leans into it, doesn't flinch from the fantasy of it, even if her prose itself is restrained. Romance is wildly popular, but it's been largely cultivated in commercial or upmarket spaces. I truly think Rooney tapped into this pre-existing popularity with a literary flare. And I totally agree that litfic should be learning from genre/commercial fiction!
This is everything I've been thinking about, specifically the championing of indie literary fiction, those like me who are going it alone and aware of the barriers to visibility. Readers know when they're being pandered to - yes! And readers of literary fiction want the good stuff, but how and where do they find it? My new novel is out next January, and for this one I've hired a publicity agency to run a campaign, just to see if I can break through and reach people. I'll be reporting on my progress here on Substack.
Last year, I started revisiting classics and high school required reading lists. I suspect it had something to do with wanting to feel “smarter” or more capable of absorbing those works now that I’m older. I tell my CW students, “Readers want to feel smart. If there’s any feeling you want them to feel, let it be that.” Something I notice about “popular” literary fiction is it is often very accessible on the level of the line (Normal People, The Road, Never Let Me Go). I’m not saying that literary fiction of today is missing that key element, but I understand why books like The Song of Achilles sell REALLY well while others might fall flat.