As authors and readers adapt to the ‘new normal’ of a world with Covid-19, changes will start to filter through to what we are reading. Here are my predictions for what our bookshelves might look like in the future.
We’ve all heard the saying ‘write what you know’, so it will be no surprise if we see more dystopia making its way onto our shelves. But I think we can expect some less obvious consequences of the pandemic, too.
After weeks in lockdown, many of us are craving greater human connection. As a result, more personal and emotional stories are likely to be popular in the near future. Reading someone’s deepest thoughts can make you feel closer to that person than actually being in the same room.
Romance books are always popular, particularly with female readers. I don’t think we’ll suddenly see a big increase in numbers of male readers buying romance stories. But we could certainly see a little more romance than usual in other genres, like thrillers.
The research challenges created by lockdowns and travel restrictions are encouraging authors to go one of two ways. They can either work more from their imagination, or use the wealth of life experience they already have.
I think we’ll see a lot of fantasy, as well as a surge of memoirs coming our way.
Not being able to travel has made far-flung places even more desirable. We could see a lot more people buying stories set in exotic locations. As a writer of travel fiction, I’m hoping I’ve got that one right!
Finally, with all the illness, loss and sadness in the world right now, authors are turning their thoughts to what readers need to feel better. Whatever happens now in the real world, I’m expecting the next couple of years to bring us many fictional happy endings!
Those are my predictions for fiction books. Drop me a comment if you have any predictions of your own.
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Deborah Grant-Dudley 
I am hopeful that we will see more diverse books, though writers have been working on diversity for a while. 🙂
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Thanks for your comment, Jaya. I tink that’s a solid prediction!
You are absolutely right that authors have been writing diverse characters for a long time. The demand for those books hasn’t always been recognised. But that is changing.
The growth of the self-published market on platforms like Amazon, has proved there is demand for all kinds of authors, writing about all kinds of characters, for all kinds of readers. And we are now seeing literary agents specifically looking for more diverse books for traditional publishers. So you’ll see more and more of this.
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