Canelo / Arts Council England

rarely, if ever, been easy to support literary writing. 
Our current environment presents unique challenges, but also some 
opportunities. Changing technology, an historic shift in the markets 
for cultural and entertainment goods, and rapidly evolving consumer 
preferences all mean the assumption that literary fiction is in a 
precarious place must be explored in depth. This report, which was 
commissioned and funded by Arts Council England and prepared by 
Canelo, looks at the position of literary fiction today. It seeks to find 
out how literary fiction is supported and what is happening to those 
models. 
We have found: 
• That print sales of literary fiction have fallen over the last decade, 
particularly after the recession. Today, despite some recent positive 
indicators, they remain significantly below where they stood in the 
mid-noughties
• There is only a small ‘long tail’ of novels that sell in sufficient 
quantities to support an author; all bar the top 1,000 writers (at a 
push) in the country sell too few books to make a career from sales 
alone
• The price of a literary fiction book has fallen in real terms over the 
last 15 years. Not only are book sales down by both volume, but, 
crucially, publishers are receiving less money for every copy sold
• While ebook sales have made up much of the fall in print sales 
elsewhere in the book market, this does not appear to be the case 
for literary fiction. Genre and commercial fiction predominate in 
ebook format
• Large prizes have become even more important to literary fiction
• Advances are very likely to have fallen for most writers 
• Literary fiction is dominated by ‘insider networks’; breaking into 
these still proves tough for many
• Not-for-profit support for literary writing is unable to fill the gaps 
created by the above 

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