In this episode, we break down the publishing developments editors and agents are talking about right now and what they mean for working writers.

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Overthinking Couch Topics:

• Why audiobooks are now a primary format, not a secondary rights stream
• The continued dominance of celebrity books and what it signals about the market
• The “hollowing out” of the midlist and what it means for author careers
• How Substack and newsletters are changing the path to traditional publishing
• Why publishers are acquiring fewer debut novels
• The blurred line between self-publishing and traditional publishing
• The rise of “aesthetic publishing” and visually driven book sales
• The Shy Girl controversy and what it reveals about AI in publishing
• A recent plagiarism ruling and what it says about tropes in fiction

• Court Rules Tracy Wolff Did Not Plagiarize Crave Series
• How a brutal BookTube review got Shy Girl removed from shelves
• The Big Five's Midlist Problem: Why 19% of Traditional Publisher Titles Sell 12 Copies or Fewer
• The Big Five's Midlist Problem: Why 19% of Traditional Publisher Titles Sell 12 Copies or Fewer
• 2026 Audie Awards Winners
• The Rise of Aesthetic Book Publishing
• Home : America's Editor - Let's work together.
• More Writing Tips

Music licensed from Storyblocks.