Want to read more about publishing trends? See It’s Time to Let These Publishing Trends Die and The Best Book Covers of 2021. The publishing industry is also an excellent setting for slightly grittier reads, too. It’s likely that, over the last couple of years, many writers’ worlds shrank to include little beyond their work and their books, so it’s no surprise that that’s where they’re drawing their inspiration from. A Novel Obsession by Caitlin Barasch is a great read about a bookseller who becomes obsessed with her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend and stalks her so that she can write about her. The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris, which came out in summer 2021, is a publishing-industry-set Get Out meets the Devil Wears Prada. And The Sentence by Louise Erdrich is about a bookstore haunted by its most annoying customer. Not only have many of us dealt with losing loved ones during the pandemic, we’ve also all become more aware of our own mortality and that of our friends and family. It’s no surprise that writers are processing that through their storytelling, and for some readers, that might be cathartic and helpful. As I’ve noted elsewhere, though, I think it would help those readers find those books if the marketing were clearer — as well as protecting those of us who aren’t ready.
