Publishing in the 21st Century: Trends, competition, and AI

By Efe Ozkan

ISTANBUL (AA) — A transformation is underway in the publishing industry worldwide. From reader preferences to the widening repertoire of artificial intelligence, publishers around the world are observing common movements shaping the sector for years to come.

At the 10th Istanbul Publishing Fellowship Program, publishers converged on the Turkish metropolis from 75 different countries, with current global trends taking the forefront of discussions.

Among the books lined along the edges of the 18th-century barracks-turned Rami Library, attendees discussed emerging global trends and innovation in the publishing industry.

They concur that digital content is on the rise, with tried-and-true intellectual property becoming a safer haven over new and original stories. But Türkiye is an exception, with more publishers going out on a limb to represent up-and-coming authors.

The program, a copyright market project designed to connect Turkish and foreign publishers in Istanbul every year, seeks to enable publications to be distributed in various geographical regions.

Organized by the Turkish Press and Publishers Copyright and Licensing Society and supported by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

- Global trends in publishing

Although each country has its own literary trends, several common patterns have emerged worldwide, according to publishers attending the fellowship.

Based in London, Ilena Treccarichi observed that certain genres have been more prominent in both the Turkish and global markets.

“This year, I noticed some trends in the Turkish market. Non-fiction is declining a little bit. I think the market is quite saturated, but there's a lot of appetite and curiosity for great fiction stories, mostly for middle-grade students and young adults, which is a trend we have seen for the past couple of years.”

Treccarichi also noted that digital content is rising in popularity and in particular audio-based content for children offered through subscription models.

Janelle Del Luis, a US-based publisher specializing in children’s books said there are many common trends in Turkish and global demand.

“I feel like there's a lot of similarities, in terms of what's working. It's best sellers, books that are based on or books that have been turned into film or TV, like The Wild Robot, which has done really well here.”

She added that the interest in nonfiction books on self-development, emotions, anxiety, and similar themes is “really universal” in Türkiye and in the US.

- Post-COVID changes in trends

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, print and digital publishing has shifted into a new paradigm.

According to Treccarichi, the shift into serial content began before 2020, but started to gain more traction afterwards.

“I think in the past three, four years, maybe even before the pandemic, series are getting super popular, and people, even like myself, prefer to watch a TV series instead of a movie.”

The shift to serial, shorter-form content, especially in the fantasy and romantic literature genre, is perfect, said Treccarichi, explaining that the increase in developing stories across multiple books and shorter chapters rather than in longer books and chapters is the result of attention spans getting shorter.

“I think that's why we can see voraciousness in shorter chapters, big books, but with different storylines. Chapter books as well are having a real moment now, because they need to be attractive, they need to be competitive, because they need to be chosen against the internet, YouTube, or the screen, basically,” Treccarichi said.

Treccarichi also pointed out that readers and publishers have been sticking to already existing intellectual properties (IPs) rather than original content. She added that economic uncertainty is the driving force leading publishers to stick to established IPs rather than take risks on new and original content.

“I think the big IPs, so really well-known authors, as well as illustrators, are really strong at the moment, especially because of the economic situation of the world at the moment. That's why authors such as Sarah J. Maas, or Harry Potter, are still really strong, despite the fact that they were published like 15 years ago,” Treccarichi said.

However, she noted that this was not the same situation in Türkiye, where there are more boutique publishers that tend to focus on up-and-coming authors and unknown illustrators, publishing fewer books per year.

- Artificial intelligence in publishing

The spread of AI chatbots and language models is having a significant impact on various technology industries, including publishing.
Mercy Kirui from Kenya, who attended the fellowship, explained that AI is helpful in making publishing more efficient.

“I think that it's making work more efficient. Because now that I spend less time doing editorial work, I can use AI to get ideas for nicer covers and illustrations.”

Attending the fellowship from Azerbaijan, Esad Aslanoglu also agreed that AI is positively affecting the market.

“I think this will affect people's thinking in a good way and we will see better applications. Of course, publishers everywhere are now utilizing artificial intelligence tools at this stage, making more use of it in cover designs,” he shared.

Kenyan fellowship attendee​​​​​​​ Kirui also stated that if publishers were to embrace AI, more high-quality books will be published by streamlining the process from draft manuscripts to final products.

However, she noted that the use of AI to generate content without proper referencing puts the burden of proof on publishers. Even though AI plagiarism checkers exist and can be used to find if content or ideas were stolen, Kirui believes that it’s up to modern copyright laws to bridge the gap in determining what is intellectual property theft.

“For example, the Kenya Copyright Board in Kenya should accept that AI is here with us. We cannot do away with it. People are already using it and providing processes and tools for us to use as publishers, especially to check and to make sure that we are actually publishing books that are authentic.”