You can listen to the complete audio recording of this event via this link.

During the closing hours of the 2026 London Book Fair, Byte The Book gathered a panel of industry experts to explore the increasingly diverse ways in which authors can deliver their work to readers. The discussion brought together IngramSpark Director Paige Allen, Bookouture’s Laura Deacon, literary agent James Wills and Kobo’s Ashleigh Gardner (VP of self-publishing and Kobo originals) for a deep dive into how today’s authors can navigate traditional, independent and hybrid routes through this ever-changing industry.

Our panel from left to right: Ashleigh Gardner, Paige Allen, Justine Solomons, Laura Deacon and James Wills.

Byte founder Justine Solomons opened the floor by asking each panellist to describe their role in bringing books to market. As a publisher at Bookouture, one of the UK’s most dynamic and forward-facing imprints, Laura laid out her company’s unusually open submissions policy. “Only around half of our authors are agented,” she began, “and the other half submit directly. Everyone gets a response within two weeks, which is rare”. Upon accepting manuscripts for publication, Bookouture also offer authors extremely competitive royalty rates – 45% on both eBooks and audiobooks – although this does come at the expense of an advance.

Both Ashleigh and Paige touched on how their employers, Kobo and IngramSpark, are shifting power back to authors by circumventing historical gatekeeping structures. “I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to self-publish,” commented Ashleigh, in reference to the nimble pace at which independent authors can move. “Indie writers are able to respond quickly to industry trends, instead of being held back by traditional publishers dragging their feet”.

James Wills – whose literary agency Watson, Little could be said to represent the very gatekeeping on trial – praised the dynamism of brands like Bookouture, but pointed out that even in a constantly evolving publishing landscape, the role of the literary agent remains a crucial one. “For the majority of publishers, you still need to go through an agent,” he argued. “That might make us seem like scary gatekeepers, but we do love books and are genuinely looking for the next great writer to represent”. In addition, he said, most agents do more than simply submitting manuscripts, with many providing valuable editorial guidance for their clients.

If access to market is becoming easier by the day, then, what are the real roadblocks for aspiring authors in the modern era? “Discoverability,” answered Ashleigh, without hesitation. In a saturated marketplace, finding an audience has replaced finding a publisher as an author’s biggest challenge, but in tandem with social media, platforms such as Substack can help writers build a direct relationship with readers. “It is often easier to sell 100 books to an existing fanbase of 1,000 readers,” she suggested, “than to persuade 100 completely new readers to take a chance on your book”. Picking up on this, Laura cited Bookouture’s data-driven approach as an antidote to industry saturation. “We use data in a very interesting way, looking at wider market trends,” she revealed, “and at every point of the publication process, we measure how readers are responding to the cover and copy. If we can improve those elements on the fly, we do”. IngramSpark follow a similar path, noted Paige, constantly optimizing meta data to strengthen keywords and categorization, helping search engines to highlight their titles to relevant readers.

As always, the spectre of AI was never far away, and the event concluded with a candid discussion around whether artificial intelligence is primarily a tool, or a threat. Ashleigh reminded the audience that AI is “not just one thing” – less a single technology and more a suite of tools that can assist authors in various different ways, whether that’s in editing, translation or audiobook narration (services which have long been prohibitively expensive for independent authors). Paige said of AI that it “isn’t intelligence, it’s amplification, boosting creativity for those who use it. It’s a power tool that enhances your productivity or precision, but it can’t replace or remove the craftmanship”.

Thank you to London Book Fair for hosting our event at Author HQ!

You can find many more photos from this panel from our online album 'London Book Fair 2026: Publishing Pathways - What are your Different Routes to Publication?' here!

If you're not already a member of Byte The Book you can join us from £30 a month here.

The post London Book Fair 2026: Publishing Pathways – What are your Different Routes to Publication? appeared first on Byte The Book.

You can listen to the complete audio recording of this event via this link.

On a drizzly February evening at Soho’s Century Club, Byte the Book gathered a quartet of indie publishing gurus to answer one thorny question – what does it take to become a bestseller without the heft of the Big Five behind you? As the discussion unfolded, it became clear that while algorithms and online virality have a part to play, the true secret to success is in something that pre-dates smartphones, social media and even the novel itself: community. 

Our panel from left to right: Hannah Twigg, Rachel McLean, Justine Solomons, Matt Holland  and Ryan Cahill.

For epic fantasy author Ryan Cahill, community wasn’t a by-product of success – it was his strategy from day one. Five days after publishing his debut, he gave it away for free, and this resulted in close to 30,000 downloads and an instant surge of reviews. Friends and peers questioned his approach, concerned that he’d lose out on earnings, but Ryan stuck to his guns. “If all the money I make is in the first two weeks after launching a book,” he reflected, “I’m in the wrong industry. I’m trying to build a readership… I’ll make money later”. Over time, his maverick approach has been vindicated, with sales of his The Bound And The Broken series surpassing half a million and a global army of readers displaying a fanatical devotion to his work (one fan even laser-engraved a batch of wooden spoons in reference to a throwaway joke in Ryan’s debut novel, then shipped five hundred of them worldwide to delighted fellow readers). “From the independent author perspective,” he concluded, “you’ll never have anything stronger than a community”.

There are, of course, as many ways to build a community as there are writers, and crime author Rachel McLean was quick to extoll the virtues of the humble newsletter, specifically as an alternative to social platforms. “I hate social media,” she began, “it depresses me. Instead, I have a mailing list with 45,000 people on it”. Rachel aims for a chatty intimacy in her weekly emails, and this seems to have been instrumental to their success – she boasts an open rate of sixty per cent, well above the industry average. “The community I’m building is almost more like a community of two,” she explained, “where it’s me and the reader, and we get to know each other, and I tell them about me and what inspires me to write”.

On the topic of social networking, self-taught social media strategist Hannah Twigg – who pivoted into the literary arena from the beauty industry and now helps drive digital growth for high-profile clients such as Fearne Cotton and Jacqueline Wilson – praised Rachel’s bold, pragmatic approach, advising authors to choose the platform they actually enjoy rather than struggling to appear everywhere and risking burnout. “Pick a social platform that you’re passionate about and use anyway, and make content that you’d like to view yourself,” she summarised. “It’s recreating things that you already enjoy, rather than just trying to imitate what might be popular”. She also raised the familiar concept of a thousand true fans, pointing out that even a relatively modest follower count can form the basis of a viable income stream. “People see the big numbers, like 100,000 followers versus their 12,000 followers, and they worry,” she said. “But imagine 12,000 people in a room… that’s a lot of people. And sometimes smaller communities are much more active and engaged than big ones”.        

This theme of persistent, piecemeal growth resonated throughout the discussion. For indie players especially, readerships are built from the ground up, something which is certainly true of the community Matt Holland has built around his independent bookshop, The Broken Binding, and its offshoot publishing arm (which launches with the inaugural print release of Ryan Cahill’s hit debut novel, Of Blood And Fire). The business began on Matt’s mother’s kitchen table, and by interacting directly with readers online, Matt grew his brand organically, through community activities – conversations, collaborations, shared excitement – rather than hard-selling. Operating in the sci-fi, fantasy and horror space, he paid attention to what those specific genre readers want and concluded that emphasising collectability, the joy of a beautifully rendered book, was his path to success. This led to sprayed edges, tip-in signature pages and more, and Broken Binding has now sold in excess of a million books. 

Matt Holland shares the story behind founding The Broken Binding Publishing and reflects on the company’s rapid growth in recent years.

By the close of the discussion, it was obvious that while there’s no silver bullet for independent authors and publishers, the old adage that “you have to start somewhere” continues to ring true. Consistency of voice, branding and effort compounds over time, and in the indie space, the bestseller is rarely born from flavour-of-the-week virality – it is built patiently, stoically, through relationships that become strong enough to outlast any platform. And that may be the most encouraging message of all.

Thank you to CPI for sponsoring our event and to the Century Club for hosting us!

You can find many more photos from this panel from our online album 'Becoming a Bestseller: How Indie Authors and Publishers are Breaking Through Sponsored by CPI' here!

If you're not already a member of Byte The Book you can join us from £30 a month here.

The post Becoming a Bestseller: How Indie Authors and Publishers are Breaking Through | Sponsored by CPI appeared first on Byte The Book.

The post Top tips on navigating London Book Fair 2026 appeared first on Byte The Book.

You can listen to the complete audio recording of this event via this link.

At November’s Byte The Book event, editor-in-chief of The Bookseller Philip Jones chaired a discussion marking the launch of BookBindr, a new freelancer-led collaboration platform created by Byte The Book’s own Justine Solomons and Bookswarm’s Simon Appleby. Speaking candidly about the realities of freelance life and the gaps in current support structures, the pair explained why they built the platform and what they hope it will achieve for authors, freelancers and publishers alike.

Our panel from left to right: Justine Solomons, Philip Jones, and Simon Appleby.

The conversation opened with the story of BookBindr’s beginnings, at this year’s London Book Fair. Simon painted a picture familiar to anyone who has spent time at the UK’s biggest publishing event – sitting in a bar with Justine at their traditional mid-Fair catch-up, eating cake and swapping stories about who they’d run into so far. Somewhere amid the cut and thrust of this conversation, an idea emerged: what if publishing freelancers had access to a single, centralised database that allowed them to connect with potential employers? Fragmented versions of such a database did already exist – a Facebook page for freelancers which “wasn’t getting much traction” and a fledgling WhatsApp group –but these channels lacked an outward-facing presence, explained Simon, and while often valuable behind the scenes, could be “hit-and-miss” when it came to fostering wider networks.

Simon Appleby highlights the key challenges freelancers in the industry face today.

Justine added that for many authors, freelancers and early-career publishers, the industry can be bewildering to navigate. As someone with a proven track record in bringing people together, she sees BookBindr as a way of expanding on the work that Byte The Book has been engaged in since the early 2010s. “I’m known for being a good connector,” she confirmed, “but I’m only one little person! I want BookBindr to help introduce people to each other”. She sees the site as a place to find and be found; an opportunity to establish a clear, trustworthy directory where the industry’s vast web of talent can be seen in one place, and connections can be made with more confidence and less friction. 

Justine Solomons explains the ideas behind BookBindr and how the platform will operate.

The discussion then moved on to consideration of how BookBindr will strike the balance between inclusivity and quality control. Simon stressed that while the platform must remain accessible, it also needs to reassure users that the professionals listed have real experience. For now, the benchmark is simple: freelancers should be doing at least 70% of their work within the publishing industry. More complex requirements may be introduced further down the line, but as Simon cautioned, “putting up too many gates at an early stage” could be counter-productive, especially while the primary focus is generating user velocity. The aim for launch is “fairly laissez-faire”, as he put it, but with potential for future curation such as showcasing members or rotating front-page features.

Philip Jones asks co-founders Simon and Justine about their hopes and vision for BookBindr’s future following the platform’s launch.

No conversation about a new platform is complete without a detour into the thorny issue of funding, and when Philip asked Simon how he and Justine plan to finance BookBindr, he replied with comedic honesty: “At the moment, we are relying on the universe to reward us at some undefined future point”. The audience laughed, but the question, of course, was pertinent. Currently, BookBindr is self-funded by its founders – “because we think it’s a good thing to have”, stated Justine – but a referral-based system, where BookBindr is part-subsidised by commissions from the projects it facilitates, is currently being explored. Simon also floated the idea of sponsorship for live events, and even a “karma-based” pay-what-you-can model. Philip joked with him that “if you build it, they will come”, and Simon confessed that this was not the first time he had heard that quote since BookBindr’s inception.

Attendees enjoying the insights and expertise shared by our panel.

As the session wrapped up, what emerged most clearly was the sense of a publishing workforce hungry for better infrastructure – not just to showcase skills, but to share knowledge, protect authors and build genuine community. BookBindr may still be in its early days, but the ambition behind it speaks to something deeper: a desire to make the industry kinder, more transparent and better connected. Finally, an enthusiastic post-discussion networking session led by Byte Behaviour’s Daniel Solomons proved that, if this crowd was anything to go by, there is already genuine momentum behind Justine and Simon’s BookBindr vision. Good reason, perhaps, to believe that if you build it, they really will come.

Thank you to the attendees who came along to celebrate the launch of BookBindr and to the Century Club for hosting us!

You can find more photos from this London event from our online album 'Introducing BookBindr: An exciting new way of collaborating in publishing | Brought to you by Byte The Book and Bookswarm' here!

If you're not already a member of Byte The Book you can join us from £30 a month here.

The post Introducing BookBindr: An exciting new way of Collaborating in Publishing Brought to you by Byte The Book and Bookswarm appeared first on Byte The Book.

Libraro is a digital publishing platform that helps writers share their work safely, retain full copyright and reach readers, agents, and publishers. By combining blockchain protected discoverability with professional support and author protection The Libraro Book Deal Prize gives emerging voices a secure and inclusive path into publishing.

One winner will receive a £50,000 publishing package (£30,000 advance and £20,000 marketing contribution), with additional support for shortlisted authors to refine and present their work to publishers. Entry is free and open to writers aged 18+ worldwide who are currently unrepresented by a literary agent.

Key Dates

•     Entries open: 8 January 2026
•     Entries close: 31 January 2026
•     Reader voting: 1-28 February 2026
•     Winner announced: by 18 April 2026

Writers are invited to submit:

•     The Story About Your Story (a short reflection on the work and inspiration behind it)
•     A Blurb (a concise description of the work)
•     Sample Chapters (up to 10,000 words)
•     Full First Draft (secure upload only, visible to judges and partners with permission)

Submissions can be from any adult fiction genre, including crossover YA. Entrants retain full copyright, and all entries will be moderated for originality and quality. The judging process combines platform engagement with an industry panel assessment, culminating in a shortlist of six writers.

For writers to be able to upload for free, we need to include the code.:

To upload now for FREE, register as a WRITER on libraro.com with the LIBRARO2025 code before entries formally open.

For more information or to pre-register, please visit www.libraro.com or contact us at info@libraro.com.

The post The Libraro Book Deal Prize 2026! appeared first on Byte The Book.

You can listen to the complete audio recording of this event via this link.

Amid rising concerns over copyright infringement, plagiarism and machine-made prose, Byte The Book returned to Soho’s Century Club on 24 September to discuss how authors, publishers and literary estates can channel AI for good. The panel comprised Jon Watt, Trade Audio and Business Development Director at Bonnier Books UK; Anna Hervé, an editorial consultant specialising in literary estates; and Dan Grabiner, co-founder of Portland Literary.

Our panel from left to right: Jon Watt, Justine Solomons, Anna Hervé, and Dan Grabiner.

The debate began with a focus on AI in audio, the fastest-growing format in the industry. Most publishers, revealed Jon, are funded principally by their backlists, but the economics of producing audiobooks from deep backlist titles can be daunting, with narrators costing upwards of £2000 per title. AI can lower these costs considerably, whether that’s by accelerating pre-production schedules (scanning manuscripts for hard-to-pronounce words, for example), super-charging promotional campaigns (through enhanced visuals) or by generating the narration itself, at a fraction of the cost of human actors. Dan echoed AI’s utility in this area, underlining the fact that, in the book world, using software to save time and resources is far from a new practice. “We see AI as a tool like any other,” he explained, matter-of-factly. “I’m not scared of Microsoft Word or Gmail, because they’re just tools. They’re not replacements for human creativity”.

Job Watt explores the current funding landscape for publishers and explains how AI can help reduce costs and address ongoing economic challenges.

As the conversation turned to literary estates, Anna reflected on her work and commentary around the legendary Agatha Christie, who remains, to this day, the best-selling novelist of all time (“dead authors are my thing”, she joked). She sees AI as a mechanism for revitalising the works of such writers, bringing them to fresh audiences and possibly even leading to a golden age for literary estates. “People often already have these books,” she reflected, “but they’re still looking for new ways to buy them”. For a celebrity of Christie’s stature, for instance, there is potential to harness the recordings she made in the latter stages of her career – she began dictating her books once typing became too arduous – via the use of AI sampling technology. Anna stressed, however, that when it comes to heritage authors, integrity must be prized above all else. “Literary estates have prestige,” she concluded, “so we have to be careful not to kill the golden goose. Don’t do a Burberry and end up with football hooligans wearing it”. Dan agreed, referencing what he described as “the generational responsibility of custodianship”. He compared stewarding a literary estate to inheriting a stately home, and called it “a huge responsibility”, one that must be handled with generosity and care.

Anna Hervé shares her perspective as an experienced editorial consultant, viewing emerging technologies as powerful tools to efficiently support and enhance human creativity.

Finally, the panel grappled with one of the most controversial topics in the AI space – piracy, and specifically the way in which Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta accessed millions of pirated books and research papers through a “shadow library” known as LibGen, without author consent, in order to train its generative AI systems. “We know pirated books are on the internet,” acknowledged Dan, ever the pragmatist, “but we also know that people always return to quality. If you’re the authorised home for a brand, that definitely counts for something”. Jon referenced recent licensing deals between Google and publishers such as Bloomsbury and HarperCollins as an antidote to Meta’s shady dealings, arguing that with proper agreements – ones that ensure author involvement – it’s perfectly possible for AI to play a sustainable role in the industry. “With Meta,” added Anna, “it was simply the scale on which they scraped IP without consent that shocked people”. Certain proponents of the tech sector, she remarked, have been “moving fast and breaking things”, reasoning that if they violate the law with enough reckless abandon, the rest of the world will be forced to remake the rules to suit them. “But,” she added, with steely detemination, “in publishing, we believe that ‘all rights reserved’ is pretty clear”.

Dan Grabiner highlights the transformative role of AI in the publishing industry, emphasizing its potential to drive innovation and accelerate the industry's evolution.

As ever, the conversation made it evident that AI is neither a saviour nor a villain, but a set of tools, the impact of which depends entirely on the nature of their deployment. From reducing costs in audiobook production to reaching new audiences for backlist titles, the potential is undeniable – but so too are the risks of diluting value or eroding trust. Quality and authenticity, agreed the panellists, must remain the lodestars. In an industry built on the long lives of books and the voices behind them, the challenge is not to resist AI outright, but to channel it wisely, ensuring that technology supports human creativity rather than supplanting it. Or, to borrow Anna’s closing observation: “We want AI to wash the dishes for us … not paint the Sistine Chapel”.

Members of the HW Fisher team, proud sponsors of the event, enjoying this unique and insightful panel.

Thank you to HW Fisher for sponsoring our event and to the Century Club for hosting us!

You can find many more photos from this panel from our online album 'Future Folios: How Can Authors, Publishers and Literary Estates channel AI for good? Sponsored by HW Fisher' here!

If you're not already a member of Byte The Book you can join us from £30 a month here.

The post Future Folios: How Can Authors, Publishers and Literary Estates channel AI for good? Sponsored by HW Fisher appeared first on Byte The Book.

You can listen to an audio recording of this event via this link.

At Byte The Book’s latest live panel, held in partnership with The London Library, the focus was on helping writers navigate their route to publication. The event brought together a panel of experts from across the industry, each offering a unique perspective on the publishing landscape: author and coach Sophie Hannah, publisher at Bridge Street Press Sameer Rahim, literary agent Oli Munson and Chris Wold, publishing director at Whitefox.

Our panel from left to right: Chris Wold, Sameer Rahim, Justine Solomons, Sophie Hannah, and Oli Munson.

The discussion kicked off with the panellists’ thoughts on whether writers still need agents, and if so, how they might best go about attracting one. Sameer brought an interesting perspective to the table, pointing out that as a publisher at Bridge Street Press, he has been known to sign authors by actively approaching them himself, whether they’re agented or not (though he did admit that BSP still use the agenting channel in the majority of cases). Sophie was quick to remind writers than an agent who is a poor match for them is worse than no agent at all. “Having a great agent that you fit well with – and who is on your wavelength – is amazing … but I had three in total before I found my current one”. Oli, meanwhile, offered an insight straight from the horse’s mouth, revealing that while he receives up to one hundred submissions every single week, high quality work will always stand out. “If a book is very good, I can tell. If it’s very bad, I can tell. It’s the middle that takes a bit of time”.

Oli Munson shares his insights as a literary agent on the issues that authors face in trying to get published nowadays.

Next, Byte founder Justine Solomons asked the panel how authors can best find their way around the various options available to them – traditional publishing, self-publishing and hybrid. How can they be sure that they’re venturing down the correct path? “It’s about creative control, at the end of the day”, answered Chris, advising writers to consider how much of that control they wish to keep, and how much they’re prepared to relinquish.

Chris Wold discusses how authors can stand out in the competitive world of publishing and why this is essential in becoming a bestseller.  

“We’re happy to explore all routes with our clients,” confirmed Oli, “and we find that many authors follow different roads throughout their careers”. Sophie expanded on this, suggesting that, from a writer’s perspective, this is a kid-in-a-candy-store moment. “When I began, there was only one route. Now you can try them all, one by one, and see what works”. Sameer agreed, but was quick to point out that the traditional model still has its place, especially for non-fiction writers, who often need the time and freedom afforded by upfront advances to complete their research. 

Sameer Rahim explains his experiences as a publisher and what he looks for in potential authors at Bridge Street Press. 

So, with this smorgasbord of opportunities in mind, what tips did the panel have for aspiring writers looking to maximise their chances of success? Chris was unequivocal about the importance of identifying your audience, and then seeking them out. “The key is this,” he said. “Do you understand who your audience is? Can you find one thousand true fans who will champion you? There’s no such thing as a book that ‘deserves’ to be published, so if you’re really serious about this, you have to know who your readers are”. Sameer, meanwhile, quoted an exchange he’d had some years back with a creative writing coach. “‘Among your students,’ I asked him, ‘what’s the difference between the ones who succeed and the ones who don’t?’. His answer was simple: persistence. It’s the writers who just don’t give up”.

Sophie Hannah offers her unique perspective as a bestselling author and coach when supporting fellow authors on their writing journey.

Finally, to close the discussion, Sophie offered an uplifting take on the current moment in publishing. “If I was starting out today,” she mused, “I’d think: this is the best time ever to be a writer”. With more paths open than ever before, writers no longer have to pin all their hopes on a single deal or a lone gatekeeper, and with the right ingredients, success can come to anyone, at any time. She cited the story of a 74-year-old novelist – a client on her Dream Author coaching programme, now in its seventh year – who had an extraordinary, high-concept idea but refused to put pen to paper unless a publisher confirmed interest first. Patiently, Sophie persuaded her to write a chapter and synopsis, and the resulting manuscript went to auction, selling for hundreds of thousands of pounds. “Amazing things happen,” she concluded, “when writers back themselves”.

Our audience enjoyed our live panel in the beautiful surroundings of The London Library. 

Thank you to The London Library for hosting us!

You can find many more photos from this panel from our online album 'Byte the Book x The London Library: Get Your Writing Into the World' here!

If you're not already a member of Byte The Book you can join us from £30 a month here.

The post Byte the Book x The London Library: Get Your Writing Into the World appeared first on Byte The Book.

You can listen to an audio recording of this event via this link.

On Tuesday 3 June, Byte The Book returned to the Century Club for a distinctly future-facing discussion, with a four-strong panel sharing their theories on where the industry’s next bestsellers will come from. Input came from Elizabeth Counsell, Literary Agent at Northbank Talent Agency, Polly Osborn, Publishing Strategy & Communications Director at Simon & Schuster UK, Anna Disley, Deputy CEO of New Writing North and Arsim Shillova, CEO of Libraro.

Our panel from left to right: Elizabeth Counsell, Polly Osborn, Justine Solomons, Anna Disley, and Arsim Shillova.

Byte founder Justine Solomons opened the floor by asking each panellist how they find and connect with writers in today’s ever-changing landscape. Elizabeth explained that, as with most agents, she still acquires many of her authors through submissions, but added “I’m not afraid to go out there and find people”. She cited anthologies – such as those compiled by the creative writing departments at Goldsmiths and City University – as a common source for new talent, along with reader activity on social media. “This is still a competitive industry,” she reflected, “but the gatekeepers are changing. Publishers are paying more attention to readers, and to which books are resonating with people”.

Arsim Shillova opens up about the challenges and vision that sparked the creation of Libraro. 

Polly picked up this thread, placing emphasis on the need to level the playing field in an industry which has long been regarded as elitist. “Publishing has an accessibility problem,” she stated, “and there’s a sense that you have to know people, you have to know the route. But the industry is slowly democratising”. She pinpointed BookTok, for instance, as a powerful tool in this process, highlighting its role in the runaway success of Colleen Hoover, a Simon & Schuster author. “Colleen had always been a strong mid-list name for us, but then on BookTok, we began to see people connecting very emotionally with her stories – filming themselves crying while reading her novels – and it was fascinating to watch that happen, to see her engagement growing week on week, and her sales grow with it. Her fans weren’t reacting to some review in the Guardian … this was a real, visceral response to the reading experience”.

Polly Osborn detailing her experiences of working with authors and on a variety of books at Simon & Schuster UK. 

Expanding on this idea, Justine asked the panellists about what, in their view, needs to change next in publishing. Anna, whose Arts Council-funded organisation New Writing North seeks out and develops promising writers from the north of England, pointed out that “talent is everywhere, but opportunity isn’t”. NWN, she explained, exists to disrupt the rigid structures that can make this London-centric industry so impenetrable, opening it up not only to writers from historically neglected regions of the country, but also to those from working class backgrounds. Arsim echoed this sentiment while talking about his struggles to get a book published in 2017, and how the experience inspired him to found Libraro, a community-driven platform that unites writers with readers, allowing those readers to influence what gets published and guiding industry professionals towards future bestsellers. Like Anna, he felt that publishers are missing out, needlessly, on a large pool of talent, and that the internet could be part of the solution. “The more I looked into it, the more I realised that this was something technology could potentially support. We want to look after people who write and share their stories with the general public, because we all love stories, and there’s so much content out there that we simply don’t get to see”.

Elizabeth Counsell offers her perspective on supporting authors in the ever-changing and highly competitive world of publishing.

Finally, the discussion took an inevitable swing towards AI, exploring both the opportunities and dangers that the technology presents. Reigniting the topic of accessibility, Elizabeth praised the potential for AI to “take power away from the more guarded places and redistribute it to people who haven’t had it before” – which, pointed out Anna, could help us to ensure “that we aren’t just publishing in our own image”.

Anna Disley explains why the traditional publishing model must evolve to ensure that writers from all backgrounds have the opportunity to be published and their stories heard.

On the other hand, each of the panellists was acutely aware of the fierce debate around the unauthorised use of authors’ work to train AI platforms, and how this is already throttling livelihoods. For Arsim, the answer is to use AI primarily to preserve human writing, harnessing its potential to establish and distribute micro-payments. Polly agreed, confessing to “feeling a bit Jekyll and Hyde” about artificial intelligence. “As a publisher,” she said, “it’s clear to me that AI will speed up processes, but I also spend a lot of time campaigning for the protection of our copyright. This is fundamental not only to our business model, but to the future of the creative arts”. In the best-case scenario, she theorised, AI won’t threaten the industry – it will super-charge it. “I’m very pro tech,” she said, in summary, “but even more than that, I’m pro-human. Let’s make it work for us, not the other way round”.

Our audience listening attentively to the panel.

Thank you to Libraro for sponsoring our event and to the Century Club for hosting us!

You can find many more photos from this panel from our online album 'New Paths to Publishing - Sponsored by Libraro' here!

If you're not already a member of Byte The Book you can join us from £30 a month here.

The post New Paths to Publishing – Where Will the Next Bestseller Come From? Sponsored by Libraro appeared first on Byte The Book.

You can listen to the complete audio recording of this event via this link.

On one of the warmest days of the year so far, Byte The Book followed sunset drinks on the Century Club rooftop with a three-person panel on how authors can best build a business around their books. Byte’s Justine Solomons was joined by Rachel Mills, director and founder of the Rachel Mills Literary Agency, Richard Charkin, publisher at Mensch Publishing and author of My Back Pages, and Georgia Kirke, founder of ClioBooks.ai and Write Business Results.

Our panel from left to right: Justine Solomons, Richard Charkin, Georgia Kirke, and Rachel Mills.

To begin, the panellists gave some background on their personal origin stories, leading to a summary from Richard on how he ended up writing My Back Pages, a memoir documenting his five decades in corporate publishing. Looking back at how much the business has changed since his salad days, he observed that the most notable development wasn’t technology, or the dissemination of a once London-centric industry, but the impact of the female workforce. “Without a doubt, the biggest change has been women,” he explained, to nods from the audience. “The emergence of female leaders across the industry has been a game-changer, and there’s no downside”. He did add, however, that in today’s heavily saturated industry, we have a new – and rather pivotal – problem to grapple with. “There are more writers than readers, which is a fundamental problem of economics. How do we serve this growing author community, when there aren’t enough people reading the books?”.

Richard Charkin sharing how publishing has changed and developed since he began working in the industry.

Next, the discussion moved to specific examples of how writers can build businesses around their work. Rachel, who as a literary agent represents authors from across the genre spectrum, pointed to two main camps that her writers slot into – those whose careers gave rise to their books, and those who books gave rise to their careers. Her client Catherine Gray, for instance, author of The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober, found success by pre-empting the now inescapable trend of aspirational sobriety. When she wrote the book over a decade ago, it was widely rejected, as most publishers couldn’t see an audience for it. Eventually, however, Hachette took on the project for a small advance and the book proceeded to sell 750,000 copies. Catherine had been way ahead of the curve, which meant she was ideally placed to capitalise on the trend when it eventually emerged, and she now runs an in-demand speaking business and a thriving Instagram feed, both of which create significant revenue. On the other hand, Rachel’s clients Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis began their journey by building a successful coaching company, only writing a book when they were approached by Penguin to do so. The release, The Squiggly Career, became a bestseller, and today it allows them to extend their reach as coaches to people they might not otherwise have time to meet face-to-face.  

Rachel Mills discussing the different ways her authors have successfully built businesses around their books.

Georgia picked up the thread by pointing out that, in her experience, entrepreneurs like Catherine, Helen and Sarah often feel that they simply don’t have enough time to write a book, even if they can clearly see the value that it would bring to their business – and this is where ClioBooks.ai comes in. Clio is an AI ghostwriter and editor that helps guide writers through the complex process of researching, developing and drafting their books, allowing them to create drafts faster than ever before. “For many of these people, the idea of sitting down at a desk for a year in order to write is unthinkable … but Clio provides them with a list of questions, a process, to help them get their expertise down in words. They can log in anywhere and simply speak their content into the engine, based on its prompts”. Assuaging any concerns about intellectual property, Georgia was quick to confirm that the results remain entirely the author’s own work, but with the very modern benefit of being produced quickly, efficiently and accurately. “My job,” she said, “in a nutshell, is to make life easier for busy people in the world of books. And we’ve now got users creating sixty-thousand-word drafts in just a few days”.

Georgia Kirke detailing how ClioBooks.ai is revolutionsing how authors navigate the writing process.

To close the discussion, Justine asked what threats or opportunities the panellists saw coming over the horizon from AI, or technology in general. Georgia addressed the elephant in the room and expressed the fact that she’s not overly worried about the phenomenon of generative AI ‘writing’ books. “Focusing on AI’s ability to spawn huge amounts of content at great speed is missing the point,” she argued. “People aren’t just reading to absorb knowledge or facts; they can use Google for that. No – when they pick up a book, they’re looking for a lightbulb moment that could change their life”. Richard, equally, was keen for his industry to embrace the benefits of technology rather than cowering before perceived dangers. “What’s really pathetic about publishing is that an author writes a book, it’s accepted for publication, and then it won’t be published for nearly a year. How bleeding ridiculous is that?”. He advocated for removing the people in the middle, and getting more books into the hands of more customers. “The technology is there, and at the end of the day, publishing is about authors and readers. Everyone else is a mediator”.

Our attendees enjoying networking on the sunny rooftop of the Century Club.

Finally, Rachel harked back to the distant past by noting that this isn’t the first time the book business has been rattled by world-altering technology. “Since the invention of the printing press,” she reflected, “every technological advancement has frightened the publishing industry. The eBook was supposed to destroy the paperback, etc. But the fact that very dull and plagiaristic content can be written by a robot simply means that we will learn to value human content even more highly. The AI conversation is making us ask ourselves what it means to be human. And books,” she concluded, poetically, “reflect humanity”.

Thank you to ClioBooks.ai for sponsoring our event and to the Century Club for hosting us!

You can see more photos from this event from our online album 'Wise Words – How to Build a Business Around Your Book' here!

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You can listen to an audio recording of this event via this link.

Byte The Book’s first in-person event of 2025 took place amid the lively cut and thrust of the London Book Fair, a key annual marketplace for rights negotiation and international deals. Byte’s Justine Solomons led a discussion on how authors can capitalise on the growth of eBooks and audio, and was joined by Kris Dyer, co-founder of Rakkit Productions Ltd, Dominique Raccah, founder and CEO of Sourcebooks and prolific romance author L. Steele. 

Our panel from left to right: Dominique Raccah, Justine Solomons, Kris Dyer and L. Steele.

Justine opened the floor by asking the panellists for their current diagnosis of the eBook and audio markets. “Audio is a huge new technology,” began Kris, whose company, Rakkit Productions, own two audiobook studios in central London and are a registered supplier to the BBC. “And it’s the tech itself that’s driving the revolution. You see it on the tube – everyone has ear buds in – and while many people don’t read books, almost everyone has a smartphone”. He added that audio is appealing partly because people want a break from their screens, and Dominique agreed. “Audio is expanding readership because people can multitask with audiobooks,” she reflected, touching on how, as a format, audio feels uniquely suited to the frenetic pace of modern life. “It’s very difficult to multitask while reading a hardback”.

L.Steele detailing her journey as a prolific author and how she found ways to engage with her readers and build an online community. 

One of the most significant benefits of digital formats is the access they provide to an ongoing stream of customer data. Independent author L. Steele, who has written fifty books in just thirteen years and appears regularly on Amazon bestseller lists, outlined how she constantly tracks her sales data and uses the feedback to inform her writing. “There’s almost too much information out there now,” she commented, “so when I started, I realised I had to seek out what works for me. That’s how I found ReaderLinks, an app which takes my Amazon sales reports and breaks them down by country, format, title, series and so on”. Laxmi then uses this data to determine what she should write next, based on reader responses. “Data might seem impersonal, but I try to personalise it. It’s just feedback from my customers, at the end of the day – and when I see what’s selling well, I write more of that”.

Dominique Raccah shares her incredible insights into how writers and publishers can use data within publishing.

When asked about the importance of data to her business, the market-leading independent publisher Sourcebooks, Dominique was unequivocal: “It’s one hundred per cent important,” she said, mirroring Laxmi’s response. “Data drives marketing. We have eight different marketing teams, and every employee has access to our metrics. I’m a statistician by background, and we aim to put data together in ways that are unconventional … and, most importantly, that truly help authors”.

Kris Dyer discusses the challenges and changes he has seen in the audiobook industry and how authors can make the most of these developments. 

So what can we expect, in the future, from the eBook and audio sectors? AI, of course, is already having an impact, and Kris revealed that his company are piloting a system with software developer ElevenLabs that allows an author to record just the first two hours of their audiobook before handing the baton to an AI engine, which samples their voice to complete the project. The technology is in its infancy, he noted, but the progress arc is steep. And while some audience members expressed concern about the influence of AI in an industry that has traditionally relied on human creativity, Kris was quick to point out that, for now, at least, consumers still place a premium on the real thing. He offered up the music business as a comparison, noting that the live scene has boomed in the last decade, precisely because it’s the hardest sector of the industry to replace purely with technology.

Our audience asking the speakers for bespoke advice after the panel. 

Politics entered the discussion, too, with Dominique asserting that people have a unique need for escapism at the present moment, given the state of global affairs. “The world is imperfect right now,” she said, euphemistically, “and people want escape. They want fantasy, spicy romance, horror, thrillers. They want to be someplace else”. Laxmi echoed this idea, concluding that, when all is said and done, publishing is about readers. “Until you get a book out there,” she said, “you won’t know what it means to people. It’s difficult, and challenging, and releasing that first book is scary … but you’ve just got to do it. For me, my readers are the most important people in the world”.

Thank you to London Book Fair for hosting us at Author HQ.

You can see more photos from our LBF 2025 event here!

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The post London Book Fair 2025: Dynamic Digital Downloads – How Can Authors Capitalise on the Growth of Ebooks and Audio? appeared first on Byte The Book.