We’ve hit the end of the “Best Books of the Year” list cycle and now are onto the “Most Anticipated Books of the Year” so welcome 2026. Fiction sales are up, no fiction sales are down, nobody can actually agree on it, and according to the news and social media, the world is falling apart, humanity is terribly evil, and no one has the attention span to read long-form. Despite this, or maybe in spite of this, excellent, radical, thoughtful books are being written, published, and purchased.
Reading is an act of resistance, challenging your brain to step inside someone else’s shoes, whether it’s a dragon-riding sexy lady or an angsty teenager stuck with a tiger in the middle of the ocean or friends destined to reach across war-torn borders. For me, the read of my client C.L. Clark’s series Magic of the Lost embodied this so fully, and I’m so inspired by the huge fanbase it has garnered. I was lucky enough to attend the launch party in London of the third and final installment of the trilogy The Sovereign at the excellent The Common Press Bookshop (photo above). It’s moments like these that make me so grateful I’ve been able to carve out a career in this industry and it keeps my hope burning against the dark.
Speaking of burning, I did get a bit burnt out at the end of the year, so despite my best intentions, I was unable to catch up on submissions over the holidays. Trying to force myself to read subs when I feel like this doesn’t end up with productive insight, and I’m perhaps too quick to pass. So apologies to those of you waiting in my submission inbox, it looks like it’s going to be a bit longer. As always feel free to nudge if you need confirmation that it’s in the tbr-queue, or withdraw if you don’t want to wait. I’m currently at 190 queries that I’d like to take a closer look at. I won’t open again until I’ve gotten through these, probably in late spring. I appreciate your understanding!
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