BOOK TRENDS THAT NEED TO DIE 🔪 AND ONES THAT NEED TO STAY 🏠 2024 trend deep dive 

I'm sick of things being called "retellings" when they're more like "reimagining". To me, a retelling should follow the same basic story, while giving different perspectives or adding depth to it, like Circe. A reimagining is using an older story/myth as a jumping off point, and doing your own things with it, like Juniper and Thorn. It can be very disappointing to think you're going in for a retelling and getting a reimagining.

All authors have always had length limits put on them. Famously, Thomas Wolfe's original manuscript for _Look Homeward, Angel_ was several feet tall (or so the story goes), and had to be cut drastically with the help of legendary editor Maxwell Perkins to a publishable length.

I wish ppl would write Egyptian myth retellings or ancient Egypt inspired fantasy. I loved ancient Egypt as a kid and would looove to read books about it 😢

In my head, fae are dangerous and scheming, but enchanting and addictive to be around (which makes them 'sexy' but also quite creepy) I want more books that have fae be alluring but terrifying

Agree with you about the lack of maturity for 12-18 year olds. It reflects the lack of maturity of readers and this has really annoyed me on Goodreads for some recent books I loved that had realistic teenagers but then actual legit reviewers rates them low because the characters are naive or gullible like hello they’re kids?!?!

I teach middle school and I have girls who have told me that they want clean romance books but the covers are cutesy in both clean and extremely spicy books. I can't remember which one it was, but a couple of them freaked out because they're 14 and accidently got a book with BDSM in the first chapter of what they thought was going to be a cute clean romance. It had an adorable cartoon-esq cover and I totally understand their mistake. Now they're half-afraid to read new books and I hate that their spark to read is being smothered by spicy books.

have to strongly disagree with the historical fantasy "hate." that seems more like personal taste. it's a sub-genre, not a trend per se. but maybe it's because i've always been aware of historical motifs in other genres, for example, historical romance is its own thing, but that doesn't mean no one is writing contemporary romance. you're just reading books outside your preferred genre and complaining about the key world-building staples of that genre (in this case, historical fantasy). it seems to me like reading YA and complaining that characters are juvenile, immature, etc.

Just have to predict the future, as a writer. "What will be trendy 5 years from now when I actually finish a book?" 😅

Neil Gaiman's 'Norse Mythology" isn't so much a re-telling, as it's a telling. It's a collection of myths, not a novel or a story "based on...".

With retellings it’s not just a lot of European focused, it’s focused on a few select groups of stories that a lot more people would know of or be aware of is a thing (Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rumplestiltskin, etc.). More focused on some German, French, maybe English fairytales, and Greek and Norse mythology. Haven’t read it yet, but Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid takes a lesser well known story from the Grimm collection (the Juniper tree), Robin McKinley has an older retelling of Deerskin (French version of Allerleirauh, which is also a lesser well known story in the Grimm collection), and these are the kinds of stories and versions that would be amazing if they could see the day of light, because there are just. So. Many. Fairytales and myths out there! (Or weird but really fitting mashups, like The Shadow in the Glass that’s a Faustian Cinderella, and it works pretty well.) But yeah, if it’s the same versions or the same stories regurgitated over and over again and get loads more attention, I’m not surprised there’s some who are getting tired.

Vampire tales always rise in a bad economy, so not surprising we are seeing more.

I would love to see your video on the fae, as you've outlined in this video. I'm currently writing a retold fairy tale and the fae in it are scary and dangerous, so you video would be really helpful.

I agree with you about big authors being under-edited. I’ve also unfortunately seen this with smaller and debut authors recently. I’ve read multiple books in the past year where there were clear problems that would have been picked up by a proper developmental edit. And I think that the publishers figured that either the author was big enough or the book was anticipated enough (for smaller authors) that it would sell anyway, so they didn’t bother giving it the attention it needed to make the actual content good. And that sucks both for readers and authors and future sales because then those books get poorly reviewed. I think publishers just don’t want to pay for editing 😂

Ah, where to start. First of all, having worked as a bookseller, librarian, and for a book wholesaler, my opinion is publishers are going to publish what they think will sell. So, it's sort of like voting, if a reader doesn't buy what it is they want to see published, their opinion doesn't really count in the grand scheme of things, and they just have to deal with whatever the trend is, unfortunately. In other words, sales dictate the trend. 2) I'm not sure they stop editing big authors so much as for a time factor (they generally do not publish more than one book a year for the big authors no matter what) as it is that the Big Author becomes more confident that they don't need as much editing. If a publisher decides to buy a book, they do so knowing that they cannot force an author to make changes to their manuscript if the author doesn't want to. Most newbie authors defer to the editor's suggestions, then as they get bigger and more confident, they start rejecting more editorial advice. (I've talked to several authors about this. When they learned they could just say no, it was empowering.) So, if an author says, "no, I don't want to make that change" the editor just sort of has to deal with that. I knew of an author once who said she'd gone over her sentences a hundred times, so there was no need for an editor to touch her manuscript (I won't name her.) Trends are fascinating. I knew of a romance author one time who got a five book deal because her first book was similar to a movie that was popular. Publishing is a business and in order to stay afloat they're going to do whatever they can to "cash in." However, at the same time they'll tell you "not to write for the trend" because it changes so quickly. You have to time riding that wave just perfectly. You are always so balanced and so fair with your videos and always have such interesting things to say. Thanks for the good work.

love the video but... I kept getting distracted cause I've been trying to figure out how you styled your hair 😍 is it one of those curly hairbands? just individual clips? is you hair just naturally curly and has volume??? I need a hair turorial, yours looks so incredibly pretty 🥹💕

i find that for the fantasy/fantasy romance thing, if a book's synopsis is written in first person, it's most often ~romantasy~ and then i'm like nope, i know that's not for me speaking of taylor swift, one trend i need to go away is the number of taylor swift references that are in contemporary romances 😭

Kaikeyi was such a refreshing retelling, and therefore a book I immediately picked up! There are huge untapped audiences interested in mythologies other than Greek who would gobble up more diverse retellings, but publishing clearly wants to play it safe. I will say the silence of the girls was a retelling of the Iliad well worth people’s time.

Unpopular opinion: I can’t stand “Six of Crows” and DNF’d it quite quickly.

Personally, I am always down for a Fae story if the romance isn't the entire focus (and yeah, the dark vibes and violent Faeries are excellent) - love Holly Black's fae world, Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely, Emily Wilde... I'd be down for a whole video talking about Fae tropes. Would also love a whole video about self publishing and the struggles authors face.

Speaking on the Fae aspect and how they can be dangerous- The other trend I've seen done *so many times* is people call the creature a fae but it ends up being straight up demon without actually exploring the fae aspect. This makes me DNF a book so quickly because that's not what I'm looking for (it's what ultimately got me to DNF Kingdom of Sweets which I was actually intrested when I started to see how the author would do the Nutcracker Retelling as horror. The only good thing she did was actually think the Clown doll as creepy and that's it, but I was done when the Sugar Plum Fairy was a demon and she had such a great set up for a dangerous Fae until it wasn't.) But I think you would actually *really* like Gwenhyfar: the White Spirit by Mercades Lackey. It handles Fae as both helpful but also dangerous in subtle ways and it also talks a bit more of the speculation of King Arthur Lore with a historical spin to it. It's an older book, so if you can get it from the Library it may actually scratch that itch you've been craving from Historical Fantasy and Fae being more mysterious and not romantic. (And this is one of the few books that are NOT part of the Valdamar Series and is an standalone so you can read this at the same time as your romp into Valdamar.) It's not exactly perfect as there may be some parts that feel like a little long stretches but I feel like it was on purpous in some places. A lot of the "older" fantasy books was getting the buff man or just the pretty woman face treatment for a while and still going through it unfortantly. The Mage Wars covers within the Valdamar Series (modern) look nothing like the old school covers that fit the vibe a bit better and the Rowan by Anne McCaffery (along with all the books after it within the Hive and the Tower series) just plaster a woman's face that sometimes doesn't even look like the main charater and they do the summery as if it's a romance novel when it's not a romance..... it's a Scifi with romance elements about halfway through. I have seen people actually give it 1 stars because they were given the impression that it was a Romance Scifi. And with the Length discussion, I think you can build a really good fantasy world in certian word counts, but it's a *skill* that have to be mastered and not forced upon the author in question without giving them direction. I have read really good short story that does the job of building the world, make it work and while I may want more of the world, could just go to the next short story to build upon that and be satified. One book I'm reading right now between my Buddy Read (Bringer of the Scourge) is only 255 pages but the world building is GREAT! But Sword and Sorcery is built around shorter stories origonally, so I think that's why people try to develop the craft of that first, and the author herself is coming out with a second book as a continuation of the book, but also going to be on the shorter side but build out more of that world she built.

I liked the Fox Wife, it feels like a lot of people are only looking for euro-centric view of fantasy. So it’s nice for cultures outside of that get more popular.

12:04 I know which book you are referring to, and it ended up being one of my most disappointing read last year. I was super excited for it and it turned out not even being a retelling of the myth it was supposedly a retelling of. Now, I'm not sure if it was actually the author hyping it up as a retelling or their publisher's doing, but... Yeah.

Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology was really good but I wouldn’t say it necessarily counts as a retelling with it being nonfiction. The thing I hate about retellings of mythology is how authors will take snippets of Greek or Norse mythology (examples I’ve read this year) and completely change things around or get things wrong to the point that it feels like they butchered it or are making a mockery of it. The Greek inspired book I read a few months ago, The Night Hunt, felt she was making a mockery of Greek mythology. It was like she was trying to use details from Greek mythology to make her own mythology and it just wasn’t working for me. And maybe that’s just me, but being a big Assassin’s Creed Odyssey fan and Greek mythology in general, her choices really bothered me. The Norse inspired book I read, Children of Ragnarok, also wasn’t great with certain details, like how she made the Vanir the gods of the dead or the spirit realm which just isn’t even correct

Have you read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susannah Clarke? Or Little Big by John Crowley? Or Lud in the Mist by Hope Mirlees? Those are three awesome, otherwordly takes on faeries that are very refreshing. Strongly recommend!

Guys, you're all sleeping on "The Innkeeper Chronicles" series by Ilona Andrews. It's truly brilliant mix of magic and sci-fi, love plot is very (very) much in the background. There are military space werewolves, vampire kingdom (not a word about them drinking blood, fr), there are monsters, philosopher chicken, sneaky foxes, lost people, political intrigue, other worlds, there's humor, there are hard-hitting moments and intense, high-stakes action. And still, with all that, it's a pretty cozy read.. Seriously, you need to check it out. :)

I don't think the scarcity of world building is necessarily connected to shorter word counts. I've read plenty of short books and novellas which paint a satisfying picture of the world for their story. I imagine it's more a matter of where the author's interest lies, and sometimes their level of experience and craft. I have read a series of novels which also exist as manga, and sometimes it reads like the author forgot the novel wasn't going to be illustrated and could use descriptions of places. Not to say that trimming a work down never impacts the world building, of course.

I don't agree that the historic fantasy trend is a bad thing. A) It's always been a thing. B) We're getting these stories from unrepresented folks now, which is important.

Definitely the sneaking romance into a book. I am not a huge fan of romance books, but don't mind a subplot. But when it turns out to be the whole story and not in the blurb I get annoyed.

I am so tired of Taylor Swift popping up in novels for no reason. It's becoming an instant DNF.

I agree with the Eurocentric aspect in fantasy, especially in retellings, and also with the cookie-cutter approach to fae and dragons in current fantasy. I look to Asian-inspired fantasy, and if anyone knows of an African author doing African-inspired fantasy, please let me know. In fact, fantasy-inspired anything NOT European, Greek, or Viking/Norse.

Oh Gosh - your point to publishers not editing bigger names - I thought this so much about Tress of the Emerald Sea. I feel like that book did not get the editing it needed because it was a Sanderson book and that story needed someone giving the feedback that more editing to focus that story a bit was really needed..... And the book covers and synopses not reflecting the book. It's gotten to the point where I don/t buy a book until I've either read the ebook or taken it out of the library because I get so tired of buying books, opening it up, and then feeling like I was just cheated out of my money and its annoying. On the other hand, I actually appreciate that more fantasy series that don't involve 800 page books are getting more popular because while I don't mind a good epic fantasy series, I don't want every book I read being that long. Especially when these books don't need to be that long and would most likely be better if the books were cut down (I'm thinking of Keepers of Lost Cities series specifically here. I like the series but I find myself skimming over the middle few hundred pages of the last few books that I feel could have been cut down - to the point where I am just really ready for the series to be over because it is dragging on so long).

Yes, could never be done with dragons 😤

I’m a new subscriber and really love your content! Also want to say I really appreciate you mentioning that a lot of genres (epic fantasy, retellings, historical fantasy) focus mainly on European cultures and many readers don’t give books based on other cultures a chance. I do think publishers are mainly to blame for this for not pushing diverse stories out, but I also think people should be branching out and trying new perspectives. Oh, and on the Fae topic, I would love to see how John Gwynne would write them!

Elle, fae stories aren’t (generally) my thing-Spenser’s Faerie Queene excepted-but if you make a two-hour video on the subject, I promise I’ll watch every second of it. Your takes on these things are always balanced and interesting and anything you put out is worth watching.

It definitely seems like AI is being used for self-published works and it’s very frustrating. I know it’s hard for self-published authors to get their work noticed, but they’re writing their own story so why are they using AI to make stolen art??

Still the best Fae I read of are in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I would love more like that...

I’m sorry YT is punishing you!!!!! You deserve everything yours is the most positive channel I’ve seen. I try to engage with the videos even I don’t like just for the algorithm but I will try to do more

I absolutely adore historic fantasy. I read fantasy before, but what really made me adore fantasy was reading Juliet Marillier's books. I didn't realize people consider it a trend as it's been a subgenre of fantasy pretty much forever. People have been telling tales about magical people, creatures, abilities, etc.. that take place in the past for thousands of years.

This act their age stuff is exactly why I hated every character in Jade City

Omgg please do thriller genres! Would love to see u dip ur toes into that genre and ur opinion on it. I would recommend 'pretty girls' and 'rock paper scissors' if u haven't read those!

A Fantasy Reader Reads Sci-Fi sounds like a fun concept for a video! Comparing Winter's Orbit and Ocean's Echo to their romantacy counterparts, for example, could be very interesting! Or comparing/contrasting Sanderson's Skyward series to his other works.

I 100% agree on the Taylor Swift thing... I feel like the fandom borders, and for some, goes straight over to the unhealthy. It has unfortunately (imo) had somewhat of a negative impact on booktube. I think that coupled with the "girly" trend makes booktube feel very exclusive and for anyone that isn't a girl and an obsessive fan of T.S. it can feel quite alienating.

I think how you feel about RU-vid is about how author feels about books 🤣 like the ones who wrote trendy things like typical romantasy with enemies to lovers will get toooons of hype. The ones who try more unique things get less hype. Also are you open to fantasy recommendations lol. I want to recommend a few things but all the genres you asked for are ones I don’t know

Well, I recently started watching this series (also, I discovered your channel very recently) and I have to say that this video has touched me very much. Well, the BookTube community (especially for a fantasy reader/author) is as you describe it. Anyway, keep up the good work!

Hmmm, I agree with some of these and disagree with others, but it always concerns me when we talk about doing away with things in books. As readers, we can choose not to read something that isn't for us, but please don't take away things we love just because others don't 💜

Stop throwing fanfiction under the bus 2024. Some fanfiction is better than books.

People don't have to buy special editions. I used to love getting Folio Books but I can't afford them now so get Kindle books. If someone wants to buy a fancy book then go for it. It's no different from Beatles or Pink Floyd fans buying endless vinyls and box sets.

Lol at 10 years old I read a sexual vampire book by accident… gotta say I loved that shit no complaints

I'm a bookseller and a big Taylor fan and I have an ongoing photo album of 1. books about Taylor Swift which released because she's coming to our country (I think it's up to 10+ now in the last three weeks, like seperate titles); and 2. romance books with Taylor Swift titles, they've been quite obvious in netgalley romance books but I feel its not actually that many. It more annoys me because it feels like the way people title fanfics than because its a Taylor thing

Something that makes me a little sad about people being bored of Greek retellings is that the market has been so oversaturated by non-Greeks from richer countries. It just feels a bit crappy.

its not a trend to have limited word count, that's the normal in publishing that always existed - especially for less known authors and debutants.

This video idea of yours about fae sounds so interesting! Would love to see it in the future! Also, witches are for me what fae are apparently for so many others: just tiresome and overdone when they follow the same old archetype

I agree with the comment section here about historical fiction, and not the Patreon member (although they are welcome to their opinion, and I respect that). I feel like historical fiction as a whole genre on its own and as a sub-genre or add-on to another genre - historical fantasy, historical romance, etc. - is something that's never really been super popular or trending. I do think that there are certain time periods that are overdone within the historical fiction genre (I'm thinking WWII, but more recently we've been flooded regency...) and that other time periods and locations could be explored more. If we're thinking Eurocentric historical fiction, then I would agree somewhat with the Patreon member. But we need more non-Eurocentric/non-WWII historical fiction. The Fox Wife was honestly a breath of fresh air because I personally haven't seen too many books set in that time period in China/Manchuria.

YEAH I'D WATCH A VIDEO ON WHAT WE COULD DO WITH FAE IN WRITING THAT SOUNDS INTERESTING

Yessss, I would love a brutal or creepy fae story written by Jay Kristoff, George R.R., Gaiman, King, T. Kingfisher, Catriona Ward...

I feel like modern fantasy that incorporates modern technology - it is just dark academia and I really am not impressed by most dark academia right now.

Would absolutely love in depth on fae because I agree with what you said about fae and dragons

I am not done with Fea at all i enjoy it sometimes depend on the writing all together truly...

In reference to the Fae statement, I would like to recommend Patricia Briggs's Mercy Thompson series. The Fae in her books are tricksy and dangerous. There are also werewolves, vampires, and other creatures. These books would be urban fantasy and have no spice.

Please do the fae video I'm doing a fae fantasy novel and I'd love more opinions ❤ mines based fae legends from around the world

My favorite historical fiction series is Clash of Eagles by Alan Smale--it's essentially a thought experiment about what may have happened in the Roman Empire expanded into the Americas instead of getting stuck in their Eastern expansion.

What books are named after Taylor Swift songs/albums?

Thanks for highlighting the "hurdles" for self-pub authors! After thinking about it and watching people like Ryan Cahill, who've done it right, I decided to self-pub myself. And yes, it's a LOT to learn and take in. And if authors want to do it right, they shouldn't rush the process and need to do their research. There are a lot of interviews with Ryan that can give you some ideas. I ended up hiring an editor I follow on RU-vid, who I've been watching for over a year. And I found my cover artist on Upwork after thoroughly looking through their artwork (and making sure it wasn't AI art). Aside from all that, it's nice to see that TBB and some of the other printers are doing their part to support indie authors. There are many who will try to prey on us, but there are also many others who genuinely want to help!

Unfortunately, deceptive covers and synopses aren't a new trend.

as a writer, I personally don't write fantasy settings, but I love writing magic powers that are in modern, contemporary settings or in a recent historical setting like the 1970s to 2010s is where I normally set my stories.

if you want dangerous fae, you have the read The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín - super cool story with dangerous / horrific fae

yes, medival european fantasy in my opinion is extremely overrated and overwritten. It gets boring and uninteresting as it gets extremely trendy. The moment I look at a book and I see it's a fantasy, I immediately lose interest

I am reading Fourth Wing right now. It is okay. I'm half way through and need to put it down...may be a soft DNF. I can see middle grade and young YA readers loving it....

ooh i have recs. look up the triggers though i tend not to read light things. if you read historical fiction please do "pillars of the earth", "the true and splendid history of the harristown sisters" or bernard cornwell's "warlord" series. for historical queer romance try "fingersmith" or "affinity" by sarah waters. for nonfiction try "midnight in the garden of good and evil". for horror try "suture", "lapvona" (my all time favourite book), and if you have a particularly strong stomach, "tender is the flesh". for scifi try "venomous lumpsucker". for post-apocalyptic/speculative try "moon of the crusted snow" and "manhunt". for contemporary/litfic try "convenience store woman" and "milk fed". love your videos and also your hair and makeup always looks really good.

right out of the gate, hybrid tech/science FANTASY - The Coming of Schades book 1 of The Heroes of the Line series! Slow burn, Lots of originality. Four of 5....

I dont really think the problem is eurocentric fantasy. It's more post Christian english and german centric with the ocasional old Norse based fantasy. Like Tolkein himself based a lot of his stuff of Finnish and Karelian myths but the people who wanted to be like him took more from him than his sources. Basically, what I'm saying is if you want to do somthing based on european history or mythology do something different with it. If you still want to settle on the same English, German, or Norse idea do somthing crazy with it. Like Brittish like fantasy settings? Try learning about the Brettons and their culture. Norse, try Karelian, Finnic, Permian, and if youre feeling adventurous, Sami. And im sure there are simular situations for the German based settings. Basically, just try new things, thats why I believe different continents cultures are so popular right now, because that forces the author to do things differently, the problem is you can change the backdrop of the story but unless you change how it works, eventualy even that might seem too simular. TLDR, in my opinion relying to much on the relatability of the setting is crutch to avoid thinking about the society too much. Personal experience, Im working on a work where I based a country of Karelia, but now, after I've built the society up, really the only simularty is that they live in a cold place. Also, this is only for fantasy, historical fiction isn't my wheelhouse.

speaking of retellings, or at least bringing the mythic into the modern world, I loved the Paternus books by Dyrk Ashton. Self published. Very enjoyable.

I prefer modern fantasy so I definitely would like to see more of that. More futuristic fantasy would be cool too just because I feel like it hasn't been explored enough.

What I hate is that when people say "European mythology retellings" the only ones they thin are european are the greek, roman and norse. In reality those are just less than half of european folklore. For example, The witcher is built round the wast and rich eastern europe folklore. Every single country has its own stories. So discounting all the writers that retell european folklore just because you are tired of greek and norse mythology is a big miss as well.

There is a book titled Our Wives Under the Sea.... I find it hilarious that her user name is a play on a book title and she's bashing titles of other books... Let people do what they want, just don't read the book if you don't like it. Actually, I'm not even really digging the subject of this video, like just let people do their thing, just because you don't like something doesn't mean that no-one should be allowed to like it...

A sci fi series with a extraodinary worldbuilding and Magic system : The firebird chronicles by T.A White ( on going 5 books released) one of my favorite of all times

While it is true that people are kind of done with Greek mythology retellings, there have only been two Greek authors who were picked up for Greek myth retellings. If the trend dies, then the Greek authors are not being given a chance to have a say in how their stories are being told and I think that's a really key part to the Greek retellings and will further happen with Norse and Celtic retellings, where Irish/Scottish/Welsh authors and Swedish/Danish/Norwegian/Icelandic/Greenlandic/Finnish authors are not being handed the microphone as often as they could be. In an increasingly globalized market, we do need to push for authors born and raised in a culture to be given the space to do the retellings of the stories that are part of the cultures they are raised in.

This used to be more commonly understood but “Fantasy Romance” and “Romantic Fantasy” are slightly different. A romantic fantasy is a fantasy with romantic elements and not necessarily a romance novel, whereas a ‘fantasy romance’ is a romance novel in a fantasy setting

More adult fantasy writers need to read and reflect on how Stephen King and Robert McCammon write kids/teenagers within adult fiction.

Debut authors are generally asked to keep their word count down. Once an author has proved themselves, they're allowed to write a doorstopper.

I actually never had a „fae book“ (or does the Wise Man’s Fear“ count?) But if there would be a fae in the next Joe Abercrombie book, I wouldn’t been offended…

So there are authors writing terrifying fae books, T. Kingsfisher, for instance, you’re just not reading them.

Can you do a video of modern fantasy recommendations? More technology / modern world based?

I would love to see you switch genres! I don't know if Science - fantasy is different enough, but I really love the Blood Trials by N.E. Davenport.

Thank you for clarifying on the YT algorithm thing! Because I have been noticing I only get certain videos recommended now and most are videos I've already watched. I only see things from you, and some other booktubers I follow, because of the notification bell! 😢

as for the Fay could we get more things like the Labyrinth?

I can help answer the word count, description question, at least in part. Totally not wrong on what's in the video but to add to that, there's a whole host of things that contribute to the length and why established authors can get away with more and more over time. It's an expensive gamble to release a book with a long word count because the longer the book, the more it costs to print said book. So if they are a new author traditionally publishing, then editors are less enthusiastic about getting something that's well over 100,000 words for an epic fantasy. Someone like Brandon Sanderson who is an established best seller with a huge following, they know they will recoup the costs if he makes the books longer. Also he has more sway in what is cut vs not cut. Also writing has changed over time. Authors have learned to use better words to describe things rather than ramble on and on. Some people enjoy rambling descriptions, but most readers don't, so it's an evolution of the craft as a whole too.

Lady MacBeth shouldn’t be historical fantasy, she was an actual woman that existed. It’s just another example of American authors who think Scotland is a playground for their historically inaccurate nonsense. If you want actual historical fiction that properly retells MacBeth try Queen MacBeth by Val McDermid, also the rest of the Darkland Tales series. If you like Outlander, but want something well written and historically accurate, there’s The Bookseller of Inverness.

I want more historical fantasy, period.

Wow, you absolutely nailed that pattern. Fabulous observation

I hate fae books. I hope there will be more dragon books😮

Please do the Fae series!!!!!!

Also, Green Rider is one of my favorites!! ❤

nice video!

the knife in the title 😂

Out of context but I love your makeup

I like video compilation books the best.

I want Fae video

Greek and Roman retellings? So Greek and Greek copy retellings?

Thank you so much for your support of us indies! It's true, there are so many people trying to take advantage. I'm cheap, so I've been able to avoid the vanity presses, but I've heard so many heartbreaking stories from other new authors who got taken. And on the subject of the covers, I can't tell you how many of my readers were thrilled to find that my covers reflect the content, exactly. I'm very picky with my cover art, and I have a clear vision for what it needs to tell the reader before they even get to a read.