How Culture, Law and Technology are Redefining Book Publishing

Entertainment senior counsel Brittany Berckes explores the key drivers reshaping literary publishing today — from the process of adapting books for screen to the legal and cultural impact of book bans to how branding, book clubs and marketing strategies are evolving. She also provides insight into how artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to support the work of authors and publishers in practical, forward-looking ways. 

Tell us about your practice and the type of entertainment and literary publishing matters you generally handle.

I specialize in transactional entertainment law across film, TV, publishing and podcasts/digital media. My work includes negotiating deals for talent, authors and production companies, and serving as production counsel for film, TV and podcast projects.

In the book space, I work with authors, agencies, companies/brands and publishers on all book-related transactions, including negotiating publishing agreements, collaborator agreements, distribution agreements and option/development agreements. I also conduct legal reviews of manuscripts, assist with reversions and review the status of rights for estates. Additionally, I advise companies and individuals on the extension of their brands and intellectual property into books and vice versa.

I love my practice because it allows me to work on different sides of the deals I handle regularly, which helps move negotiations along efficiently since I know what it’s like to be on every side on a consistent basis.

What are some emerging trends in today’s publishing industry?

There are a lot of exciting emerging trends in the book publishing industry that are responsible for its consistent growth. One trend that has stood out to me is the increasing commitment of authors to connect with and maintain their loyal audiences, whether it’s through social media, special events, products connected to their books, YouTube, subscriber email lists, online communities or podcasts. There is a tremendous amount of content these days, so authors are taking note of how important it is to form genuine and direct connections with their fans to keep them engaged throughout their, hopefully, long writing careers. 

Finding ways to connect with their audiences beyond books has turned into another way for authors to build their author “brand,” so to speak, and to build sustainable, meaningful and outspoken fan bases. Additionally, authors who have strong and loyal fan bases ultimately have more leverage when it comes to negotiating with the bigger, traditional publishers. For example, we’re seeing new authors care more about reserving certain publishing rights, like special edition hardcover rights, so authors can sell directly from their websites to their fans. Spending time cultivating and building connections with their readers not only improves the sales potential for authors’ books but also helps authors have more negotiating power and control over how their books are published.

Another trend is the expansion of audiobooks and their continued and increasing popularity. For many readers, listening to their books is now their preferred way of “reading,” and with the growth of different platforms and subscription models, they are even more accessible than they were before. Audiobooks are popular across almost all genres now, so the audience for them will only grow and get broader. Other factors that have helped audiobooks’ popularity are their enhanced production quality, from celebrity narrators to smart technology integration to AI (whether we like it or not). Major audiobook platforms’ use of algorithms to recommend other audiobooks based on their customers’ listening history and preferences also make it easier for customers to keep adding to their library. There is so much happening within the audiobook industry itself that it will only continue to be a dominant force in how people consume their books.

How has the demand for adaptable intellectual property reshaped the publishing landscape, and what should authors and publishers keep in mind when navigating opportunities in film and television? 

It’s a great time to have books developed for the screen. Streaming platforms, in particular, are favoring serialized storytelling and multi-episode formats, which allows creators to tell more of a book and its characters’ stories. This evolution helps temper the unavoidable disappointment of loyal book fan bases whenever a film may not live up to the original book. Because of their visual storytelling potential, historical fiction and fantasy books are very attractive right now to buyers because they have such broad appeal. 

Having a large existing fan base also helps enormously when selling or pitching a property to a financier, but more than that, having a relatable story that many types of demographics can connect with is always the biggest way to increase the marketability of a book into a film or series. Authors and agents want to make sure they are negotiating the right protections and economics so that they aren’t giving up too much control over authors’ rights and involvement in the new adaptations. The goals are always to maximize authors’ long-term income potential and to maintain the integrity of the original work.

With growing legal and industry challenges around content access and visibility, how are publishers and authors responding? 

For people to understand the impacts of book bans, numbers really help. One major publisher’s internal company report showed that the sales of many titles declined because of the book bans, with one book’s sales aggressively declining by 91% between 2022 and 2023. 

High-profile authors, publishers and nonprofits are fighting back in courts across the country, and we shouldn’t lose sight of the practical and economic impacts of these bans in terms of the limitations they place on visibility and growth opportunities for certain authors and their works.

Given these emerging trends, what’s next for the publishing industry, and how might they impact the relationship between authors, audiences and publishers? 

So much is coming or expanding in the book publishing space, but I would be remiss if I didn’t bring up AI. For all parties, AI is thrilling, full of potential and scary. We’re seeing how it maximizes and decreases production costs and dramatically improves promotional efforts for books. I think one of the most important parts about navigating this new technology is making sure there is transparency between publishers and authors, especially when it comes to the use of training large language models (LLMs). Publishers need to be flexible and open about their position on AI and how they are using it both internally and externally. As AI technology evolves, there needs to be an ongoing dialogue where authors’ concerns are heard and addressed, and where publishers can share the benefits that authors can reap with the use of certain operational AI tools that help boost book sales and decrease the costs of production.

Another emerging trend that’s connecting debut authors to audiences is influencers. Influencers’ “influence” has grown exponentially with the growth of BookTok — so much so that traditional publishers are working directly with influencers to find new books for them to publish and are even taking already self-published books popularized by influencers and republishing them under one of their houses’ banners. 

The publishing industry is undergoing exciting and rapid changes driven by technological, legal and audience dynamics covered here. At Loeb, we help clients navigate these developments, offering strategic guidance to stay ahead of emerging trends, tackle new challenges and seize opportunities in the market.