On the 30th of September 2025, I had opportunity to attend the Edinburgh Literary Salon, a monthly meeting which supports the literary community by “encouraging discussion, connection, and collaboration” between creative minds (Edinburgh Literary Salon web pages, 2023) This month’s theme was “September Students Salon,” labelled as such for the influx of students, myself included, expected to attend. Located at The Outhouse in Edinburgh’s New Town, the jovial crowd crammed around tables and benches, while many were left standing at the back, drinks in hand. This month’s guest speaker was David Bishop, or D.V. Bishop according to the covers of his novels, the former editor of 2000 AD comics and recent historical fiction author of the Cesare Aldo series. He also helped found Edinburgh Napier University’s MA Creative Writing programme in 2009, and has remained a lecturer since.
While David’s recount of his rise to authorial prominence and emigration from New Zealand were a fascinating listen, his stance on authors and their relationship with the literary market was perhaps the most insightful. In the Q&A section, one audience member asked Bishop’s thoughts on whether authors should write with market trends and tropes in mind. Bishop responded that writing in this way was a “fool’s errand,” (Edinburgh Literary Salon, 2025) and mentioned the recent TikTok obsession with Romantasy, a trend that has dominated the market over the past few years. He argued that authors should “write the stories you care about,” and not worry about the audience (Edinburgh Literary Salon, 2025) Bishop placed great emphasis on the personal experience of writing, and seemed to acknowledge that the success of the book should be left to fate, that “what happens after…will happen.” (Edinburgh Literary Salon, 2025)
A recent study by Burgess, Williams, and Curran (2025) supports Bishop’s stance. They interviewed a group of Australian authors and found that six of the interviewees felt writing was separate to marketing, and that the latter was “very much a business side” they were not interested in (Burgess et al. 2025, pp.330) Furthermore, the researchers found that seven of the authors would not be moved to change their style, genre, or story, regardless of market trends or readership preferences (Burgess et al. 2025, pp.331) Writing for The Verge, Barbara Krasnoff (2019) exampled author Melissa McPhail’s experience. McPhail specifically chose to use an indie publisher because she felt that a traditional house would make her cut down the length of her novel or remove sections she felt were important (Krasnoff, 2019) Rachel Aukes, author of The Tidy Guide series, even decided to self-publish a zombie book when she found the “market was saturated” and traditional publishers would not take on her manuscript (Krasnoff, 2019)
Here, then, we can see that the Edinburgh Literary Salon serves to comment on and update this creative community on developments in the literary world. David Bishop used his platform to emphasise the importance of why authors write, and how the changing tides of the marketplace should not dictate your genre or style. I emphasise David’s final point here: write what you “would like to see in the world,” (Edinburgh Literary Salon, 2025) and not what the world expects.
Bibliography
Bishop, David, Edinburgh Literary Salon. 30th September 2025, Edinburgh [Attended 30 Sept. 2025]
Burgess, Jacqueline. Williams, Paul. Curran, Amy. (2025) “It’s almost a full-time job just marketing your own book”: Understanding novelists marketing knowledge and practices,’ Creative Industries Journal. Vol.18 (2) p.323-337
Edinburgh Literary Salon (2023) Edinburgh Literary Salon Home. Available at: Home | Edinburgh Literary Salon [Accessed: 12th October 2025]
Krasnoff, B. (2019) How to Self-Publish your Novel: Independent writers are choosing their own paths to success. The Verge. Available at: How to self-publish your novel as an ebook | The Verge [Accessed: 12th October 2025]
Images
A photo of the free merchandise on each table at the Salon. Taken by Libby Smith (30th September 2025)
The Edinburgh Literary Salon logo. Available at: Home | Edinburgh Literary Salon [Accessed: 12th October 2025]
MSc Publishing – Industry Accredited Postgraduate Degree 