“Writing to market trends is a fool’s errand”

D.V. Bishop

The Edinburgh Literary Salon with Author D.V Bishop

The Edinburgh Literary Salon is a wonderful community of literary enthusiasts that aim to cultivate an appreciation for the arts and bring together leaders in the literary field. I was delighted to be able to attend the Literary Salon’s September gathering that featured a very exciting interview with prolific editor, author and mentor D.V. Bishop. 

Bishop brought us back in time and through the last number of years exploring his time from New Zealand to the UK, going from an editor, working on comics like Judge Dredd and 2000AD, to a successfully published author. Bishop detailed his time working with others and helping to cultivate talent in Edinburgh until he decided that “instead of helping other people with their stories I’d like to write my own stories” (2025). Bishop spoke enthusiastically about his research process for his books and the passion with which he spoke of his craft was truly inspiring as a young hopeful editor and writer. 

Nearing the end of D.V. Bishops extensive interview, when asked about market/ publishing trends he stressed that “writing to market trends is a fool’s errand” (2025). This piece of advice stuck with me because the topic of trends and reader interest is at the forefront of the publishing industry. 

Should Authors Write to Market Trends?

Currently, the publishing industry is becoming more marketing-led as opposed to its more editorial focused origins. Many publishers work within ‘lists’ which highlight the type of books the publishing house would want to publish in order to reach their target market. It is often stated that “marketing factors play a huge part in the thinking behind list development” (Davies, 2004).  Due to the importance placed on a book’s marketability by publishing houses many authors may think to become successful they need to chase the latest trends and write books to fit into the current market needs. This over reliance on following trends has led to the publishing industry being over saturated with the same books leading readers to become tired of the same old stories. Yang writes that “with a readership surge, it isn’t uncommon for both publishers and authors to use that hype to their advantage, cranking out more when it’s still popular” (2024).

According to PRH UK CEO Tom Weldon finding a book that fits the market is not front of mind at Penguin, rather their “core strategy is to find the best books and then publish them as well as possible and to reach as many people as possible” (202). Writing passionately about something you love will produce a far better book than simply writing to try and chase trends that are fleeting and ever-changing. Bishop also noted that there is “nothing worse than being commissioned to write anything that you don’t love, or you don’t have an enthusiasm for” (2025).  Ultimately, my main take away from his discussion at the Literary Salon was to write passionately about what you love and don’t try to chase something that is ever-changing as you don’t need to follow the popular path to become successful. 

Bibliography 

Bishop, David. (2025). Edinburgh Literary Salon. Edinburgh, 30th September 2025. [Attended 30 Sept. 2025]. 

Davies, G. (2004). Book Commissioning and Acquisition. Routledge eBooks. p. 22. doi:https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203599075. [Accessed 8th Oct. 2025]. 

Penguin Random House UK (2023). The Future of Publishing | CEO Tom Weldon. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgeluoXGImY [Accessed 16 Oct. 2025]. 

Yang, S. (2024). BookTok is turning the publishing industry into fast fashion. [online] Campus Times. Available at: https://www.campustimes.org/2024/01/21/booktok-is-turning-the-publishing-industry-into-fast-fashion/. [Accessed 12th Oct. 2025]. 

‌Images

Cover Image: The Edinburgh Literary Salon Logo. Available at https://www.edinburghliterarysalon.org/events-and-news[Accessed 14th Oct. 2025]. 

D. V. Bishop, photo by Felix Mosse available at https://dvbishop.com/about [Accessed 16th Oct. 2025].