Does it make me an out and out narcissist if I say I love seeing myself reflected in fiction? If it does, so be it. I love it. I love seeing worlds I’ve inhabited. I love seeing characters I recognise so strongly I head straight to a group chat to see if a mutual friend has noticed it too. I love seeing the issues and annoyances and joys reflected back with a subtle social commentary.
As an editor and author, this means that I love reading about books set in the book world. I’ve written some myself – A Novel Murder and A Killer Plot are both crime novels featuring editors, authors, agents, book bloggers and everyone else that keep the pages turning (just with a bit more murder than a usual weekday at Penguin HQ).
For those who don’t work in the industry, I can imagine there is a meta thrill when reading about the very people and systems that produced what you are currently experiencing. It’s a glimpse behind the curtain into a world you are only used to having a one-way relationship with. That’s how I feel when I watch drama about the television industry. I like to imagine what the real-life editor thought of the bitchy one on screen, if the overbearing director flinched at the cliches of their profession, and to think I’m getting an inside scoop on an world I am fascinated by.
Publishing is an odd industry. It has a reputation of being glamorous, exciting, and intellectual, and it is those things. But it is also problematic, crushing, and somehow worse, deeply underwhelming. But all of this – the highs and the lows – create emotion that, when combined with the myriad egos floating around, means it’s ripe for fiction.
Here are some novels about publishing that you may want to add to your reading list if you want to be entertained while finding out what happens before the book hits your shelf.
YELLOWFACE by Rebecca F Kuang
Failed writer June Hayward happens to be the only person in the room when her rival, Athena Liu, dies in a freak accident. In the moments before the emergency services come, she thinks of Athena’s recently finished manuscript. It would be a shame to waste it, wouldn’t it?
A thriller that starts with a moment of madness and spirals wildly out of control as June’s unearned star rises to the top, Yellowface is not only funny and entertaining, but elegantly discusses race, identity, fame and the literary world in a way that feels authentic and important.
THE WORD IS MURDER by Anthony Horowitz
A woman is strangled six hours after arranging her own funeral. Did she know her end was coming? Was it a bizarre coincidence? Daniel Hawthorn, a brilliant but rude consulting detective, brings author Anthony Horowitz along as he investigates. Because why not write a true crime sensation as well as solving a murder?
If you like your fiction a little meta but not so much you get a headache, this is for you. Horowitz has written himself into the novel as a Watson figure to Hawthorne’s Sherlock. The headline story is the twisty, intriguing murder mystery, but it’s just as much about the world of publishing and we meet Anthony’s agent, editor, publicist and more along the way. I adored this book, and the best thing about it? There are five more in the series (with more to come).
THE OTHER BLACK GIRL by Zakiya Dalila Harris
Editorial Assistant Nella Rogers is fed up of being the only black employee at Wagner Books. After gritting her teeth through years of micro-aggressions and prejudice, she is delighted when Hazel – another black girl, starts at the company. But her hopes of being friends and allies are dashed when she starts to wonder if the other black girl is out to get her …
I remember this book coming in on submission when I was a commissioning crime editor and I tried to buy it straight away. Sadly, for me not the author, everyone else wanted to buy it too. The publishing industry is extremely white, and this interrogates that head on while still being a fun, surprising thriller with an ending you will not guess.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY by Marian Keyes
This is the story of three women. Jojo, a sharkish literary agent who has just made the terrible career move of sleeping with her married boss. Lily, Jojo’s bestselling author, has blown her advance on a house with new boyfriend Anton, only to come down with writer’s block. And Gemma, who used to be Lily’s best friend until Lily ran off with Anton. Now she’s pouring her heart out, and a certain literary agent likes her style . . .
Marian Keyes is a multi-million copy, internationally bestselling novelist and I’ve loved every word she’s ever written. She manages to make you laugh out loud one page and sob on the next. Having written sixteen novels (as well as some non-fiction) Keyes knows about the publishing industry – her take on it is a joy to read.
THE PLOT by Jean Hanff Korelitz
When Jacob Finch Bonner’s student unexpectedly dies, he decides to help himself to the incredible plot she was working on turning into a novel. Fame and fortune follow, but so does an anonymous email threatening to expose the truth…
A twisty, deeply unsettling thriller that you’ll find difficult to look away from, The Plot should be on everyone’s list if they want to dive into the world of being an author.
A NOVEL MURDER by E.C. Nevin
When struggling author Jane Hepburn attends her first ever crime fiction festival, she wants to make connections and sell books. She doesn’t expect to find her literary agent with a dagger in the chest on the first evening. But perhaps if she can solve this, people might start to take notice? Afterall, she’s an expert in crime fiction, and this can’t be that different.
Hands up, this one is my own book, but I couldn’t leave it off the list. The characters of A Novel Murder, and the follow up A Killer Plot, are authors, editors, agents, and everyone else in the publishing industry. I had a lot of fun interweaving a murder mystery with my own publishing knowledge.
