Happy New Year from the Ki Agency

We hope everyone out there has had a serene holiday break. As we return to predictions for the coming year, we couldn’t resist gazing into the Ki Agency crystal ball.

Last year saw some interesting trends, for instance, the rise of stories about male pregnancy in fan fiction. Fan fiction trends have been bleeding into traditional publishing and this is one we’re expecting to make that shift.  It feels like the last few years have been an ebb toward the smaller and more comfortable, so it’s a good time to start working on bold ideas for when we flow towards the braver.

We’re worried about translators, as we see a temptation to replace them with AI. When I was doing my Russian degree, I found nothing so humbling as translation exercises; the nuance and depth a human translator has can make or break a book.  Rest assured, however: contractual measures are being put in place to protect translators, as well as book designers.

We’re worried about men and women of colour leaving editorial positions.  We’d hoped the Black Lives Matter movement had made a lasting change. The world’s a big place, and there are a lot of great voices out there. We’re proud to have a list of clients that’s as diverse as we can make it.

We’re interested in the rise of fun horror and smaller, cosier science fiction, fantasy and weird fiction.  As we retrench into material which feels more familiar and comfortable, I think we’ll segue from myth retellings to exploring secondary characters in classic literature. I hope that these will give us a greater understanding not just of the literature itself, but our own situation.

What do I hope will happen this year?

A recognition that some traditional structures have to be re-thought. Streamers have disrupted the TV industry to the point where budgets and commissioning needs to be urgently remodelled. And while publishing has stayed relatively stable, it’s also grounded in pre-digital ways of doing things.

Less timidity and micro-management. Writers often get mixed messages from publishers: “We don’t think this idea is commercial enough, and could you just make it [insert trend here], but of course you must write what you want to write.”

Fair remuneration for writers. Publishers make profits every year (hooray) while authors’ earnings consistently decrease. We know where the money is going. Stop it.

Finally, we wish everyone a very happy and successful year ahead.

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