Publishing trends from previous decades

I have no idea, and I doubt anyone else does, either. "Trend" is usually no more than whatever makes news. In pretty much every decade, romance novels are number one, mysteries are number two, and everything else comes in last. This was true way back when, and it's still true today.

Even fantasy is pretty low on the list overall. Huge bestsellers aside, fantasy, including witches, wizards, and vampires, is usually a very small part of the market.

Well, when I was a teenager and young adult- V. C. Andrews' Flowers in the Attic series was popular. I read some, but soon got bored. I always loved the classics.

When I was preteen, The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books were good reads. Loved the Little House on the Prairie books too.

Mom read all of the historical fiction by John Jakes too in the 70's. I remember kids from high school reading those.

Of course, in 1974 Stephen King's Carrie started a trend that still lives today.

James is right on about the romance novels. I tried reading some Harlequin's but soon got bored. To this day I don't like formula romances.

It's most accurate to say genre romance comes first, and everyone else is far behind. As given here:Of course, definitions matter. Are thrillers included in mystery? Is horror included in f/sf? Which forms of "urban fantasy" are included in fantasy and which are considered romance? I don't know. You'd have to consult the source to find out.

Horror in YA/MG was huge in the nineties. I know this because I practically read every single horror novel on the shelf in my local libra(ries).

I also remember trends involving horses, girls in clubs, or secret societies (clubs in general, not just babysitting clubs), sororities...

And there was - of course - the huge trend for long running series. You don't see that so much these days, but back in the nineties, everything came in huge, HUGE series. You didn't get one book, you got twenty books, and if it wasn't twenty or fifty, you were probably looking at a figure over 100.

I had no idea what was going on the the adult lit world in the last decade though. And I'm also not confident enough to predict what's coming ahead. ;p

... hard to say? I think in general huge sellers create trends, if anything. So as a result of Twilight, countless knock-offs have hit the shelves and will continue to for many years yet. Same with Harold Potter. Going way back in time, Don Quixote created a similar effect. Hundreds and hundreds of similar works were produced in wake of its popularity in the decades and century following. That may not be enough to qualify these examples as trends, though? I'm sure there are thoughts on the subject by critics. It's an intriguing question, however elusive the answer.

ps I see I've cross-posted with you a bit up above:

sleepsheep said:

I'm thinking specifically of Harry Potter and Twilight.

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The 80's sure started off good with John Irving rockin' the cover of Time Magazine lookin' all Miami Vice.

ETA: Jeez, maybe because I'm writing too many DS fact sheets, but here's a cool site with 15 novelists who've been on Time covers.