On today’s bonus episode, we’re joined by writer, editor, and voice actor Tajja Isen to talk about the decline in nonfiction. Tajja wrote the recent piece, “Nonfiction Is Struggling. Publishers Are Making It Worse,” for The Walrus about why the publishing industry might be to blame for the downturn in nonfiction sales. We go into this more deeply in this episode, exploring all the reasons why we’re seeing a shift in the nonfiction publishing landscape, from memoirs to private equity and beyond.
*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the links below.
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Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.
Some of My Best Friends by Tajja Isen
Tough Love by Tajja Isen
“Nonfiction Is Struggling. Publishers Are Making It Worse” (Tajja Isen, The Walrus)
The Berenstain Bears (PBS)
On Friendship by Vivian Gornick
Screen Memory by Victoria Hulbert
Something Blue by Nate Marshall
Miss Lambert Steps Aboard Danger by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland
Take It From Me by Alia Hanna Habib
Alia Hanna Habib’s newlstter talking with editors about memoir
London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
Pool House by Mary H.K. Choi
“Ep. 114 Both, And with Emma Copley Eisenberg” (The Stacks)
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
“US to livestream Army firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter, Pentagon says” (Reuters)
Last Chance Live! by Helena Haywoode Henry
The Bachelor (ABC)
Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat
Famesick by Lena Dunham
Strangers by Belle Burden
A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst
Mutual Aid by Dean Spade
The Beginning Comes After the End by Rebecca Solnit
“Ep. 443 The Dark Underside of America with Kai Bird” (The Stacks)
The Book Review (The New York Times)
The Past and Possible World by Lacy M. Johnson
Both and Neither by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich
The Fact of a Body by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich
Connect with Tajja: Website | Instagram | Bluesky
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