Looking into my Crystal Ball
by Fuse Literary Agency Co-Founder Laurie McLean
Wow. 2016 sucked. In so many ways. I was never happier to kick a year to the curb than 2016. From David Bowie in January to Carrie Fisher in December, it seemed that each week brought a fresh tragedy to our lives. And all the while the nastiest election ever roared in the background.
At times I just wanted to hide my head in a good book. Thank goodness I’m in the publishing industry!
But it’s a new year now and things have to be better. Right?
However, before I move on to my 2017 predictions, let’s see how I did with my 2016 predictions last year.
Last Year’s Predictions
I said:
1) Ebook sales are not stagnating.
That is definitely true.
What you hear are erroneous statistics from an industry that has not kept up with the growth of non-ISBN self-published ebooks. They also did not allow for the short-lived fad of adult coloring books, which can only exist in print.
I’ll talk more about this in regards to 2017 because this meme is not going away.
I also predicted:
2) Physical bookstores would continue to decline.
I believe I was wrong on this one. I see a renaissance in indie bookstores as they expand and localize their offerings.
3) Kindle Unlimited would become a larger part of self-published authors’ revenue.
This seemed to play out, albeit in a minor way.
4) Ebook lending in libraries would increase.
According to an informal survey of librarians I know, this is a big growth area for libraries.
5) More midlist authors would self-publish.
Alas this is true. Most have been pushed out of the traditional publishing model, unless they are writing work for hire projects (more on that in 2017 predictions). But they are still creating wonderful books for their fan base and earning more money by self-publishing.
6) The Hollywood blockbuster model would continue in traditional publishing.
It did.
7) Apple’s iBookstore might make a run for market share against Amazon.
It didn’t.
8) Geographic boundaries for translated ebooks would disappear.
That has not happened. Yet.
9) “Lost” novels would resurface.
Some did. (Like this one.…Anne)
10) A breakout novel would be created specifically for the mobile environment.
There was a modest success story called The Creature’s Cookbook, on mobile publisher Tapas Media’s app. It quickly became their best selling franchise (it’s from one of my clients, so I feel obligated to mention that). So I’ll give myself a win on that one.
The last three predictions all proved true to some degree:
- 11) Adult coloring books would expand.
- 12) Traditional ebook royalties would escalate.
- 13) Indie authors would take market share from traditional authors.
Adult coloring books rose higher in the beginning of 2016, then tanked towards the end of the year.
Ebook royalties saw some escalation tied to sales figures (like a rise to 30% after 10,000 ebooks were sold and such).
Indie authors continued to rise marginally over traditional author sales, but it had slowed way down from the heyday in 2009-2014.
So seven predictions panned out, three did not, and three were kind of maybes. In my book, that’s pretty good.
Now On To My Thoughts for the Coming Year!
1) DIVERSITY WILL BE HUGE.
The trend towards publishing books by ethnically diverse, LGBTQ+, physically challenged, and “other” voices will accelerate in 2017.
Especially with the social media backlash against our new president’s conservative viewpoints, you will see the publishing industry double down on their selection of books by and about people of color, the LGBTQ community, and others whose voices and stories we have not heard much from the straight white publishing world.
Sure, there will still be plenty of books by straight white authors. But the books causing most of the conversation in publishing will be by “other voices.”
2) AUDIOBOOKS WILL RISE DRAMATICALLY.
Oh, my goodness. Audiobook growth is out of this world. We’re talking nearly 30% increase in digital downloadable audiobooks (mp3s) in 2016. That is really where most of the growth is occurring as physical CD media sales plummet.
A lot of this is due to the rise of smartphones and the ease of listening to audiobooks as you commute, exercise, or just have some downtime.
Add to that the fact that Audible has seen its monthly subscription membership grow at a rate of 40% each year for the past three years and you can easily see that audiobook sales are skyrocketing.
I don’t see any decrease in this growth for 2017. In fact, I see it accelerating as pricing becomes even more desirable.
3) PRINT VERSUS EBOOKS? THEY WILL BOTH GROW!
I was really hoping that we’d be moving beyond the “us versus them” mentality of this print versus ebooks debate by now, but I think it will continue into 2017 with a slight decline in vehemence.
By this I mean more and more pundits will be saying that both print and ebook versions of a book are growing. The vitriol is silly at this point. An author can make money by selling either or both versions of a book.
And as I mentioned earlier in this post, the companies like Bowker and Nielsen do not do a good job accurately measuring the digital portion of our industry. Look to Author Earnings and Data Guy for a more full-fleshed analysis of digital book growth in both traditional and self-publishing.
My agency specializes in hybrid authors, authors who have some works traditionally published and some self-published or with small e-book first presses, so we tend to see more of the new ways authors are telling their stories.
And this is why I can tell you that self-publishers are getting more knowledgeable about the business aspects of publishing and the traditional publishers are getting cagier about digital opportunities. Both are growing as where, when and how you “read” become mobile, interactive, expansive, and desirable over other forms of entertainment and education.
NOTE: Adult coloring books as a fad have petered out, finally. Last Christmas (2015) all of the top ten bestselling titles were adult coloring books. This year at Christmas (2016) only two bestsellers were adult coloring books, and those were at the number 8 and 10 positions. Adult coloring books were a big part of the print resurgence everyone in publishing was talking about in late 2015, early 2016.
4) INDIE BOOKSTORES WILL THRIVE AS THEY EVOLVE.
Well, perhaps thrive is the wrong verb.
In 2017 small bookstores will continue to live on the bleeding edge of profitability, but we’ll see a lot of innovation at the retail level with localization, personalization, subscription models, author events, group events, community building, product line expansion and just plain fun at the bookstore.
In San Francisco, where Fuse Literary is headquartered, a law was just passed where non-food retail businesses can provide alcoholic beverages to their customers. Bingo! Browsing through bookstores can now become an even more enjoyable experience.
Casinos have long understood that the more you enjoy your experience, the more money you spend. So how about buying a Moleskin journal to go with that new thriller or romance novel. Heck, buy all three.
As hand-selling recommendations from your trusted bookseller become more and more important to readers, and the shopping experience transforms into bliss, watch for a renaissance in local bookstores across the nation.
5) ADULT FICTION WILL MOVE TO BECOME A MAINLY DIGITAL MARKET.
Okay, this is a bold prediction, but think about it. How many hardcover first editions did you plunk down $35 or $40 for in 2016? I’ll go first. As a reader. One. And I regret that I did not buy the ebook version for $15.99 instead.
Most adult fiction I read is genre fiction and it is like candy. I love the storytelling, the writing, the action and the characters. Oh, my. But I love the stories just as much as ebooks as hardcovers. And my pocketbook loves the financial savings of an ebook over a hardcover all day long.
Plus, I can take my Kindle with me anywhere in my purse and read whatever whenever I like, where the portability of a hardcover is not so great.
So I’m going to predict that in 2017 we’ll see the rapid decline of adult fiction hardcovers except among the perennial bestsellers. This decline will be replaced many times over by the expansion of adult fiction ebooks. In both quantity of books and in relation to print sales. And adult fiction will become mainly a digital market.
6) IP FROM PUBLISHERS WILL INCREASE.
IP, or intellectual property in this context, are the titles that are conceived and published by traditional publishers based on ideas by their staff.
The only difference is that they are written as “work for hire” projects by contracted authors who may or may not see their names on the cover. I have seen a marked increase in these types of opportunities for authors over the past year and I expect that to increase in 2017.
Authors usually get a modest advance, and sometimes, but not always, they also get a modest royalty rate (1-3%).
IP are usually series titles that are conceived by editors and publishers based on what book buyers are telling them are selling well.
If John Green-type contemporary realistic books are trending down in the YA category, and supernatural witch-based modern fantasy is trending up sharply, HarperCollins may come up with a “bible” of plot, character sketches, setting, etc. and ask a few select authors to provide a chapter, effectively competing to see which one will be allowed to write the story (or in some cases the series) in a compressed timeframe.
This is like the old Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books that were written by a parade of authors under the pseudonyms Carolyn Keene and Franklin W. Dixon respectively.
IP gives a debut author a leg up into traditional publishing. And for a mid-list author it may give you a way back in if the book or series is successful.
7) MEDIUM-SIZED PUBLISHERS WILL DISAPPEAR.
This trend is alarming in its pace, but predictable given the changes in publishing.
Mid-sized publishers are finding it increasingly difficult to make a profit, meaning only large conglomerates and small publishers with a razor-sharp focus will eventually remain viable. So be careful when offered a contract from a medium-sized publisher.
You might want to make sure that the bankruptcy clause reversion of rights process is spelled out specifically and the length of the contract is for a certain number of years instead of the term of copyright (70 years after the author’s death).
Medium-sized publishers are increasingly having a tough time. They lack the cost-efficiency of the large conglomerate as well as the market focus and penetration of the tiny publisher. I predict this trend is going to accelerate massively in 2017.
8) AMAZON WILL CONTINUE TO DOMINATE AND GROW THEIR MARKET SHARE IN PUBLISHING.
I guess this one is not too much of a prediction. It’s become a fact.
No other publisher or distributor is stepping up to challenge Amazon and they are running away with the market. But unlike other historical dominant players in a particular industry, Amazon treats itself like a tech startup in some respects. It keeps innovating at a phenomenal pace, so I do not believe they will topple from their own weight.
It has been estimated that Amazon already sells 70% of the ebooks and 50% of the print books in the U.S. I expect those numbers to rise. Also, with Amazon’s new brick and mortar stores, I expect their own imprints to do a better job of selling print books.
9) CHINESE INFLUENCE.
This is just starting to pick up steam. It began with movies and television shows over the past few years. When you see those opening movie credits, the producers (aka the financiers) are more frequently Chinese corporations and partnerships.
I just learned over the holidays that a Chinese company owns the AMC movie theater chain. My prediction is that as Chinese companies and entrepreneurs see huge profitability in the American entertainment industry, it is only a matter of time until Chinese publishing begins to take a more active role in American book publishing.
Four out of the Big Five publishers are multi-national conglomerates with headquarters in other countries (Bertelsmann in Germany and Pearson in the UK own Penguin Random House, NewsCorp in Australia owns HarperCollins, Hachette Livre in France owns Hachette USA, and Holtzbrink in Germany owns Macmillan. Only Simon & Schuster, owned by CBS, is a US-owned company.)
Watch for Chinese involvement either directly, as in creating a Big Six publisher, or more likely indirectly, by financing imprints within Big Five publishers. This could be a major opportunity if you have content that Chinese audiences crave (and that the government approves of.)
10) EXPORT SALES BECOME MORE IMPORTANT TO U.S. PUBLISHERS.
This may be a bit more esoteric for some writers, but it is very important to agents.
When a publisher asks for World Rights to your book, it used to mean that their rights department would try to interest foreign publishers in translating your book into their native languages. For English-speaking countries such as the UK and Australia, it meant making deals with publishers in those countries as well.
But more often now US publishers are using the Export subsidiary right to publish the US version in English-speaking foreign countries. They transmit a digital file to a printer in London or Sydney, or even a foreign country that sells English-language books and print/distribute the book from there.
Export sales are usually at half the royalty you’d be getting from a foreign publisher, so be aware of this trend.
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And that’s it for 2017. Publishing is healthy. The chaos of the revolution is slowing down, but still expanding in many directions at once. So keep an eye out for opportunities you could benefit from. (Especially storytelling in multiple media, which I am especially interested in).
Happy New Year!
By Laurie McLean (@agentsavant) Partner, FUSE LITERARY January 8, 2017
Laurie McLean spent 20 years as the CEO of a PR agency and 8 years as an agent before co-founding Fuse Literary in March 2013 with her partner Gordon Warnock.
Fuse now has 8 agents in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Vancouver and Sacramento. Laurie specializes in adult genre fiction plus middle-grade and young adult children’s books. She is currently closed to new submissions.
Find out more at FuseLiterary.com, subscribe to the newsletter, read the blog, and follow the agency on Twitter @FuseLiterary and Laurie @AgentSavant.
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What about you, scriveners? Will Laurie’s predictions affect you? If you’re published, are your books available as audiobooks? Are they in foreign markets? Do you have any questions for Laurie?
NOTE: Much of California is expecting a huge once-in-a-decade storm this weekend. It will bring much needed-rain, but unfortunately, it will topple a lot of drought-damaged trees, which tend to fall on electric wires. That means both Laurie and Anne may be without electricity. So if you get no response to your comments, or your comments haven’t appeared, be patient.
PARTY NEXT SUNDAY!!!
Any readers who plan to be on California’s Central Coast next week: you’re invited to a reading/book launch party! Six authors will be reading. Paul Alan Fahey, Elizabeth Roderick, Judythe Guarnera, Eldonna Edwards, and Anne R. Allen will read from their latest books.
Celebrity actress and author Mara Purl will also read from the new anthology Equality.
The festivities will be at the beautiful Coalesce bookstore-garden in Morro Bay from 1 PM-4 PM on Sunday, January 15th. There will be wine. And chocolate. Plus other goodies.
Speaking of diversity…we will also be launching the anthology Equality, which makes its debut this month from Vine Leaves Press. It’s a collection of personal essays on equality and diversity from some well known authors including Mara Purl, Catherine Ryan Hyde, and Anne Perry as well as yours truly.
Professional narrator C. S. Perryess will join me in a reading from So Much for Buckingham, my comic novel about how murder, mayhem and hilarity can ensue when an author responds to an Amazon review.
The bookstore and chapel are the model for Camilla’s store and cottage in the Camilla mystery series. 🙂
BOOK OF THE WEEK
This week So Much for Buckingham is only 99c at Amazon for the ebook!
Even if you’re not a big fan of cozies, this should be fun for all writers, because it’s a satire of the whole Amazon review system and the people who make a game of it. And sometimes KILL over it.
Available in ebook from:
All Amazons Kobo Nook Smashwords iTunes Googleplay Scribd Overdrive
Available in paper from:
AmazonUS AmazonUK Barnes & Noble
Also in AUDIOBOOK! (see, we’re on trend here!)
available at Audible and iTunes
OPPORTUNITY ALERTS
The Masters Review Story Contest for Emerging Literary Writers. $2000 prize, publication and review by a top agent! Simultaneous submissions allowed. $20 fee. Up to 7000 words. Deadline January 15th
Iowa Review Awards. $20 Fee. Three prizes of $1,500 each and publication in Iowa Review for works of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Joyelle McSweeney will judge in poetry, Amelia Gray will judge in fiction, and Charles D’Ambrosio will judge in creative nonfiction. Submit up to 10 pages of poetry or up to 25 pages of prose. Deadline January 31st.
LitMag pays up to $1000 for short stories. $250 for poetry and short-shorts. No reprints. They don’t consider work that’s previously been published either in print or online (including personal blogs.)
Write non-fiction? Impakter Magazine is looking for non-fiction articles and interviews (1000-3000 words max) in 4 verticals: Culture, Society, Style, Philanthropy. Articles about politics are also welcome but need to meet the magazine’s standard of high-quality content. The magazine publishes daily (except week-end) and each piece attracts 10-40,000 viewers (in majority college-educated millennials). No submission fee.
MYSTERY AUTHORS! Here’s a list of 15 small presses that specialize in mysteries and do not require an agent for submissions. It’s compiled by Authors Publish Newsletter.
ROMANCE AUTHORS! And a list of 31 small presses that specialize in romance and do not require an agent for submissions. Also compiled by the Authors Publish Newsletter.
25 PUBLISHERS YOU CAN SUBMIT TO WITHOUT AN AGENT. These are respected, mostly independent publishing houses–vetted by the great people at Authors Publish. Do check out their newsletter
The Wanderer: A Paying Market for poetry, book reviews and more: The Wanderer is a new monthly literary magazine.
Thanks, Laurie.
Re your third prediction: With the dramatic rise in eyes-on-screen usage for all segments of the population, I foresee burgeoning eyestrain and more print book sales as a result. Source: personal experience.
Concerning #10: The new president seems intent on a Made in USA approach. I hope he doesn’t extend that to book sales. It could cause problems for growing markets like China.
Forgot to tick the “Notify me of new comments via email” box.
There are so many options to change font size and typefaces in an eBook, plus a younger generation devoted to their smartphones, I cannot see how digital reading will duiminish in favor of print.
And as far as Trump’s “Buy American” approach, like lost of his other “promises” I think they’ll largely be symbolic.
Kathy–I have to add my two cents here. Speaking as the owner of rapidly aging eyeballs, I find I’m turning to my Kindle more and more. I’m more likely to abandon books I’ve bought in paper unless they’re large print–and those are expensive. Adjustable font size in ebooks is a boon to older people. But the dedicated ereader is much easier on the eyes than a tablet or phone.
Thank you for this, Laurie! I’ll be sending my Crafting a Novel students here to read your post.
I am with two publishers – I think one would be considered mid-size (large for Canada, but not one of the Big 5.) You make a really good point about survival being more difficult for mid-size publishers. As always, we authors need to be ready to change if the market changes, just like any other business.
Be flexible and be sure to read your contracts carefully, Melodie.
Hi Laurie! I loved reading your predictions. So encouraging to hear your 2016 thoughts about indie bookstores could become a bigger thing again. The bit about mid-size publishers is a little scary for me having just signed with one but I’m going with optimism. 😉 I wonder what you think about the recent surge in coming-of age (adult not YA) fiction? Is this a trend or am I just hyper-focused on these books because I write them? Thanks for all your valuable input on the industry.
And Anne, I look forward to seeing you at our super-fun event next Sunday!
Fiction trends come and go. My best advice is to write what you are passionate about and ignore trends. Great writing will always sell.
I love this advice so much, and am really heartened by the “positivity” of some of these predictions! Cheers.
Hi, Laurie, I love your predictions and you’re doing pretty well it seems with them. I’m so heartened to know that you predict a trend toward hearing more diverse voices, LGBTQIA among them–in 2017. If ever there was a time for understanding and promoting diversity and equality issues, it’s now. Thank you, Anne, for the mention of our new anthology, Equality. I’m looking forward to our signing/reading event in Morro Bay on Jan 15. Can’t wait. The time for equality is NOW! Great post, Laurie.
Thanks, Paul. Good luck with your book!
Hi Laurie! I enjoyed reading your predictions. That’s quite a list. Nice to see what’s trending, and love the idea of more indie bookstore’s opening. Also its nice to hear audio books are skyrocketing.
Thanks for sharing, and all the best to you for 2017.
Jacqueline–I think Laurie’s year is starting out pretty dark and wet. She’s in the mountains outside of San Francisco, where they were hit by a big storm on Sunday night that knocked out power and they are supposed to be hit with the “Pineapple Express” tonight. So I’m going to jump in here and say she probably won’t be responding to comments soon.
Audiobooks have been selling well for me in the last half of 2016, and I expect that trend to continue. And I’m so happy to see our indie bookstores thriving!
Have a successful year, Jacqueline!
Hi Laurie! *waves* Glad to see you aren’t under all that water. Some of the scenes in Northern CA look pretty dire. We’ve got a lot of flooding and outages here, too.
Ahoy Anne & Laurie – fascinating prognostications! I love the idea that audiobooks will continue to grow, though I must admit I’m hoping you’re wrong about the death-knell of the mid-size publishers. I’m hoping for some unlikely event that pumps up those mid-size houses. Maybe a benevolent alien invasion?
Just make sure to negotiate a contract with solid bankruptcy, option, out of print and other business clauses, and try to license your book(s) for a certain number of years (7-10?) instead of the length of copyright (70 years after the author’s death).
CS–We’re looking forward to your guest post on audiobooks! Lots of indie authors aren’t aware they can use ACX royalty-sharing program without paying a bunch of money up front.
I share your hope that mid-sized publishers will survive!
I loved seeing Laurie’s predictions for both this year and last year. I still like adult fiction books, not to buy as much as borrow from the library. And they are easier to get a copy in print from the library than as an e-book, at least for me. Hope they don’t go away.
Print won’t go away…not in our lifetimes, Natalie.
I’ve not purchased a physical book in years, so no money from me for a hardback.
I’m also with a small publisher, so happy there.
Audio books! Now that is awesome to hear. My publisher started converting to audio last summer and all of my books are now audio books. And they are selling.
Like some of the predictions for this year!
Have a great year, Alex!
Thank you Anne and Laurie for sharing this comprehensive list of things to come for 2017. 🙂
You are welcome. I love my crystal ball.
Thanks for these thoughts Laurie. You will probably hit at least seven of ten again. As a white straight male writing epic fantasy, I think it’s probably time to roll up the sidewalks on my e-books, but perhaps I can turn to my a-books this year with some advantage. I’m doing my own voices because I’m too jealous to let anyone else try!
It’s really hard to record an audiobook. Hope you have a professional studio and can properly voice each of your characters. Have you looked into ACX, Amazon’s Audio Creation Exchange? You can revenue share with professional voice talents.
Will–Regular commenter CS Perryess is a professional narrator for ACX who has his own studio. He’ll be guest posting for us in April. He might be perfect for your work. He will work with the royalty-share program (no upfront costs for you.)
This is so informative. Thank you so much.
You are very welcome.
Lots to think about! Glad to know that indie bookstores are hanging in there, too. ~Tui, aka @TuiSnider dropping by via #MondayBlogs
You can make sure indie bookstores remain vibrant by buying books and writing-related items at your local bookstore! As authors, it’s important to support the kind of environment you want to see for your books. Amiright?
I knew Amazon had a big share, but I didn’t know it was that much. I purchase maybe two or three hardback novels last year. Congrats on getting so many of your predictions right. It’s so difficult to see where it all is going. It’s changing so fast all the time.
You are so right about the fast pace of change. I think in 2017 you’ll see the pace of change slow in general, but what a lot of NY publishing gurus are going to miss is the splintering effect, where change is happening in many pockets of the industry. Those opportunities are more difficult to spot. I’ll try to write about them on the Fuse Literary blog. http://fuseliterary.com/blog
Hi Laurie, Thanks for sharing your insights. I agree that audiobooks will continue to be a big hit. I joined a book club last year and was able to listen to many of the books that were recommended. Happy New Year, Anne! Hope the power stays on. 🙂
Audiobooks is a fascinating portion of the industry to watch. Especially with Audible forcing all the other producers to innovate. Fun times ahead.
Thank you for these predictions. They were certainly insightful.
I agree that diversity will be huge, but not in publications (I hope I’m wrong). The Trump team are planning too many attacks in too many areas that people will be more concerned about.
I like audiobooks, but I think they are about to plateau like e-books. Also, I think the e-books versus print combat will continue. There continues to be competition between companies who do print and companies who do e-books with few companies doing both.
I think the growth of print books is tied with the growth of indie bookstores and indie publishers. People really want brick and mortar as evidence of Amazon building a book store. You stated you could take your Kindle anywhere in your purse, but you can do the same with a book.
I agree with you on IP. This appears to be where the money is headed to include world rights, movies, and TV serials. I think authors will write more books targeting the sell to a producer, further reducing the quality of what is published.
I think challenges to Amazon will appear and become stronger in 2018. I also think one of these challenges will be Facebook. You are certainly right about China. The world realizes that to control the US is to control all forms of entertainment and media. People in the US are complacent, something Trump is using to his advantage.
Thank you for sharing your insight!
I’m late to respond, but I do have a question if Laurie (or Anne) is available. Recently, I was invited into two Kindle Worlds. Do you see Kindle Worlds becoming a trend? Before the invites I knew nothing about them, so do you predict Amazon will push these novellas to more readers in 2017? Also, I’ve noticed more and more readers are drawn to shorter works, like novellas and anthologies. What’s your prediction for short fiction?
I’m not convinced that Kindle Worlds will ever make the follow-on authors a lot of money. I have had half a dozen clients have their book worlds turned into Kindle Worlds and they are making an okay amount of money, but not getting rich off it. Also, for other clients writing for other authors’ Kindle Worlds, we’re talking a few dollars a month in income. I believe Amazon will continue to tinker with KW, but I’m not sure it’s high on their list of money-making endeavors.
Could you please describe your idea of small and mid-size publishers? And razor sharp? I have my eye on one that publishes about 20 books per year, and serves a certain niche (home schooling, mostly nonfiction) and seems to be fairly famous in that niche, which is still growing pretty fast. Would you call that small but well-targeted? Or mid-size and riding a wave? Or what?
Thanks.
20 books a year is definitely a small publisher. And the niche it’s targeting, home schooling, also makes it a small, narrowly-focused publisher. So score two points on that. Razor sharp is just my way of emphasizing how true small publishers need to stay to their niche if they’re going to succeed. Hope that answers your questions.
Haha! Laurie, you beat me to it! Your response came up at the same time as mine. Thanks!
Thanks so much! It definitely answers the question, and with good news, to boot!
Katherine–Laurie will have more to say, but 20 books a year is definitely a small press. “Midsized” means presses like Kensington and F+W (which publishes a lot of nonfic like Writer’s Digest books.) Harlequin used to be the best known of the Midsized publishers but they’re now a part of HarperCollins. Most of the best known have either gone under (like Dorchester) or been bought out by the Big 5.