The Death of Literary Fiction?

David Gaughran • Sept 18, 2012 - Indie Reader

There seems to be a consensus in publishing that literary fiction is in trouble, that it’s something in need of nourishment and protection, and that the digital era is going to condemn it to oblivion.
Often we see pieces such as this one from the Guardian – Can literary fiction survive the e-book age? – leading to declarations from writers of literary fiction (like this from The Millions) that, as such, the siren call of self-publishing is less alluring.
Indeed, when I check the rankings of the best literary novels I’ve read over the last few years, the genre seems to be underperforming. This is an inherently idiosyncratic list – as it is composed of my favorites – but I think it works as an experiment. (Note: In the interest of fairness, I wrote out this list of books prior to checking their rankings.)

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