At the FutureBook conference in London last December, UK author Jeff Norton said something that caused book publishers to squirm. Talking about the widely acknowledged rise of strong new television content being produced by Netflix and Amazon Prime—as well as HBO, Showtime, Hulu, and others—Norton told his audience, “TV is now the dominant medium of culture.” He added, “Books are at risk of becoming ‘niche products’ or simply intellectual property source material” for the storytelling studios.
That came to mind last week as Amazon Publishing (APub) announced its 15th imprint, Topple, a partnership with filmmaker Jill Soloway’s company, Topple Productions. Soloway is the creator of two of Amazon Studios’ series, Transparent and I Love Dick. Her production and writing credits go back to 2002 and Six Feet Under, and she has become one of the most visible and awarded female writers working in film and television.
While the publishing industry’s reaction to the news was muted, we think two key trends here are unmistakable—and that publishers may be wrongly hoping they can whistle their way past the backlot.
- A focus on diversity: The focus of Topple is on “voices of women of color, gender non-conforming, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer writers,” the company says. And Soloway is a faithful champion in her career of the off-center in storytelling, a perfect fit for the mission.
- A straight-to-screen approach: Carmen Johnson, the editorial chief of APub’s literary imprint, Little A, will work with Soloway in selecting which titles are picked up for Topple. And Soloway’s Topple has an exclusive production deal with Amazon Studios: she has eight television shows and four features in development now. Expect to see more of these collaborative book-and-screen developments. As we noted in our last edition, Serial Box’s primary funder is the production company behind Orphan Black.
Bottom line: While those in the traditional publishing industry are slowly and sometimes painfully working toward more diversity in both workforce and output, Amazon’s move in opening a diversity-driven imprint may signal the beginning of a new area of hegemony for the company. Many didn’t think much about AmazonCrossing, APub’s translation imprint, when it set up shop. Now it’s the leading translation power, sold aggressively by the retailer, and its annual list of titles is far lengthier than competitors’ lists. In framing its new diversity approach in terms of screen production, Amazon—and Amazon Studios—can turbo-charge its presence in the diversity arena, in which Soloway is already an acclaimed producer and activist.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
