2026 Publishing Predictions: The Year of Strategic Focus and Human Connection

As we head into 2026, the publishing industry stands at a fascinating crossroads. After years of chasing every new platform, trend, and technology, we're seeing a fundamental shift toward strategic focus, catalog optimization, and—perhaps most importantly—authentic human connection in an increasingly AI-powered world.

Your Back Catalog Is Your Sleeping Giant

One of the most underutilized assets in publishing is the back catalog. With thousands of new titles flooding the market daily—production timelines shrinking thanks to AI assistance—older titles risk getting buried and forgotten. But here's the opportunity: AI makes revitalizing back catalogs not just possible, but economically viable.

Publishers can now affordably convert backlist titles into audiobooks, translate them into multiple languages, refresh covers with AI-assisted design, and optimize metadata for today's discovery algorithms. That book you published five years ago? It deserves a second life, and the tools to give it one are finally here and affordable.

Phil Marshall, Founder and CEO of Spoken, anticipates that "2026 will be the year for breathing new life into backlists, specifically for romance authors. With a growing acceptance of digital narration and more channels for distribution of those works, indie authors are recognizing they can deliver readers versions of their work that are on par with what traditionally published authors are able to offer."

The math is compelling. Rather than constantly chasing the next new release, smart publishers will dedicate resources to making their existing catalogs work harder. Think of it as compound interest for your intellectual property.

The Translation Rights Revolution

The translation market is undergoing a seismic shift. Traditionally, authors signed with publishers who then sold foreign rights at book fairs like Frankfurt to international publishers. This system worked for decades, but AI translation assistance is rewriting the rulebook.

We're moving toward a bifurcated model. For blockbuster titles with massive commercial potential, the traditional rights-selling pathway remains valuable—major foreign publishers bring marketing muscle, distribution networks, and cultural expertise that can't be replicated.

But for the vast majority of titles—the midlist and backlist books that would never have qualified for foreign rights deals—AI-powered translation means authors and publishers can now retain those rights and exploit them directly. Why wait for a German publisher to maybe, someday show interest when you can translate, publish, and distribute globally yourself within weeks?

This democratizes international publishing. Copyright holders will increasingly keep translation rights longer, testing markets directly before deciding whether a traditional foreign rights deal makes sense. The control stays with the creator.

Troy Lambert from The Plot Dude emphasizes this opportunity: "Getting your work into other languages has never been easier, and while building a community in a country where you don't speak the language might be a challenge, I think translations will sell, especially as we also translate our websites and landing pages to those languages as well. It also relates to discoverability. Marketing and advertising in other less crowded markets will increase, leading to sales and new markets beyond borders in brand new ways."

Audio Everywhere, In Every Language, In Every Voice

Marc Reklau shares that 2025 was his best year for audiobook sales, and I believe that's just the beginning. As he notes, "Audiobooks will continue to rise. Spotify's distribution of audiobooks has been a game-changer. It feels like Kindle in 2014."

The audiobook explosion in 2026 will be driven by three factors: plummeting production costs, multilingual expansion, and voice licensing innovations. When production costs drop from thousands of dollars to hundreds—or even less with AI narration—every title becomes a viable audio candidate.

More revolutionary is what's happening with voice technology. ElevenLabs recently signed Matthew McConaughey, and his voice will be available in Spanish—something impossible just a year ago. Imagine your favorite narrator's voice delivering your book in a dozen languages. Celebrity voices, professional narrators, even your own voice can now be licensed and deployed across languages and territories at scale.

Phil Marshall observes a significant shift in narrator preferences: "We're seeing growing trends in duet narration and multi-voice works. At the beginning of 2025, the preference between single narration and multi-cast was split down the middle. However, with the awareness and popularity of traditionally-narrated works like Harry Potter, Dungeon Crawler Carl and Project Hail Mary, and the potential of what's possible through Spoken, the shift toward multi-voice is growing."

But here's an important distinction Troy Lambert makes: "Will there be a place for AI audio? You bet. But it will be a different market than human narration – that, I think, will always be the premium standard. AI audio is the trade paperback of the audio world, and human voice is the hardcover, limited edition."

As Steph Pajonas from Future Fiction Academy predicts, "AI will continue to grow in acceptance throughout the publishing industry. Little by little, more authors will use it and add it to their business practices. And publishers will continue to adopt it as well. This is not a trend that's going away. It's only getting started."

The audio revolution is perhaps the clearest example of this adoption curve, where technology expands access while human artistry maintains its premium value.

The Library Opportunity: A Q4 Game-Changer

One of the most exciting developments heading into 2026 is the expansion of library access for indie authors. Amazon's 2025 update allowing Kindle Unlimited-exclusive ebooks to be sold to libraries will dramatically reshape the landscape, especially in Q4 when library sales traditionally peak.

Alexa Bigwarfe from Women in Publishing Summit notes that this change will "dramatically expand discoverability for indie authors by reaching both subscription readers and library patrons."

Think about the implications: thousands of titles previously locked into KU exclusivity will suddenly become available to library systems worldwide. For authors, this means a significant new revenue stream opening up precisely when library budgets are being spent. For readers, it means unprecedented access to indie titles through their local library systems.

I expect library sales to skyrocket in 2026, particularly in the final quarter of the year. Authors who've been KU-exclusive for years will finally have the opportunity to tap into this market without sacrificing their KU enrollment. It's a win-win scenario that could fundamentally change how we think about distribution strategy.

The Human Paradox: More AI Means More Human

Here's the beautiful irony of 2026: as AI becomes ubiquitous, human authenticity becomes more valuable than ever.

Joe Solari from Author Nation nails this: "As we look toward 2026, a clear trend emerges: generative automation will amplify noise across nearly every channel. In this landscape, the authors who will thrive are those who create brand experiences that forge authentic emotional connections with their readers. These connections need not be exclusively in-person, nor must they exclude the use of automation. What matters is that they feel genuine and verifiable—when a reader chooses to engage more deeply, they encounter an experience that resonates as unmistakably human and meaningful."

Marc Reklau reinforces this: "Authenticity will become more important. The more AI, the more human we have to become and create closer and more direct relationships with our readers."

Troy Lambert calls this "a rebirth of what has always been most important to a sustainable author career, but that is the development of connections is vital. This means to fans first, connecting as directly as possible with readers and providing them with unique experiences that are 'you.' It also means interacting with your peers and working together to build reader communities, and share audiences. Why? Amazon and big tech, including most retailers, have never been our friends and in an age of AI the way to stand out is to be more human – and that means creating genuine connection and unique experiences that set us apart from being just another 'online store.'"

This isn't about rejecting technology—it's about using technology to enhance, not replace, human connection. AI handles the production grunt work while you focus on building real relationships with your audience. It's the best of both worlds.

Alexa Bigwarfe observes that "we've already seen reader backlash to AI-generated books and AI-voiced audio, while human-narrated audiobooks continue to significantly outperform AI versions as overall audio consumption surges." Readers are smart. They can tell the difference between content created to fill a pipeline and work crafted with intention and care.

And Troy Lambert offers this reassurance: "Please, please, please stop worrying that AI will replace storytellers. Anyone who has read or listened to Dungeon Crawler Carl and enjoyed it, or just found it 'out there' knows that AI will never replicate or replace that kind of storytelling. Reading is a social activity, too. So I'm not afraid of readers prompting and creating their own AI books. Authors, and storytelling, will survive and thrive. It always has, we just have to adjust again to a new paradigm and context."

The Rise of Community-First Publishing

Emilia Rose, CEO of Ream, predicts that "in 2026, direct sales will continue to evolve, not through isolated personal websites, but through platforms that offer a complete ecosystem with reader data, community tools, and seamless purchasing, giving authors the advantages of direct sales with the support, infrastructure, and discovery network needed to scale. At the same time, community will drive the publishing landscape—both digitally and through small, curated in-person events—with authors who prioritize connection and social experiences leading the way."

Marc Reklau echoes this shift: "While direct sales aren't working well for me personally, I think they will keep growing."

Alexa Bigwarfe anticipates "a major rise in collaborative publishing and joint marketing efforts—co-writing, co-publishing, shared universes, anthology collectives, and coordinated launch teams—as authors increasingly recognize that collaboration compounds visibility, reduces costs, and accelerates audience growth."

The lone wolf author is giving way to the pack. Smart creators understand that collaboration isn't competition—it's multiplication.

Multi-Platform Storytelling and the Creator Economy

Monica Leonelle from The World Needs Your Passion sees publishing integrating more deeply with the broader creator economy: "Publishing will continue to integrate with the larger Creator Economy through 2026, with authors expanding aggressively wide into other formats, languages, and platforms. Generative AI is powering much of the shift, but authors are also hitting ceilings with changing algorithms and matured, competitive markets where it has become harder to stand out. Many professional authors are becoming multi-platform creators and storytellers, expanding beyond writing and books and into art, audio, video, games, events, and more."

This isn't about abandoning books—it's about recognizing that stories live across mediums, and audiences consume content across platforms. Your novel might spawn a podcast, which leads to a Kickstarter for a special edition, which builds community for your next release. It's all connected.

As Monica notes, "Authors will distinguish less between retailers, social media, and direct sales platforms, and instead zero in on which platforms create the most sales growth." Platform agnosticism focused on results—that's the strategy for 2026.

The AI Adoption Spectrum

Andrea Fleck-Nisbet, CEO of the Independent Book Publishers Association, offers a nuanced view of where the industry stands: "Publishers will continue to explore and realize operational efficiencies from using AI, while trying to reconcile with their conflicting feelings about its disregard of copyright, and loss of human jobs. At the higher adoption levels, we have, for example, publishers who have automated their workflows with AI, use it to evaluate submissions, and generate promotional copy, social posts and trailers...thereby allowing small indie publishers to do more with less. On the other hand, we may see publishers who've been dead set against AI a few years ago, start to experiment in small ways in 2026. So, for us at IBPA, we'll see this big range in AI adoption and literacy among indie publishers, and we are up to the challenge of educating and advocating for our members in this rapidly evolving space."

This captures the reality on the ground: the industry isn't adopting AI uniformly. There's a wide spectrum from full automation to cautious experimentation, with legitimate concerns about copyright and employment coexisting alongside genuine operational benefits.

The Platforms That Will Win

Which companies will thrive in this new landscape? Monica Leonelle offers clear criteria: "There are hundreds of companies in the publishing space now—but the ones that will win are still those that fill marketing gaps around discoverability and distribution for authors, as well as those that connect readers with new books that they love."

At PublishDrive, this is precisely our focus. We're not trying to be everything to everyone. We're building infrastructure that solves real problems: global distribution to 400+ stores and 240,000 libraries, transparent pricing that lets creators keep their revenue, and now AI-powered tools that make catalog optimization economically viable.

The winners will be platforms that empower creators rather than gatekeep them, that provide tools for innovation rather than enforce outdated models, and that understand the future isn't about choosing between AI and human creativity—it's about using one to amplify the other.

New Revenue Streams for Open-Minded Creators

The fundamental rules of publishing are being rewritten. Copyright frameworks established for a pre-digital world are straining under the weight of AI-assisted production. Production costs are plummeting. Testing new markets, formats, and strategies is more affordable than ever.

Marc Reklau shares his personal experience: "My book sales on Amazon and PublishDrive took a hit this year. 30% down, on the other hand, 2025 has been my best year for audiobook sales and international publishing rights sales, so I hope the latter trend continues, while the former will be reversed."

His diversified approach paid off. When one revenue stream declined, others compensated. That's the power of multiple income sources.

For 2026, Marc says, "as a non-fiction author, I'll bet on audiobooks, translations, and international publishing deals."

In this environment, revenue opportunities multiply for creators willing to experiment:

• Testing direct sales alongside traditional distribution
• Exploring premium print editions with special features
• Licensing your voice for AI audiobook production
• Translating backlist into new markets
• Building subscription communities around your work
• Collaborating with other creators on shared projects
• Expanding into complementary formats and platforms
• Tapping into the newly opened library market

The catch? You need to be open to innovation. As Marc Reklau wisely quotes Casey Stengel: "Never make predictions, especially about the future." But he also acknowledges the reality: "AI won't go anywhere. The genie is out of the bottle, and we have to deal with it. The good thing: use it for productivity and marketing. The bad thing: Scams of all kinds."

The creators who approach 2026 with curiosity rather than fear, who view AI as a tool rather than a threat, and who stay focused on their core strengths while strategically testing new opportunities—these are the creators who will thrive.

Looking Forward

2026 will be a year of maturation for publishing. We're moving past the initial panic about AI, past the frantic chase to be on every platform, past the assumption that more always equals better.

Instead, we're entering an era of strategic focus, where professionals double down on what works, leverage technology to optimize their existing assets, retain control over their intellectual property, and invest in building authentic connections with their audiences.

The future of publishing isn't about choosing between traditional and indie, between human and AI, between wide distribution and direct sales. It's about thoughtfully combining these elements in ways that serve your specific goals and audience.

The tools have never been more powerful. The opportunities have never been more diverse. And the need for genuine human creativity and connection has never been greater.

Here's to a 2026 where we work smarter, not just harder—where we use technology to amplify our humanity rather than replace it, and where we remember that at the heart of every book is a story someone cared enough to tell, and someone else cared enough to read.

That's a future worth building.