Prose and Cons

It’s that time of year when we see endless lists of the best gifts to buy for friends and families, but we rarely see warnings about the worst present to give. It turns out that this year, we might have a clear winner. The most unwanted gift of 2025: More Reality. Just a few short years ago, nonfiction books were all the rage. But these days, we’re as sad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore. Selling nonfiction books could be the toughest sale of all this season, with the category seeing an 8.4% year over year sales decline. Nonfiction is becoming a nonstarter. My own reading habits have definitely followed the trend. I exclusively read fiction these days and, as someone who consumes a lot of news, even the most depressing novels tend to cheer me up. The Guardian: Are we falling out of love with nonfiction? “Speaking to publishing insiders and readers, one word that cropped up repeatedly was escapism. The world is exhausting, so readers are seeking refuge rather than clarity. Some are disillusioned; the voracious reading of the past decade didn’t transform the world as many hoped. ‘I think there is definitely a sense of fatigue,’ says Holly Harley, head of nonfiction at publisher Head of Zeus. ‘The news is terrible. People feel overloaded. That escapism is why we’re seeing such a rise in romantasy.'” (I hate to toot my own horn for always being ahead of the curve, but my nonfiction book sold pretty poorly back when the nonfiction market was still going gangbusters.)

+ LitHub: The Most Scathing Book Reviews of 2025.