The shape of the literary career: an analysis of publishing trajectories

Abstract

In this article we present the results of an analysis of the publishing trajectories of the 1048 writers included in three debut cohorts (1940, 1955 and 1970). We define a publishing trajectory as the chronological series of published book-length works with basic bibliographical data for each work. A general comparison of the three cohort populations is presented, and the 1940 and 1955 cohort is compared in terms of gender and different trajectory profiles. We then provide a closer analysis of the 1955 cohort, which investigates the relation between literary success—seen in terms of either a long career span or a prolific career—and, first, publishers’ size and location; second, reception in the New York Times Book Review. In a final section we then outline a typology of author profiles for the 1955 cohort based on the trajectory variables.