PRESS: Out Now in Paperback
Comment piece by Foundation Director, Georgina Brown, first published in January 2026 by The Bookseller.
This year, the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize is paperback-only. Here’s why.
Like most prolific readers, there are genres I’m drawn to and authors I admire, but what defines my choices most clearly is the search for something new. Adventure feeds right into that: beginning where the familiar ends.
I started working with the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize in late 2016. In that first year, I had more than one publisher tell me that adventure is old-fashioned, outdated and does not sell. I couldn’t believe it. Above and beyond a well-written story, surely adventures are the books that open doors, spark conversations and teach us something new about the world. How could that ever be irrelevant?
I see it now as an opinion formed from a place that considers only what has come before, and not what is possible in the future. At the prize, our view of adventure is as a genre for everyone, and we have worked hard to redefine it for today’s readers.
Regardless of when or where the novels we work with are set, they all have a contemporary outlook. They are well-written, page-turning journeys. The themes are timeless. But the world today is a different place to 20, 50, 100 years ago, and what we have seen is that today’s adventure novels are giving the page to characters underrepresented in fiction, and showing how emotional impact runs parallel to great physical feats.
Cue last year, when we received submissions from more publishers now seeing their books as adventures. Several literary agents shared that they are specifically seeking adventure novels. Multiple authors viewed their own work in a new light. And we heard from delighted readers, who had found their new favourite novel under the adventure umbrella.
The core of any award is to publicly signal that a work has merit. For writers – and their publishers – that is affirmation that their craft, ideas and risks taken are worthwhile. The prize money attached is very pleasant, too. For readers, it is shorthand for "this book deserves your attention".
Over the past nine years, our work has evolved to serve readers as much as writers, and we are equally committed to both – after all, writers are the start and readers the end of every book’s journey. So, in this, our 10th year, the prize is making a deliberate shift: our £10,000 flagship award will now recognise adventure novels from the point they are published in paperback.
Why, I hear you ask. As we celebrate our anniversary (and look towards our next 10 years), we have had to ask ourselves, are we being impactful in our aim to reach "everyone" in more than taste? What does everyone mean beyond the content of the fantastic novels we work with?
In our opinion, a paperback book is more accessible and more affordable to readers – whether they are library users or the book-buying public. And just like writers, publishers and booksellers, we would like to see these books in more readers’ hands. We found ourselves asking, is it possible that focusing on paperback editions could make a visible impact, and give the chance to generate more sales in the process? Could a lower paperback price point encourage more readers to take a chance on an author they’re yet to encounter?
Over the past three years, 44% of the books on our shortlists were already published in paperback by the time they reached us, with the remainder still in hardback. Format does not seem to affect how likely a book is to be shortlisted, or indeed win, and, administratively, all this change required was an update to our terms and conditions.
Still, we consulted friends across the industry, libraries, bookshops and publishers to help us explore the challenges in order that we can better serve them, writers, and, perhaps, most importantly, readers.
Challenge 1: Stocking realities
We have worked with libraries for six years and we have learned that stock matters – to attract new readers, copies must be available for displays and browsing. The reality is that libraries often stock fewer hardback editions, sometimes waiting until paperback release in order to make budgets stretch. With limited copies in stock, borrowers cannot browse and select the book themselves, staff recommendations lose their call to action, and, with a three-week loan period, borrowers sometimes remain on a waiting list for months before getting their hands on a popular book. Having an opportunity to promote a full shortlist of books in paperback, means libraries could stock more copies, provide more publicity, and in turn, reach more readers.
Challenge 2: Cost of living
Cost-of-living pressures across the UK mean a novel is often considered a discretionary, or even a luxury item. Could a lower paperback price point encourage more readers to take a chance on an author they are yet to encounter? It would make that wonder of discovery as affordable as possible, and we trust the long-standing devotees of any of our shortlisted authors, or readers seeking collectible editions, will still buy the hardback.
Challenge 3: Retail visibility
Rising business rates multiplied (compounded by cost-of-living burdens) make for a harsh sales climate. Hardback books may offer higher profit margins, but display space is limited. They are also a harder sell if an author does not already command a large following or have the clout of a major marketing campaign.
Instead of vying for limited hardback space, could a set of easier-to-display, reasonable-risk to stock great novels introduce an author to a new reader? One who could go on to support the authors throughout their careers and through their backlist? This year we will supply 100 bookshops across the UK with physical and digital point of sale materials, just as we do for libraries. These will be available over the summer months when the Adventure Writing Prize shortlist is announced and the desire for adventure at its highest.
Challenge 4: Access
Many readers find a paperback more practical and portable, lighter to carry around and easier to hold in bed. If we are looking for an adventure for "everyone", format is vital. We are not asserting paperbacks as priority. Hardback sales are vital to bottom lines. But we do want to ensure readers have as many options open to them as possible for any book we promote. Of course, access goes farther than this, but we must keep taking steps forward at every opportunity. Phew! An adventure demands effort and returns transformation, and making sure we are best serving readers and writers does, too.
However clichéd it sounds, a prize is not just about winning. Prizes can build trust among readers, seeing them return to shortlists year after year. They can offer genuine support for authors by increasing visibility and access, and extending a book’s reach beyond what its brilliant publisher has already done. So what am I wishing for as I blow out the candles on our 10th birthday cake? That the books our Librarian Review Panel select for the longlist and shortlist continue to surprise and impress and open our eyes to the world – there, I couldn’t ask for more.
When The Bookseller reported in November last year that, after its Booker Prize win, Jonathan Cape had ordered reprints for 150,000 copies of David Szalay’s Flesh, I thought, "that’s something for an Adventure Writing prize winner to aim for". Ambitious? Definitely. Possible? I believe so, although maybe that is my wish for our 20th year.