The gatekeepers are losing their grip. BookTok, Bookstagram, and BookTube have cracked open what traditional publishing kept locked: authentic discovery.
What's Working: Community over campaigns. Niche is the new mainstream. Authors as storytellers, not just story-writers.
What's Not Working: Treating social media like a billboard. Chasing every trend. Ignoring the long game.
Where African Literature Fits: Right at the center. Independent presses publishing African and diasporic writers aren't just participating in this shift—we're driving it.
Traditional marketing isn't dead, but its monopoly is. We're not just selling books. We're reshaping what gets read, who gets heard, and what stories are considered worthy of shelf space.