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Look for Literary Depth, Not Just Popularity
Most readers chase bestseller lists, but the books that truly endure rarely start there. In conversations with readers as an author, bookseller, and bibliologist for Tailored Book Recommendations, more readers are looking to explore classics, both those they read in school and authors they’ve never previously explored. The key is recognizing literary substance beneath the surface noise of marketing campaigns and social media buzz.
What distinguishes a future classic from a fleeting bestseller? Watch for novels that tackle timeless themes through fresh perspectives. Love, death, identity, injustice, and freedom never go out of style—they just get repackaged for new generations. Characters should feel like real people you might meet, not cardboard cutouts designed to advance a plot. Complex, flawed protagonists who grow and change tend to resonate across decades.
Pay attention to the prose itself. Does it reward careful reading and re-reading? Future classics often contain layered meanings that reveal themselves slowly, like peeling an onion. If you find yourself thinking about a book weeks after finishing it, discovering new connections between seemingly unrelated scenes, you might have found something special.
Follow Small Presses and Indie Publishers
While major publishers focus on safe bets and proven formulas, independent presses often take risks on groundbreaking voices. Graywolf Press is a leading independent publisher committed to the discovery and energetic publication of twenty-first century American and international literature. They champion outstanding writers at all stages of their careers to ensure that adventurous readers can find underrepresented and diverse voices in a crowded marketplace. Many future classics emerge from these smaller, more nimble operations.
Europa Editions consistently delivers literary fiction that ages well. Europa Editions, is one of the US’s top publishers of fiction in translation, and they’ve produced more than a few NYT bestsellers, including Elena Ferrante’s celebrated Neapolitan Novels. Their distinctive paperback design has become synonymous with quality international literature.
Tin House Books deserves special attention for their eye for emerging talent. They release around 12 books a year often from first-time authors. Tin House Books publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and they have a penchant for lush, character-driven contemporary novels, playful essay collections, and memoirs that delve into complex relationships with uncompromising insight.
Track Prize Shortlists and Longlists
Literary prizes serve as talent scouts for future classics, even when they don’t win. The winning book is a work that not only speaks to our current times but also one that will endure and join the pantheon of great literature. The Booker Prize, National Book Award, and Pulitzer Prize shortlists are particularly valuable hunting grounds.
Don’t just watch the winners—study the entire shortlist. Literary critics have noted that it is a mark of distinction for authors to be selected for inclusion in the shortlist or to be nominated for the “longlist”. Books that place highly in multiple competitions often have staying power beyond their initial recognition.
Pay special attention to debut authors on major prize lists. Of the thirteen authors on the 2024 longlist, announced on 30 July 2024, three (Colin Barrett, Rita Bullwinkel, Yael van der Wouden) were debut novelists. First-time novelists who make it onto prestigious lists often have extraordinary potential for long-term impact.
Follow What Writers and Critics Are Reading
The literary community operates like a network of early adopters. When established authors publicly endorse a new voice, take notice. Writers understand craft in ways that general readers might miss, and their recommendations carry weight within the industry.
Pay attention to reviews in literary journals like The Paris Review, The New Yorker, and The Times Literary Supplement. These publications prioritize literary merit over commercial appeal, making them excellent sources for discovering overlooked gems. Their reviewers often have decades of experience recognizing quality writing.
Social media has created new channels for literary discovery. Follow authors you admire on Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms. When they share reading recommendations or discuss books that influenced them, you’re getting insider access to the literary zeitgeist.
Watch for Cultural Resonance
The most enduring novels either capture their cultural moment perfectly or stand in prophetic opposition to it. As today’s political climate continues to highlight the cyclical nature of our world, more readers might find themselves interested in classic books that feel especially relevant, like Octavia Butler’s The Parable of the Sower, a 1993 dystopian novel set in 2024 that saw a notable uptick in sales last year.
Look for novels that seem to predict or perfectly encapsulate major social shifts. Books that feel controversial or ahead of their time often age into classics as society catches up with their vision. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale became increasingly relevant decades after its publication, transforming from speculative fiction to seemingly prophetic warning.
Sometimes the most important books are the ones that make people uncomfortable. They challenge prevailing assumptions, force difficult conversations, or illuminate uncomfortable truths. These novels might not be immediately popular, but they often prove essential for understanding their historical moment.
Apply the Re-Readability Test
Ask yourself a simple question: Would I want to revisit this book in ten, twenty, or fifty years? Future classics reward multiple readings, revealing new layers of meaning with each encounter. They’re like well-crafted puzzles that continue surprising you even after you know the solution.
Books that depend entirely on plot twists or surprise endings rarely stand the test of time. The best novels remain compelling even when you know exactly what happens. Their power lies in how events unfold, not just what happens.
Notice how the book affects your thinking about seemingly unrelated topics. Does it change how you see relationships, politics, or human nature? Classics don’t just entertain—they reshape how readers understand the world around them.
Track the “Slow Burn” Phenomenon
Some books build their reputations gradually, like a slow-burning fire that eventually becomes unstoppable. Beyond individual influencers, the broader BookTok community plays a crucial role in shaping trends. Readers who engage with content on the platform often share their own recommendations, participate in challenges like “readathons,” and create content that highlights their favorite books. This grassroots approach to book discovery is likely to continue driving sales and influencing publishing decisions in 2025.
Monitor platforms like Goodreads, Reddit’s r/books, and BookTok for recurring mentions of particular titles. If a book keeps appearing in different contexts—syllabi, think-pieces, reading lists, social media discussions—it might be building the kind of sustained interest that leads to classic status.
Watch for books that continue selling steadily years after publication. According to Granta Books, the UK publisher of Kairos, winner of the International Booker in 2024, sales of the paperback increased by 442% in the week after winning the prize. While prize boosts are temporary, books with lasting appeal maintain consistent sales over time.
Notice Experimental and Innovative Techniques
Future classics often break new ground in structure, language, or narrative voice. Think of Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves, George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo, or Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad—books that took significant risks with form and storytelling.
Innovation doesn’t always mean incomprehensible complexity. The best experimental novels use new techniques to serve deeper purposes, not just to show off. They find fresh ways to explore universal human experiences, making the familiar feel new again.
Pay attention to novels that blur genre boundaries. Another is a continued – and, to my mind, welcome – blurring of industry fiction genre categorisations. I think there will be more bestsellers that are neither thriller nor romance, nor fantasy nor literary, but contain elements of all. Books that defy easy categorization often have the complexity needed for long-term survival.
Consider Translation and International Literature
Don’t limit yourself to English-language originals. From booksellers and readers alike, 2025 will see an upward trajectory in terms of demand for literature in translation, which has been really solid in 2024 already. Some of the most influential novels of the past century emerged from other languages and cultures.
Publishers are increasingly investing in translation. To cater for this appetite, we foresee publishers will have to forge stronger relationships with international colleagues… Going forward, we will see more publishers having more meaningful conversations about royalty rates and how to work with literary translators, who are continuing to expand their crucial role in the industry.
International literature often brings fresh perspectives to universal themes. Writers from different cultural backgrounds may approach familiar subjects—family, identity, political oppression—in ways that feel revelatory to readers from other traditions.
Study Publishing Trends and Industry Shifts
Understanding how the publishing industry works can help you spot future classics before they gain widespread recognition. The self-publishing market is booming with a 17% annual growth rate, significantly outpacing the traditional publishing market’s 1% growth. This shift is creating new pathways for literary discovery.
Traditional publishing moves slowly, often missing groundbreaking work. Traditional publishing moves slowly and isn’t typically nimble enough to respond to trends in real-time. That’s why we often see self-published books paving the way for the biggest trends in the reading world. Self-published novels that gain organic traction sometimes prove more durable than heavily marketed traditional releases.
Pay attention to demographic shifts in readership. Noah Grey Rosenzweig, a writer and literary agent at Triangle House Literary, also thinks 2025 could be a big year for classics, especially for younger generations looking to go further than their high school reading assignments. As new generations discover older works, they also create demand for contemporary books that speak to their experiences.
Trust Your Instincts
After all the analysis and research, sometimes the best indicator of a future classic is your own emotional response. Does the book stay with you? Do you find yourself thinking about its characters weeks later? Do you want to recommend it to friends, even if you can’t quite articulate why?
The most enduring novels create a personal connection that transcends their immediate cultural moment. They speak to something fundamental about human experience that feels both specific and universal. Orbital wins the prize in a year of geopolitical crisis, likely to be the warmest year in recorded history. A book about a planet “shaped by the sheer amazing force of human want”, about an “unbounded place” with no wall or barrier visible from space, with all politics “an assault on its gentleness”, it is hopeful, timely and timeless.
Remember that classic status isn’t just about literary merit—it’s about cultural staying power. The books that endure are the ones that continue speaking to new generations of readers, finding fresh relevance in changing times. Trust your instincts, but also stay curious about voices and perspectives different from your own.
Conclusion
Spotting future classics requires patience, curiosity, and willingness to look beyond the obvious choices. While no one can predict with certainty which books will endure, certain patterns emerge repeatedly. Literary depth, cultural resonance, innovative techniques, and sustained reader interest all serve as reliable indicators.
The most rewarding part of this hunt isn’t just being “right” about a book’s future importance—it’s discovering exceptional literature before it becomes required reading. You get to experience the pure joy of finding something special, of being part of a book’s early champion community.
Keep reading widely, trust your instincts, and remember that today’s overlooked gem might become tomorrow’s classic. After all, every canonical novel was once just another new book waiting to be discovered.
Besides founding Festivaltopia, Luca is the co founder of trib, an art and fashion collectiv you find on several regional events and online. Also he is part of the management board at HORiZONTE, a group travel provider in Germany.
