Independent literary publishing has a proud tradition of nurturing authors who’ve subsequently moved on to success at larger houses. Take Percival Everett, for instance, who published his fiction with Graywolf Press for decades before bringing his prize-winning breakout hit, James, to Doubleday.

But there’s a reverse trend that’s building steam: authors are moving away from corporate publishing to independent. While some are being turned away by the conglomerates that once published them, others say they are switching because they prefer the care and attention that indie presses provide.

Savvy authors and agents, Europa Editions publisher Michael Reynolds says, have long known that smaller publishers typically only put out books they feel strongly about, with the entire staff invested in their success, rather than books “being championed by one lone, intrepid, but increasingly powerless editor at an anonymous corporate imprint.” Europa, which published Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels in the U.S., is one of many independent publishers who have welcomed the growing group of major house midlisters—and, in some case, marquee names—seeking asylum at smaller presses.

The uptick in this trend in recent years, Reynolds suggests, could be attributed to large houses finding themselves unable or unwilling to sustain paying high advances to midlist and mid-career authors when sales don’t justify such sums. “Or perhaps,” he adds,“the value proposition of smaller, more nimble, more passionately engaged houses is becoming clearer to everyone.”

The examples are plentiful. Ethan Rutherford debuted with Ecco, but then switched to Deep Vellum to publish his second and third novels—as did Rodrigo Hasbún, who switched from Simon & Schuster for his forthcoming novel The Invisible Years (Feb. 2026). Helen DeWitt, who made a huge splash with her bestselling debut, The Last Samurai (Miramax, 2000), is now with Dalkey Archive. And Red Hen, which publishes Everett’s poetry, recently signed a deal with Jo-Ann Mapson—who published with various Big Five houses for years before switching to Bloomsbury in 2010—to publish her next novel, To the Moon & Back, in 2027.

“We hear a lot of worries that as the Big Five continue to grow, their midlist authors are increasingly losing their attention,” says Sam Mitchell, publicity director at Zando. “The concentrated efforts we can offer attract many of them to the indie process,” he adds, citing Victoria Redel and her “gorgeous new novel” I Am You (SJP Lit, Sept.) and former Paris Review editor Emily Nemens’s Clutch (Tin House, Feb. 2026).

Literary agent Laura Zats, a principal at Headwater Literary Management, points out that not only are there fewer editors at the Big Five available to pitch, but that their imprints are becoming more generic. “We’re seeing imprints lose their brand identity,” she says. “It’s more common that imprints under the same groups share marketing and sales resources.” In general, she adds, “It’s harder than ever to be a house author at a Big Five. I haven’t had the same experience with successful smaller presses.”

“What I’m seeing is that the large presses are spending stratospheric dollars for books that exist within a kind of narrow framework that might not actually include large numbers of potential readers,” contends Dan Simon, publisher of Seven Stories. “It seems like an interesting moment: the money is going one way at the same time as some literary authors may be going the other way.”

Even authors “with a long sales track often face hurdles,” says agent Emily Forland of Brandt & Hochman, and “indie presses can offer a haven.” Forland says that while “passionate editors at bigger houses loved” two-time Oprah’s Book Club pick Jane Hamilton’s latest novel, The Phoebe Variations (Zibby, Sept.), none “could quite get it through.” Then she pitched Zibby senior editor Coralie Hunter, whose “enthusiasm for Phoebe radiated through Zibby’s team,” Hamilton says. The editing process was “a joy,” and
discussions—about the cover, audiobook narrator, the tour, and more—“have all felt like a fruitful collaboration.”

Though “the economics of publishing are as difficult as they’ve ever been for indies and commercial publishers alike,” says Bellevue Literary Press publisher Erika Goldman, “as far as the caliber of available authors goes, it’s a great time to be an indie press.” Next February, Bellevue will publish Mule Boy, Andrew Krivak’s fifth novel and his fourth with the press. Bellevue published Krivak’s debut novel, The Sojourn, in 2011, but Scribner published his sophomore effort in 2017. Krivak returned to Bellevue in 2020 with The Bear, which is now a backlist backbone for the press.

Other Press publisher Judith Gurewich maintains that “authors who have a name and have not sold well with the big houses come and knock at my door.” If that author’s work resonates, she adds, “I buy it. I don’t think much about the market. Sometimes, I’m lucky that they haven’t sold well elsewhere and I can help them.”

Gurewich notes that a number of these authors are represented by the Wylie Agency, citing as an example Antonio Muñoz Molina (Your Steps on the Stairs, April, trans. from the Spanish by Curtis Bauer), who published a work-in-translation with Other in 2006, but subsequently published three books in the U.S. with large houses. While Andrew Wylie, Gurewich says, “is considered a tough guy,” she insists that “he really has a deep respect for publishers who are in love with the works they publish.” He and similar-minded agents, she notes, routinely reach out to small, indie presses “when they see that the big houses didn’t do a great job.”

National Book Award winner Ha Jin’s second novel with Other, Looking for Tank Man, is set for October, after he moved to the press in 2023 following the retirement of his longtime editor at Pantheon. That move “absolutely wasn’t about money—it was about quality,” says his agent, Lane Zachary, of Massie McQuilkin & Altman. At Other, Zachary adds, Jin “can listen to his own voice if he wants to—which is even more important than when a writer first starts out.”

Grove Atlantic has benefited greatly from major publishers dropping authors in the second or later stages of their careers. The press has been so successful in snagging well-established crime writers that it recently launched a fifth imprint, Atlantic Crime, to publish books by the likes of James Lee Burke, Martha Grimes, and Val McDermid.

“We probably have as much opportunity as we’ve ever had,” says publisher Morgan Entrekin. He emphasizes, however, the necessity of remaining highly selective, so that Grove can effectively allocate what he calls “publishing capital”—or “making sure you can do the book justice”—by doing such things as sending authors to conferences, hosting Winter Institute dinners, and participating in ALA teas.

Terry Tempest Williams was previously published by Scribner, Pantheon, and most recently FSG before moving to Grove with her latest effort, The Glorians (Mar. 2026). “It was my choice,” she says, adding that her agent, Gail Hochman of Brandt & Hochman, supported her preference to work with editorial director Elisabeth Schmitz. Williams doesn’t miss corporate publishing, with its “bureaucracy that interferes with the creative process.” She relishes being “part of a smaller, more agile publishing community, where you can walk in off the street and not have to show your ID or go through security, and conversations are not corporate-minded but personal. It feels like a family. I plan on staying here as long as they will have me.”

David Duchovny, best known for his lead role in The X-Files, has written four books published by FSG. But Akashic Books published his novella, The Reservoir, in 2022, and is releasing his debut poetry collection, About Time, in September. Duchovny’s literary
agent, Andrew Blauner, of the eponymous agency, says that he is “pretty sure” that he gave FSG first dibs on Reservoir, but the publisher passed on it, so he approached Akashic, as he’d long been impressed with its publishing program. Akashic “did such
a great job” with Reservoir that he “didn’t hesitate at all to go back” with About Time.

“If something’s working and you’ve got a good relationship and you’re not leaving a ton of money on the table,” Blauner says. “Even if you are, what matters is they’re good publishers.”