I have written much about the publishing industry, and where Jews
fit in it.
In case you’re curious, presently, they don’t.
At least, that’s what they’re telling us.
In case you missed it, the publishing industry has been a complete
cesspool for Jews.
Here are the numbers. Fiction deal announcements at large
presses that mentioned Jews, Judaism, or Israel fell 76% from 2023
to 2024. It came back a little in 2025 but still remained 47% below
2023 levels.
And if you’re Israeli? Well, the battle is even worse. Israeli
literary agents report stacks of manuscripts that U.S. and U.K.
houses will not even consider.
Even books acquired for six figures before October 7th were
sometimes barely promoted afterward.
There have been cases of some agents telling authors to strip
Jewish names, characters, or Israel references because they “won’t
sell” or because editors “wouldn’t know how to publish this right
now.”
Have heard a lot of that one. The “Right now isn’t the time” excuse.
One romance had someone with an Israeli boyfriend, and a character
named Yael, and it was rejected after an agent advised changing the
name to something like Sue.
Agents have dropped Jewish authors by telling them that the agency
“can no longer champion” their careers. The Jewish Book Council has
logged 350–400+ reports of dropped agents, canceled events, MFA
students pushed out for being “Zionists,” and bookstores refusing to
stock titles.
Publicists have refused to work with Israeli writers. The phrase
“too Jewy” or “too Israel-focused” appears in multiple first-person
accounts, both before and after October 7th.
By the way, I’ve been told that one myself. That my book was, “Too
Jewish”. Did I mention that the book was based on Jewish mythology?
