Why the literary middle is disappearing, and what it means for readers

There is a particular kind of book I worry about more and more. It is not the huge publishing event novel with a six-figure campaign and a table display in every bookshop.

 It is not the aggressively marketable thriller, nor the prestige title already carrying prize buzz before most readers have turned page one. It is the intelligent, well-written, emotionally exact novel that sits somewhere in between.