Unabridged: The Death of Nonfiction with Tajja Isen
The Stacks

Unabridged: The Death of Nonfiction with Tajja Isen

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 23, 202617 min
  • Arts & culture

*Patreon and Substack-only bonus episode teaser, click here for the full episode* On today’s bonus episode, we’re joined by writer, editor, and voice actor Tajja Isen to talk about the decline in nonfiction. Tajja wrote the recent piece, “Nonfiction Is Struggling. Publishers Are Making It Worse,” for The Walrus about why the publishing industry might be to blame for the downturn in nonfiction sales. We go into this more deeply in this episode, exploring all the reasons why we’re seeing a shift in the nonfiction publishing landscape, from memoirs to private equity and beyond. You c...

Play episode

Opens the player: the full transcript, every word clickable, with translation and flashcards.

Try it: tap any word

Real sentences from the start of this episode. Every word is marked with its level.

Sentence 11 of 12 · 0:32

who is a writer. Her first book is an essay collection called Some of My Best Friends.

, ,

in mentorship and submission. She is also the author of a brand new piece that came

Hear this sentence

Tap a word to see its meaning in your language.

Do you know these words?

8 harder words from this episode. Tap one to see what it means, then mark it.

  • C10:32
  • C13:38
  • B25:40
  • B27:08
  • B29:50
  • B212:15
  • C213:58
  • C116:00

Mark a few words and we'll tell you how this episode fits your level.

Is this episode right for you?

B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 43%A2 25%B1 16%B2 14%C1 3%
  • 83% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 176 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 74 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:00

Hey everybody, it's me, Tracy Thomas, host of the Stacks, and I'm here with another episode of the Stacks Unabridged, which is our monthly bonus episode exclusive to paid subscribers on Patreon and Substack.

0:12

Thank you guys, I love you. Today, I am talking about the death of nonfiction. Not to be dramatic, but apparently, the trends of nonfiction are not looking good,

0:25

and I'm joined today by writer and author Tasha Eisen, who is a writer. Her first book is an essay collection called Some of My Best Friends. And she has a forthcoming book coming out on March 9th, 2027 called Tough Love, a lesson in mentorship and submission. She is also the author of a brand new piece that came

That was the opening. The rest of the episode (17 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.

Continue in the player

Automatically generated from the audio. May contain errors. Audio belongs to its publisher and is played from their feed. Rights holders can request removal — copyright & takedown policy