We want our characters to speak words that reveal character, that provoke tension, that expose plot, that move the story forward. Well, no, not when all characters use it willy-nilly, it doesn't. But that is beside the point. My opinion does not count. Submit a modern novel minus profanity and it is going to raise eyebrows.
Books have to be hip.
We're talking about the millennium here. Besides obscenity, that is. Well, having been wrong about nearly everything so far in my professional life, I feel uniquely qualified to make a guess. I took a quart of cheap bourbon and sat down to channel the spirit of Nostradamus. Historicals People enjoy historical novels, but the problem for publishing has always been figuring out which period of history is going to be hot.