Romantasy books are flying off shelves and spicing up publishing sales
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A court of hype and revenue… “Romantasy,” the book genre blending romance and fantasy (think: “50 Shades of Grey” but dragons exist), is continuing its hot streak. Adult-fantasy book sales have surged 85% in the first half of this year, after hitting $450M+ last year. The spike is largely credited with driving growth in overall unit sales of print books, which rose 1% in Q2. Led by authors including Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros, romantasy is writing a new chapter in the publishing industry.
Large print: Of the 10 best-selling books this year, half were from Maas and Yarros. Yarros’ two major titles, “Iron Flame” and “Fourth Wing,” have sold 1M+ copies this year. Maas’ seven current bestsellers (including “A Court of Thorns and Roses”) have sold 3M+ copies.
On writing: Romantasy authors Maas, Yarros, and Rebecca Ross moved ~20M books last year. For context, prolific authors James Patterson, Stephen King, and John Grisham sold a combined 6M print copies.
Publishing’s latest chosen one… An estimated 767M print books were sold in the US last year, down about 3% from the year before and 7% from 2021’s pandemic peak of 827M. With 80% of the market controlled by five publishers (HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, Hachette, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster), the flattening of book sales led some publishers to cut staff and freeze hiring. Romantasy’s spike has played a part in offsetting further declines this year.
The book market needed a little spice… Shares of Bloomsbury, which publishes Maas’ 16 titles, are up 45% so far this year as investors can’t get enough of “enemies to lovers” and “one bed at the inn” tropes. Romantasy demand has also led bookstores to devote more shelf space to the titles, driving up sales. Some indie stores say the genre accounts for as much as 70% of sales.