When Simone* met with her Australian publisher last month, she wasn’t expecting a rejection of her latest manuscript. Several years into a multi-book contract, Simone had always been happy with her publisher and their appetite for her unique fiction books. But recently, she’s noticed changes.
The explosion of BookTok and its disruption of the publishing industry has been a boon for writers who neatly fit into well-defined genre categories. Most recently, the romantasy genre has become the fastest growing genre in literature, exploding 42% between 2022 and 2023. In 2024, adult fantasy exploded by 84%. The growth is tied directly to TikTok and the reading community on YouTube and Instagram, where books go viral and benefit from a massive boost in sales.
