Romance and fantasy categories of books in the UK saw record sales last year, according to data gathered from more than 7,000 UK booksellers. Romance & Sagas, as they are officially categorized, increased from £62m in 2023 to £69m in 2024, while Science Fiction & Fantasy saw an even bigger bump – from £59m to £83m, the BBC reports. Both categories have seen these numbers skyrocket since the pandemic, growing year-on-year – back in 2019, romance’s sales sat at £24m, and fantasy at £29m.
We at Authorlink found a parallel boom in the US romance and fantasy markets, driven by the same cultural forces. While the reporting metrics differ—the UK often reports sales value (£) while the US tracks unit sales—the trends are strikingly similar.
Women under 35 years old make up more than half of romantasy purchases, figures show.
Literary agent Rebeka Finch, 28, told the BBC the “voracious” appetite among this demographic, largely driven by BookTok, reflects broader consumer habits. She likens romance readers to Swifties – Taylor Swift fans – known for owning multiple copies of the same album and wanting to feel a tangible connection to their favorite artist.
“They are the people that are so obsessive about books that they will buy a Kindle edition, they will have a hard back edition, they will have a paperback edition. They will have so many different volumes of the same book because they love it so much.”
UK bookshop owner Sarah Maxwell says the demographic gave her the confidence to open Saucy Books in the middle of a high street downturn that has seen many independent bookshops suffer. It’s the first-ever all-Romance indie bookshop in London.
“People have this perception that’s it’s not good business,” Sarah says, but the community is “strong” and the authors prolific, providing plenty of stock.
Comparison: US vs. UK Romance and Fantasy Sales
Based on the full-year 2023 reports and early 2024 trends from key industry trackers like Circana BookScan (formerly NPD), we can paint a reasonably clear picture. The overall book market dipped. However, Adult Fiction was a major bright spot, and its success was overwhelmingly driven by Fantasy and Romance. These two genres may be propping up the entire US fiction market.
Both US and UK markets are experiencing a massive, multi-year surge in romance and fantasy sales that began around the pandemic, internet sources show. In both countries, these two genres are dominating fiction bestseller lists and showing much faster growth than other categories. The primary drivers are identical: the rise of the “romantasy” subgenre (led by authors like Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros), the viral marketing power of TikTok’s #BookTok community, and a highly engaged readership of primarily younger women.
In the US, Romance remains the larger category by volume of units sold. However, fantasy’s percentage growth has been immense, and its dominance on bestseller lists suggests it is closing the gap quickly.
- In the United Kingdom:
- Romance: Grew from £24m in 2019 to £69m in 2024.
- Fantasy: Grew from £29m in 2019 to £83m in 2024.
- Conclusion: In the UK, Fantasy has not only overtaken Romance in total sales value but is also growing at a faster rate.
- In the United States (based on print unit sales):
- Romance: Grew from ~30 million units in 2019 to over 65 million in 2023.
- Fantasy: Grew from ~20 million units in 2019 to nearly 55 million in 2023.
The comparison of dedicated readers to Taylor Swift fans is a powerful one that resonates on both sides of the Atlantic. The behavior of readers buying multiple formats of a beloved book (digital, hardcover, paperback, special editions) reflects higher sales figures, both in value and units. The collector mentality is a shared characteristic of the modern romance and fantasy reader in both the US and UK.
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