Brand Building on BookTok
Alex Aster, Jessa Hastings, and the genre-agnostic reader
Hi friends! I missed you last week, but I had a lovely break and read four books by the ocean (Good Material by the queen Dolly Alderton was a favorite). If anyone ever wants a travelogue about how to plan a reading vacation, let me know. I have thoughts!
I tried to be offline as much as possible (it helps when you’re at wineries in the woods that don’t have cell service), but I dove back in on TikTok as soon as I got back on Tuesday and solidified my thoughts about an interesting new trend.
Alex Aster hit #1 on the NYT bestseller list last week with her adult romcom debut, Summer in the City. But Alex Aster started her career and grew her brand on BookTok as an author of YA romantasy with the Lightlark series and as the author of a middle grade fantasy series called Emblem Island.
Lightlark is a romantasy that is heavily focused on games and trials (something romantasy readers, especially on BookTok, LOVE). The Centennial is a dangerous game hosted every 100 years between the rulers of 6 realms on the island of Lightlark. Isla is the ruler of one of these realms, as well as a temptress cursed to kill anyone she falls in love with. Her people are counting on her to win the Centennial, even as she is caught in a love triangle between two of the other rulers who are competing.
Here’s what Marianna has to say about it:
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She’s not the only person I’ve seen say they thought Oro was an old man!
One star goodreads review: “It's the Hunger Games on Love Island... but not in a good way.” -SK
Five star goodreads review: “I’ve seen this book everywhere! Seemed like the consensus was people either loved it or hated it, hardly an in-between. I LOVED IT. I know the writing isn’t amazing but I’m here to be entertained and I was ENTERTAINED.” -Ash
Summer in the City is not that. It’s a romcom set in New York (concrete jungle where dreams are made of) about a screenwriter and tech mogul. After one tumultuous night together, they’re sworn enemies. But somehow they end up in a fake dating situation (for reasons). Side note - I’ve been dying to pitch a story about if anyone has ever fake dated in real life but 1) I fear the answer is no and 2) even if the answer was yes, how would I find people to tell me their stories? All of this to say, I guess I’m surprised fake dating is still going so strong, but I get it! It’s fun! Since historical romance is basically dead what other methods do we have of creating arranged marriage forced proximity situations?
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One star goodreads review: “dnf. guys….she isn't like other girls. She hates exercise, vegetables, and has never had beer before, and is actually the most boring person alive, but that makes her more mysterious and awesome. this book is like if two pieces of wonder bread fake dated and fell in love.” -Nithya
Five star goodreads review: “This literally read as though you were watching a rom com movie.” - Kaitlin
Despite the very clear differences between these series, readers were happy to follow Aster into a new genre, and I wanted to explore how and why it worked, and what it means for the future of genre on BookTok.
Aster’s publisher invested in sprayed edges. Fun fact: every major retailer has different sprayed edges for this book. The one shared below is Amazon’s. They also planned an elaborate launch tour, including billboards in Times Square and a custom coffee truck. It helps that Aster has 500k Instagram followers and 1.4 million TikTok followers.
Enemies to lovers supersedes genre. Enemies to lovers is the driving force behind the vast majority of BookTok sensations. Enemies to lovers is life.
Influencers who have previously loved Aster’s work were happy to share about her latest release, even those who tend to post more about romantasy than contemporary romance. I can’t tell you the number of times I saw this punchy pink and red cover across Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Youtube during release week. The cover even seemed designed to match the aesthetic of
as she herself pointed out, and I’d consider her the bookstagram romance queen. Building buzz on BookTok is so much about building real relationships with creators who can promote your work authentically, and I think you’re seeing that pay off here.Younger readers are more genre agnostic than previous generations of readers. Having grown up reading young adult fiction, they’re used to dystopian novels and romance novels and mysteries and fantasy all sitting next to each other on the bookstore shelf. Why wouldn’t you read them all?
We’re seeing fewer YA titles published as popular YA authors move into writing adult romance and thrillers, where they can gain a larger audience and make more money. It makes sense that YA readers therefore would be willing to follow an author into the space, where more books are being published that appeal to their reading taste (high concept, commercial, cross-genre).
An author I’d comp to Alex Aster is Lauren Roberts, author of the Powerless series. This week, the final book in her YA Romantasy trilogy, Fearless, was released and sold 266,000 copies on the first day of sales, the highest first day sales for a YA book from Simon and Schuster ever. Roberts’ next move hasn’t been announced yet, but I could see a move toward adult writing for her as well. She has passionate fans among BookTok readers who typically read more steamy adult romance:
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Speaking of changing genres, Holly Renee, author of the popular adult romantasy series The Veiled Kingdom, announced on TikTok that she is writing a cowboy romance next:
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In previous eras of romance publishing, most authors (a notable exception being Nora Roberts) stuck to their chosen subgenre pretty closely. With the renewed power of authors in the indie market, it seems more of them are willing to take risks and bet that their readers will follow them. To me, Holly Renee’s announcement is also another sign of strength for the cowboy romance in a market that feels flooded with them. Romantasy is still driving a lot of the biggest deals in traditional publishing and putting up record-breaking sales numbers, but are these the first signs of a shift towards something else leading the pack? Only time will tell.
Jessa Hastings, a recent preoccupation of this newsletter, also released a new book outside of her most popular series this week. The Conditions of Will, another beautifully packaged book, is about a body language expert who lives in London but must return home to South Carolina for her father’s funeral. While some of the hallmarks of her Magnolia Parks series are present (wealth, complicated family dynamics, complicated relationships), this feels like a bit of a departure for her. But her established popularity means this book is already all over BookTok:
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Shaniah says, “Jessa just needs to be in a category and genre of her own. She does something so magical with her books where it’s not quite just a romance book…she also beautifully integrates these really flawed characters that have so much trauma and so much growth so that the romance isn’t even the focal point of the plot. It just sweetens the plot.”
All of this has my wheels turning about what building a long-lasting writing career looks like in the age of BookTok. Are we going to see established writers jumping genres, breaking with convention, and experimenting creatively while newer authors chase trends in order to grow their initial audience? Are these signs that there is an appetite for new ideas in romance? Are we seeing romantasy fatigue? Keep reading along with me and I guess we’ll see.
Imaginary Celebrity Book Club
Are there any celebrities notably working across genres who could credibly recommend books across romantasy and cowboy and romcom and thriller and…? Reese’s Book Club has some breadth in terms of the genres they choose from, but I still think of Reese books as primarily domestic thrillers. The greatest genre-defying artist of our time (Taylor Swift) hasn’t yet heard my pleas to start a book club. I’m picturing someone like Julia Roberts’ Anna Scott from Notting Hill, who is in a space movie (no horses) and a Henry James adaptation (horses). Maybe this is finally Zendaya’s book club moment?
Finally, if you’re in Austin, come see me at the Books and Bees festival tomorrow, where I’ll be talking to Sherry Thomas, Tracy Wolff, and Sasha Summers (gasp)!
I also recorded a delightful podcast episode yesterday that I hope to be able to share soon, and upcoming topics for this newsletter include diversity on Booktok (and how to find it), the Boys of Tommen series (what is it?), and, for paid subscribers, a Q1 trend report.
xoxo
I DO VERY MUCH WANT A TRAVELOGUE ABOUT HOW TO PLAN A READING VACATION AS MY FRIEND AND I JUST BOOKED ONE TODAY. *ahem* Not like I'm excited about it or anything.
I also want a travelogue for a reading vacay!
As an indie author, I always appreciate your insight into BookTok and romance trends, and your thoughts on brand building are no different. Thanks for consistently getting my wheels turning! And, I know one fake-dating story that actually ended up in a marriage, but it is 100% an outlier and not nearly as good as any fake-dating story I've ever read (or even written).