The age gap romance landing differently in indie vs trad spaces is really interesting! I wonder if part of the discourse stems from the fact that IRL people have many different thoughts on age gaps in romantic relationships? In theory, someone could find their own age gap romance away from a book unlike a shadow daddy partner (tragic but true!) which might make the age gap more difficult to engage with on the page.
Love this! I also just get excited seeing so many people get this into books! It's something people have always done—I remember reading about how people wore black armbands in the 1890s when Sherlock Holmes was killed off (before being brought back) to mourn the character—and it's so cool to see how that love of books changes but stays the same.
Re age gap, I feel like my raised by the patriarchy lizard brain is happy to read older MMC-younger FMC age gaps, but they're kind of... basic? Default? I'm more excited when I see an older FMC.
A recent read that had me giggling and kicking my feet is A Shore Thing by Joanna Lowell. Highly recommend!
I read about the age gap outrage, but didn’t see any of it myself (I guess I’ve curated my feeds well!). I think there might be something to the trad vs indie readers thing, but more broadly about readers who stick to more “traditional” contemporaries. I feel like most historical readers wouldn’t bat an eye at this 😂
As an aside: I’ve recently discovered that Alison Hazelwood is THE BEST. I have a small Bookstagram account and recently hosted a voting bracket for Lisa Kleypas historical heroes. Not only did Ali passionately participate in the voting and comments, but I heard from two separate sources that she promoted the bracket to anyone who would listen during the Love Y’all Romance Book Fest!! That meant the world to me 💜💜💜 Shortly after that my Threads got taken over by people sharing stories about how supportive and generous she is, which was amazing to see.
Super interesting insight into 2025 trends that, as an author, really has me thinking. I enjoyed The Women. My MIL was a combat nurse in Vietnam, which she rarely talks about, but she read it too and it opened up some conversations about her experience.
As an aside, I loved your last article about TikTok's influence on mainstream booksellers like B & N and Target. I love that B&N is opening new stores in part bc TT is popularizing reading. I love that Target isn't shrinking their book section or getting rid of it the way Costco has. But with Target doing away with their DEI initiatives, I'm scaling back how much money I spend there. Trying with Amazon, too, but as an indie romance author, that's a lot harder to do. I know diversity is an important topic for you, and I'd love your thoughts on how to put pressure on businesses walking back their DEI efforts when they also provide marginalized authors publishing and marketing opportunities that traditional publishers don't. Sorry that's totally off-topic for this article, but it came to me after reading your last article.
I'm struggling with this too. I cut my Kindle unlimited for many reasons, but am missing some favorite indie authors doing releases. And I can't spring for all their books at cost. And because they're indie or digital only, my library doesn't have them. Lots of conflicting priorities.
As an indie author who's seen her income drop significantly in the past month, as have most other indie authors I've talked to, I have to say that, unfortunately, cutting KU hurts indie authors more than it hurts Amazon--particularly BIPOC authors who have more space in the indie market than in trad publishing. It's an impossible situation for readers and indie authors to be in right now, because, particularly with romance, KU readers are where most indie authors' income comes from. Many authors I know have tried to go "wide" and publish in other markets, but they never make as much money as they do publishing exclusively with Amazon in order to be in KU. Amazon has a monopoly. However, if your favorite authors are in print, you can ask your library to carry their books, whether or not they're indie. That's the best way to get them in your local libraries.
thank you for this perspective, Brittany! This is what I'd say, too. Amazon has created a platform that has allowed indie authors to thrive and control their own business. Unfortunately, none of their alternatives currently have a platform that can compete. Hopefully this will change in the future, but for now, I try to buy physical books from my local indie bookstores but continue to use KU and Kindle.
Yes! This! And many, many of those indie authors, especially in romance, are women. The people we hire to edit, proofread, market, and design covers are usually women, too. Libro.fm is a great place to get audiobooks instead of Audible. Part of the profits go to the indie bookstore of your choice.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that. Here's some indie BIPOC authors you could check out too: Aliyah Burke, Sookh Kaur, and Brittainy Cherry, to name a few. Happy reading!!
I read an arc of Promise Me Sunshine and LOVED it. I feel like Cara Bastone’s books are perfect for the Abby Jimenez/Emily Henry readers without it feeling like she’s doing the exact same thing as they are.
something i would love your thoughts on is Cartoon Covers discourse - idk if this comes up on tiktok (since this substack is how i learn anything about booktok not being on the app) but i keep seeing a post with a ton of likes on here pop up in my recommended about how the post's author finds it "disgusting" that books like icebreaker have cartoon covers and sex scenes, and are on booktok display tables along with cleaner/teen books.
to me, romance books having cartoon covers feels like old news and i would never assume a cartoon cover book is automatically fine for a kid, but it is interesting how gen pop might assume cartoon cover = no spice still, or i guess not look at the genre label and just encounter a book online and make assumptions. also interesting how many romance authors seem to blow up once they get cartoon covers for a series versus photorealistic (i'm thinking talia hibbert as my example), or go back and change past series to cartoon covers after they get more popular (personally i miss an 80s painted swoony cover but ah well)
The age gap romance landing differently in indie vs trad spaces is really interesting! I wonder if part of the discourse stems from the fact that IRL people have many different thoughts on age gaps in romantic relationships? In theory, someone could find their own age gap romance away from a book unlike a shadow daddy partner (tragic but true!) which might make the age gap more difficult to engage with on the page.
Love this! I also just get excited seeing so many people get this into books! It's something people have always done—I remember reading about how people wore black armbands in the 1890s when Sherlock Holmes was killed off (before being brought back) to mourn the character—and it's so cool to see how that love of books changes but stays the same.
Re age gap, I feel like my raised by the patriarchy lizard brain is happy to read older MMC-younger FMC age gaps, but they're kind of... basic? Default? I'm more excited when I see an older FMC.
A recent read that had me giggling and kicking my feet is A Shore Thing by Joanna Lowell. Highly recommend!
I read about the age gap outrage, but didn’t see any of it myself (I guess I’ve curated my feeds well!). I think there might be something to the trad vs indie readers thing, but more broadly about readers who stick to more “traditional” contemporaries. I feel like most historical readers wouldn’t bat an eye at this 😂
As an aside: I’ve recently discovered that Alison Hazelwood is THE BEST. I have a small Bookstagram account and recently hosted a voting bracket for Lisa Kleypas historical heroes. Not only did Ali passionately participate in the voting and comments, but I heard from two separate sources that she promoted the bracket to anyone who would listen during the Love Y’all Romance Book Fest!! That meant the world to me 💜💜💜 Shortly after that my Threads got taken over by people sharing stories about how supportive and generous she is, which was amazing to see.
Super interesting insight into 2025 trends that, as an author, really has me thinking. I enjoyed The Women. My MIL was a combat nurse in Vietnam, which she rarely talks about, but she read it too and it opened up some conversations about her experience.
As an aside, I loved your last article about TikTok's influence on mainstream booksellers like B & N and Target. I love that B&N is opening new stores in part bc TT is popularizing reading. I love that Target isn't shrinking their book section or getting rid of it the way Costco has. But with Target doing away with their DEI initiatives, I'm scaling back how much money I spend there. Trying with Amazon, too, but as an indie romance author, that's a lot harder to do. I know diversity is an important topic for you, and I'd love your thoughts on how to put pressure on businesses walking back their DEI efforts when they also provide marginalized authors publishing and marketing opportunities that traditional publishers don't. Sorry that's totally off-topic for this article, but it came to me after reading your last article.
I'm struggling with this too. I cut my Kindle unlimited for many reasons, but am missing some favorite indie authors doing releases. And I can't spring for all their books at cost. And because they're indie or digital only, my library doesn't have them. Lots of conflicting priorities.
As an indie author who's seen her income drop significantly in the past month, as have most other indie authors I've talked to, I have to say that, unfortunately, cutting KU hurts indie authors more than it hurts Amazon--particularly BIPOC authors who have more space in the indie market than in trad publishing. It's an impossible situation for readers and indie authors to be in right now, because, particularly with romance, KU readers are where most indie authors' income comes from. Many authors I know have tried to go "wide" and publish in other markets, but they never make as much money as they do publishing exclusively with Amazon in order to be in KU. Amazon has a monopoly. However, if your favorite authors are in print, you can ask your library to carry their books, whether or not they're indie. That's the best way to get them in your local libraries.
thank you for this perspective, Brittany! This is what I'd say, too. Amazon has created a platform that has allowed indie authors to thrive and control their own business. Unfortunately, none of their alternatives currently have a platform that can compete. Hopefully this will change in the future, but for now, I try to buy physical books from my local indie bookstores but continue to use KU and Kindle.
Yes! This! And many, many of those indie authors, especially in romance, are women. The people we hire to edit, proofread, market, and design covers are usually women, too. Libro.fm is a great place to get audiobooks instead of Audible. Part of the profits go to the indie bookstore of your choice.
Thank you for this insight, especially as an indie author! Running to check out your books rn
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that. Here's some indie BIPOC authors you could check out too: Aliyah Burke, Sookh Kaur, and Brittainy Cherry, to name a few. Happy reading!!
FASCINATING breakdown. Thank you!!
I read an arc of Promise Me Sunshine and LOVED it. I feel like Cara Bastone’s books are perfect for the Abby Jimenez/Emily Henry readers without it feeling like she’s doing the exact same thing as they are.
something i would love your thoughts on is Cartoon Covers discourse - idk if this comes up on tiktok (since this substack is how i learn anything about booktok not being on the app) but i keep seeing a post with a ton of likes on here pop up in my recommended about how the post's author finds it "disgusting" that books like icebreaker have cartoon covers and sex scenes, and are on booktok display tables along with cleaner/teen books.
to me, romance books having cartoon covers feels like old news and i would never assume a cartoon cover book is automatically fine for a kid, but it is interesting how gen pop might assume cartoon cover = no spice still, or i guess not look at the genre label and just encounter a book online and make assumptions. also interesting how many romance authors seem to blow up once they get cartoon covers for a series versus photorealistic (i'm thinking talia hibbert as my example), or go back and change past series to cartoon covers after they get more popular (personally i miss an 80s painted swoony cover but ah well)