The romantasy market

• Siobhan O'Brien Holmes
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Continuing my ‘Book Business’ series that I’ve been posting weekly on The Wolf Pack Facebook page, this week I wanted to take a quick look at the thriving YA romantasy market. I’ve worked with lots of authors who write or want to write romantasy or something close to it, and they often ask whether it’s a category that’s here to stay or if they’ve missed the boat. So let’s do a quick dive into the current landscape!

First, what is romantasy?

As you probably guessed, the word is a portmanteau of romance and fantasy, but beyond that it can be hard to settle on a really clear definition. Generally speaking, it refers to the romantic fantasy subgenre – a category within fantasy that relies heavily on a love story. It’s very common for YA novels to feature romance somewhere, so in that sense it doesn’t sound like anything new, but most romantasy fiction weaves in the romance in a far more central, inescapable way: the main plot can’t function without the romance, rather than just adding an extra layer to the story.

Some people feel that romantasy is, first and foremost, a romance novel that follows the conventional romance ‘beats’ (meaning the genre is romance and subgenre is fantasy) while some think it’s the other way round, with the primary genre being fantasy and romantasy being a romantic subgenre within fantasy.

Others consider it a more ‘spicy’, grown-up version of fantasy, featuring steamy sex scenes that put it firmly in the adult camp, but this feels very much at odds with the booming YA romantasy industry.

And even more confusingly, the success of the subgenre has meant that publishers tend to throw the ‘romantasy’ label around a lot, often using it to refer to any fantasy with a love story. Who can blame them when it’s such a huge buzzword right now?

So, now we’ve got a rough idea of what romantasy means, let’s look at the current market.

The growing popularity

Romantasy is a booming subgenre, bringing in over $600 million in sales globally in 2024 – a rise of $150 million from the previous year, and sales continue to climb. The rise in popularity is largely down to TikTok where romantasy titles have gone viral. It’s currently the biggest genre in the US and the second biggest in the UK.

Aren’t readers burnt out yet? Surely the market’s saturated

According to Publishers Weekly, romantasy is here to stay, but it’s going to evolve and grow. Brian Geffin, editor, says:

“It’s just going to keep growing broader and more welcoming, with romantasy tropes branching out into more and more subgenres, and with more crossover appeal in all directions.”

Some of those directions include dark, edgy plots, but also “a lot of cute, cozy vibes, and even some dystopian and space opera–style sci-fi,” he adds. “I think it’s becoming more and more a space where you can choose your vibe depending on your mood.”

Publishers are even creating new imprints, like Entangled and Tor Bramble, dedicated solely to romantasy, so there is clearly a sense that romantasy isn’t just a fad.

Don’t rush out and write one just because it’s trendy, but if you’ve got a work in progress that fits the bill, this might be the time to query it! A quick google shows dozens if not hundreds of agents actively looking to pick up new romantasy manuscripts and a glance at MSWL brings up lots of requests – it’s even got its own category.