The literary genre romance became trendy in 2023. This is confirmed by both Adlibris and Bokus - which, among other things, saw a great demand for the authors Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarro's romance books.

Malin Nauwerck, researcher at the Swedish Children's Book Institute, describes the genre as a combination of romance and fantasy with magical action and elements such as witches, elves and magicians.

- Often the main character is a woman who travels from inferior and weak to chosen, strong and desired.

Quite often the main character also has a special interest in reading which reflects the readers of the books, says Malin Nauwerck to SVT Kulturnyheterna.

The writing is recast

Romance took off on booktok, and is one of several examples of how readers and writers are moving closer together.

- The trend reflects a younger generation's new way of writing and creating together, says Malin Nauwerck.

She believes that booktok will continue to shape the world of literature in 2024, and that the main change is precisely the reduced distance between readers and authors.

- The book market is becoming more participant-oriented.

Authors write in symbiosis with their fans, and this happens in social expressions like booktok.

Subgenres and celebrities

Both Malin Nauwerck and Adlibris predict that new subgenres will take hold this year - mafia romance, dark academia, queer romance, paranormal stories and omegaverse are mentioned, among other things.

- It is a speculative dominance-based erotic genre with very specific rules that come from the world of fan fiction, explains Malin Nauwerck to SVT.

Booktok also gives self-published authors the opportunity to make a quick impact.

Adlibris believes that will become more common - which also predicts a continued strong future for the celebrity biography.

In 2023, a series of biographies were released that sold like clockwork - by Prince Harry and Britney Spears, among others

- This goes hand in hand with people with heavy followers creating literature for an already ready fanbase.

It's really the same logic – with a very active participant-driven book market, says Malin Nauwerck.