Book publishing is an ever-changing industry that is tied to the demands of the audience. As an editor, writer or literary agent, it is important to look for those new trends every year. Even though some genres always find their way to the top, such as romance. There are different kinds of novels, and if you are expecting to sell more copies, you should keep an eye out for those popular book genres.
Before we get started, there are a couple of quick facts that you should keep in mind. First, the pandemic changed how we engage with books. Due to the numerous restrictions, many countries had in place, people had to stay at home. That means it was not possible to do those short trips to bookstores. This led to an increase in e-books and audiobooks sales.
However, the pandemic did bring some good tendencies into the industry. For instance, more people started reading at home. In this regard, Millennials hold the generational torch since they are the ones going to the libraries and discovering new titles. Plus, even when the purchase of e-books grew, there is still a high percentage of readers that prefer the printed version.
Now that we’ve got an overview of the industry for this year, let’s look at the trending book genres for 2022.
5 Trending Book Genres for 2022
The advantage of finding out which are the trending books for this year is that usually, these genres succeed in all kinds of formats. The most popular book genres conquer the reader as a paperback, hardcover, e-book or audiobook.
For 2022, we have a variety of them. But. for the sake of this article, we have created a list of the top trending book genres.
Romance
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of the most popular book genres is romance. This is something we can easily prove by looking at the book sales trends. One particular thing regarding romance is that readers tend to follow their favourite authors in this genre. Plus, these types of stories are sold in different places, including checkout lines at grocery stores, bookstores and online.
Erotica
Even though we could include this as a subgenre of romance, I think erotica has won a place of its own. Erotica has been part of the top book sales trends of the last few years, and it keeps increasing with time. The best part is that these books are in such high demand that Hollywood studios are also purchasing the rights to turn them into movies or series. This means erotica is here to stay, and it has never been more popular.
Mystery
One thing that all readers love is cliffhangers. That fine line between a million questions and all the answers. That’s why mystery books are always at the forefront. Many new authors in this genre have an amazing talent to hook people from the very first page. This is something we can see on book sales but also on television. Many of the latest hits we are bing watching from our sofa actually come from corners in a bookstore.
Fantasy
Looking at the latest book sales trends, we can find fantasy among the most popular book genres. Why is fantasy always on the rise? Because it offers a special kind of escapism. Whether it is wizards, dragons, mermaids, angels or demons. We are sure you’ll find many incredible stories waiting for you. These fantasy books could take place in the past, future, or sometimes in a world that has been created for us.
When it comes to fantasy, I think we can all agree, there is nothing like a little magic to help you forget about reality.
Young Adult
If we are talking about the trending books for 2022, we need to include young adult (YA) fiction. YA is a special one, since it collects all popular genres in the market but is directed towards teenagers. Here it is easy to find strong characters, plot twists and attractive storylines. That’s why most of these books end up on the bestseller list. Some include J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
Keep in mind that the trending books for this year could change during the coming months. But, if that happens, we will keep you up to date with the latest news.