Under the big tent of romantasy, there is space for many, including “young adults between the ages of 12 and 16, and female readers of all ages, especially millennials, who are drawn to the comfortable safe space of YA fiction as well as Colleen Hoover romance and Rebecca Yarros romantasy,” says Wendy Loggia, v-p and senior executive editor at Delacorte.
YA romantasy readers tend to stay with the category into adulthood, says Kendare Blake, author of the Three Dark Crowns series. “The teen readers who discovered me from my first book in 2011 are now in their 20s and 30s, and I’m lucky enough to know that some of them are still reading my books now. But I’m writing books for teens and aiming to capture the imaginations of that audience. So what is my target crowd? I want to write something my first readers will enjoy—I love that YA enthusiasm. What’s the answer? 13 to 37 feels like a big range to straddle.”
Laura Crockett, senior agent at Triada US, says that YA has been skewing older for years, reviving industry discussion about the new adult category and fueling interest in adult-YA crossover books. Anecdotally, she says she’s seen an uptick in mature content in response to the popularity of romantasy. “In the early months of 2023, romantasy became more about heat and spice levels, and less about it being a speculative novel with romance.”
Eileen Rothschild, v-p and associate publisher of YA imprint Wednesday Books, points to a rise in adult readers for romantasy titles. “Wednesday Books is a crossover imprint, so our main audience is older teens and younger adults,” she says. “Adult romantic fantasy does really well in e-book. YA has historically been more of a print audience than e-book audience for us. Now we are seeing our YA fantasy titles sell more in e-book. This could mean that more adults are reading romantasy titles than they did before.”
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YA Romantasy: True Love or Passing Fancy?
Publishers, agents, and authors reckon with readers’ all-consuming passion for YA romantasy.
