Cracking the Code
02 The Romance Rebrand
Are you looking for a post-wine-and-dine pick-me-up? Maybe it's time to head to the back rooms of your local bookstore...
If sex is an industry, Gen Z isn’t buying. Or anyone, for that matter. But Gen Z’s sex-allergy is more complicated than we’ve been led to think. At the same time, sales for erotica and “romance” novel have skyrocketed. In fact, they’re taking in the highest sales since 2012, when 50 Shades of Gray dropped. And New Adult has been pioneered as the newest industry-leading genre, combining the interior narratives of a bildungsroman with explicit sex. In an alleged new wave of puritanism, who’s funding the smut boom?
Conflicting information induces hypnosis and suggestibility[Source: a street magician we talked to]so we’re unraveling why erotica—and the Romance genre—is changing. And why romance novels even look so different.
You may have noticed in the past couple of years, Romance has undergone a rebrand. We’ll miss Fabio and Topaz Man and the glossy, gilt-lettered covers promising steamy scenes on the great frontier. The romance novel was instantly recognizable, often found on the dollar-book cart or bath-stained and hidden from view.
Now, they can be found with candy-coated dust jackets, sitting front and center at your local Barnes & Noble. They justify their presence with signs proclaiming “#BookTok” made me do it”. Unless you flip them open, you may not suspect they’re romance novels—let alone erotica—at all.
To understand #Booktok (or #SkinTok, #Fintok—there's a #Tok for everyone), we have to understand Gen Z.
When consuming online content, young people are looking something that both educates and also entertains. On this endless scroll, Gen Z has fostered their tastes, community, and identity. It’s not new—76% of young people report exploring subcultures for a sense of belonging in a group.
This sense of comfort, safety, and inner knowledge builds confidence in—and connections around—niche interests. In an age of sweeping book bans (largely for featuring LGBTQ+ themes, protagonists of color, or general sexual content), #BookTok provides a space where sexual expression and celebrating pleasure can be done without shame, and as a means to build a massive global community.
Essentially, we all have a seat in what has become the world's largest book club.
As Gen Z is driving the new romance boom, they’re redefining the aesthetics and how we view this outward expression of desire. If the popularity of the romance genre continues as a staple for Gen-Z, we could find ourselves at the dawn of a new rom-com golden age.
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