Book Trends: What do people want to read these days?

Sports are more my thing, but, like figure skating… so niche. A soccer-partially story is in my only SciFi on the list, but I am sticking to not fantasy books atm.

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I feel like zombies are more saturated in film then in books but yeah. And actual tropes like the chosen one.

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I actually haven’t dealt with feeling like that yet. Some things can be quite similar but I’ve really only had the similarity issue when I compared manga with manga or books with books.

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Let’s all hope it stays that way.

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I’ve read two or three different kinds of figure skating manga. Little girls with talent, trying to beat their rivals in competition, and some falling in cute love. But the manga would also teach you the terms used in figure skating and show you how competitions work and how the freestyle programs are created for competitors, so it was cool. I loved them.

Are there English fiction books on figure skating?

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It depends really on how I’m feeling. I honestly really want supernatural stories that aren’t about ghost, werewolves, witches, and vampires. Like I really want a wendigo story to go mainstream or other not that talked about creatures.

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I don’t think the chosen one is ever going away :stuck_out_tongue:

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Wendigos are contreversial for reasons of cultural appropriation. I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Absolutely not. But dark academia is basically the new in thing and with how much chosen one books there are you can imagine how many books are going to come out that will be dark academia.

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Oh yes, some different kind of supernatural would be great.

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Does this count as different?

@SteadyMyLove You aren’t going to miss this, either

Huh, I honestly think your the first person I’ve ever seen say this. I can see that if people altered what they’re supposed to be like and didn’t go based on the old myths but really Wendigos in particular I feel are one of those things that aren’t very… I don’t know how to describe it other than it’s something that could happen to anyone and isn’t specific to a certain race.

It looks like the issues were with those that put Native Americans as the bad guy against white people and those who altered the creature. But I could only find one thing that wasn’t released in the early 2000’s. So it looks like people learned what’s okay and what’s not as I’ve seen wendigos in things after most of those articles were written.

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Donner Party time!

That’s a title for you.

I always thought of reading trends being what everyone is writing after the fact instead of what actually is current.

But if you want a freakish thought: the #1 bestseller in the US each year, that they NEVER put on the list is the Bible…partially because it’s unnecessary attention drawn to a religious book. I also think it would be similar for other popular religious texts…

So if I was fallowing legit trends? I’d make a cult or religion. Thinking that way has lead to some strange things like the Necrinomicon and Dante’s Inferno.

But people buy books for status, the majority of which aren’t 100% read. Until I see stats on “most completed read of all times”, which I expect to be Fun With Dick and Jane, I’m not much worried.

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That’s definitely a title that would end up with you getting an article.

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I think that still classifies as vampires but it is nice to see things in music videos as well.

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I’m the same as you—I read books that were trending years ago and books that are currently trending. Or could be. Not to mention, I read in so many various genres so it doesn’t really help narrow it down. :sweat_smile:

I think some of those are accurate, but it doesn’t necessarily seem like it. Especially when you consider genre into the mix.

What I think is trending based on what I’ve seen would be…

  1. In romance, spice.

Spice is very high in demand and has been for years (since Fifty Shades and After came out; I’ve even heard of authors being turned down by publishers because their book doesn’t have steamy scenes). It’s also a very popular trend in fantasy, even sci-fi romances.

  1. Fae in fantasies.

Ever since ACOTAR, it’s been high in demand in both self-publishing and trad-publishing. Everyone wants fae in their fantasies lol.

  1. Teenage angsty murder mysteries.

I’ve noticed the murder mystery thrillers in teen fiction becoming a huge thing these days, and most of the time, it deals with angsty teens. This is something like One of Us is Lying or a Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

  1. Dark fairytale retellings.

I’ve noticed this becoming a huge thing, especially in YA, where fairytale retellings are becoming a trend but in a dark way. Whether it’s something inspired by it or something like a What If? book. Like, what if Cinderella never tried on the glass slipper kind of thing.

  1. Books that incorporates sports into the plot.

Ice skating, football, soccer, rugby, whatever it may be, it’s part of the plot. I’ve seen quite a few of these, specifically in YA, in the contemporary section.

  1. Dark academia.

I’ve noticed a lot of books with this theme, like the story centers around a school (most often a private or boarding school) and it contains quite a few dark themes.

  1. Cute summer-related books.

Whether it’s adult fiction or YA, I’ve noticed a lot of contemporary books (usually romance) that center summer or is a great read for summer. They usually have simplistic, drawn covers and short and sweet titles.

  1. Serial killers or something about evil neighbors.

This is for horror or thrillers. When I browsed the horror and thriller sections in adult fiction, there were a lot of books on serial killers or some kind of neighbor story. With the neighbor thing, it’s similar to the Girl in the Window or something like that.

  1. Black and LGBT+ narratives.

I’ve seen a huge demand for stories with diversity lately across a lot of YA genres. With Black stories, it seems to be a toss up between books talking about racism and traumas (something like the Hate U Give) in contemporary fiction to fantasies with Black narratives having a powerful voice. Though, I have also noticed some of those fantasies still talking about racism or traumas like in Wings of Ebony. And with LGBT+, I’ve seen more romances and even an increase on polyamory books that share a love triangle trope than I used to a few years back.

  1. Random celebrity biographies.

And the final thing that I can think of to put on this list are books by or about celebrities. Michelle Obama, Will Smith, Jamie Lynn Spears, or whomever… it’s become a trend, it seems, for celebrities to start giving biographies or do some self-help kinds of books lol.


Also, to go along with this topic, here’s a video about trending book titles from Kate Cavanaugh in some genres. It may even shed a light on what types of books are trending!

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Gay werewolves, who are alpha billionaire businessmen who know K-Pop Idols and are secretly Stephen James in the Italian Mafia.

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Yes, there are a few, usually figure skater has to pair up with a hockey player to win the Olympics kind. My Watty winner is the figure skater book, but she is paired with an overweight librarian, while both resolve their issues before the happy ending.

The rules of figure skating are always changing, so I wouldn’t rely on manga or anime for it. Like, Yuri on Ice is highly inaccurate by now, and it wasn’t from the start. But it is still a wonderful love story.

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That’s so close to the plot of Lone Werewolf! Where are my readers? I guess, my mistake is that he is an American popstar. Should have made him Korean.

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