Abstract
Romance fiction is one of the most commercially successful and culturally significant genres in contemporary publishing, and this is not a one-year instance; it is a multi-year trend (Adams, 2026). In 2025, sales were up in the United States, and the growth was across platforms and formats—digital audio, e-books, and print. Two subgenres have sparked greater interest—romantasy and dark romance. Romantasy, the combination of romance and fantasy, has drawn new readers with the explosion of Sarah J. Maas, and dark romance, which gained some notoriety with Fifty Shades of Grey (2011) has seen strong growth and acceptance. In fact, the popularity of select books boosts the sales of similar books (Bosman, 2014).
Recommended Citation
Creel, Stacy and Walker, Crystal
(2026)
"SLIS Notes: Psst...Do You Have this Dirty Book?,"
Mississippi Libraries: Vol. 88:
No.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://aquila.usm.edu/ml/vol88/iss1/3