let’s talk bookish | bookish trends of 2024
Hello again, dear friends! I hope you are all well, and if not then I hope brighter days head your way soon! Today I have an interesting bookish discussion post for you that I’m excited to share. I’m taking part in Let’s Talk Bookish this week to discuss the literary trends of 2024 that I noticed!
Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish discussion meme created by Rukky at Eternity Books and now hosted by Aria at Book Nook Bits and Dini at dinipandareads. This week’s prompt is…
bookish trends of 2024
Looking back on the past year, what bookish trends have you noticed? Are there certain tropes that have become more popular? New types of blogging and book-related content being posted? Do you have favorite trends? Least favorites? Do you notice trends shifting dramatically from previous years?
When it comes to bookish trends, I think 2024 was actually a pretty big year for cozy fantasy. It wasn’t just that a lot of notable “big” releases were cozy fantasies, I also felt like I noticed more people reading and making content around the prior existing cozy fantasy books too. I saw a lot of bookish influencers gushing over books and series like Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde series, Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes series, and Sangu Mandanna’s The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, to name just a few. There were also new releases like The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields, The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. Maclean, The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst, and The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong, among others. This seemed to play into the rise of “cozy content” among bookish influencers, where bookish influencers focused on creating content with a generally “cozy” aesthetic (think, for example, reading by candlelight under a fuzzy blanket with fairy lights surrounding you and a cozy ambient soundscape playing in the background).
I think it’s also pretty undeniable that romantasy continued to grow in popularity as a subgenre in 2024, proving its staying power. For the second year in a row (and the second time ever), romantasy even made it as a Goodreads Choice Awards category, which I think is a good indicator at least of the subgenre’s massive popularity these days. I’ve also heard that when it comes to the fantasy segment of the publishing industry, romantasy has substantially boosted book sales, which is awesome! I don’t think romantasy will be leaving anytime soon, even as it seems among readers of fantasy at large to be a rather polarizing subgenre.
I also noticed that in 2024 more self published and indie published books got a massive amount of attention, largely due to the rise in popularity of Kindle Unlimited. This kinda connects to the romantasy trend, as many of these self pubbed and indie pubbed books were romantasies, but others were contemporary romance and/or dark romance. Several of these books even got picked up by traditional publishers, which is great! It’s really lovely to see self published and indie published authors have their day in the sun, as historically they’ve been an oft-overlooked part of the bookish ecosystem.
As for book blogging trends, I noticed book bloggers started to make more posts like “blogging my reading week,” which are kinda the book blogging equivalent to reading vlogs on booktube. I really enjoy these types of posts! They’re a good example of how book blogging is evolving with the times rather than “dying out,” plus it’s nice to have a cozy little peek into other book bloggers’ lives. Two book blogs I think do this kind of content really well are 24hryabookblog and Scribbles & Stories.
spill the beans, friends!
What are some literary trends you noticed taking place in 2024? Do you have any favorite or least favorite literary trend of 2024? Are there any literary trends you’d like to see in 2025?
The cozy fantasy thing is so true! 😂 Not that I’m complaining, though – I’ve actually read most of the books you gave as examples and loved how COMFORTING they were. It’s such a nice way to escape our real world problems for some time 🥰
And I also love the reading-vlog-type posts where we learn more about people’s everyday lives! Maybe because, like the cozy fantasy, they’re just so cozy? 😂 Anyway, if you ever want to jump on the bandwagon there, I’m not complaining!
Hey, be careful what you wish for 😂 I’d love to create one, but at the same time I feel like my life isn’t that riveting and I’m also too scattered and chaotic on a daily basis to create any kind of life documentation that makes any coherent sense, haha! But who knows. If it happens and I *do* manage to post a reading-vlog-type post, we’ll know who to blame 😂
Yeah, the cozy fantasy, romantasy and translated literature were some of the biggest trends I saw! I’m all here for the cozy aesthetic <3 I haven't seen any bloggers to a reading week vlog kind of thing but that's so interesting, I would love to read those kinds of posts!
Yes! I love all the coziness too!! And if you’re interested in the reading blogs, you should definitely check out 24hryabookblog and Scribbles & Stories—both have great ones!