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In a packed room in Sydney, an excited crowd riffles through stacks of stickers and bookmarks, searching for their favourite characters. Another group flicks through racks of clothing, selecting T-shirts that say “romance readers club” and “probably reading about fairies”.

A poster on the wall, adorned with pull-away strips, invites visitors to claim their preference: a love triangle, a love confession mid-dragon battle, an ambiguous hero or a rugged rancher.

Half of the tabs have already disappeared. This is a temporary store for novel-inspired items: visitors are well aware which tropes they want to take home.

This scene puts an observer amid a lively and deep fan community. The pop-up store is run by an Australian small business that makes handmade book-themed merchandise. The event was advertised to tens of thousands of followers on social media, and a large crowd attended: the queue outside wound around the corner.

The Online Boom

It’s just one example that have grown out of Australia’s quickly expanding online book community. Social media book communities, on the platforms TikTok and Instagram, have surged since 2020, and love stories and fantasy-romance blends are the most popular genres.

The central demographic are readers who grew up with online fan communities.

A Personal Story

One such reader is a young teacher from Brisbane who commenced posting about romance novels on her social media account in 2020.

“I grew up in what we like to refer to as the Wattpad era,” she says, mentioning a popular fan-fiction site. Much of the writing was “not very good,” she admits, “but a lot of it was centered on relationships and I read so much of that.”

“Once I got to university I started reading a greater amount of romance … and I’ve been pretty much reading it ever since,” she adds.

She now reads between 200 and 400 books a year. Her online presence has allowed her to connect with other romance readers locally and globally – culminating in a new housemate.

“We initially connected over social media and figured out that we were both teachers, both read the same stuff and we’ve met up in person a bunch of times and now we’re about to move in together,” she explains.

Creating Commerce from Devotion

The online community is a key appeal of the genre, say the founders of an online store, Trilogy of Romance, which they started as a place to honor their love of romance novels.

“We noticed that romance – especially darker and trope-driven romance – didn’t always have a dedicated, judgment-free space in traditional bookstores and starting online allowed us to connect directly with readers who shared that passion,” they say.

“The reception has been overwhelmingly supportive, we’ve built a loyal, engaged community that supports not just our store but each other.”

Their customers are predominantly women aged from their 20s to 40s who are “very drawn to ethically ambiguous heroes” – although hockey romance is also popular.

“Dark romance is by far our biggest seller both in books and merchandise,” they confirm.

The Retail Landscape

Despite being a top-selling type along with science fiction, Australian bookstores frequently are without large displays for romantic fiction. Outside of breakthrough titles – like certain romantasy smash hits – most romance readers depend on ebooks.

If they want to visit a dedicated store, they seek out a Sydney bookstore named Romancing the Novel. The store’s owner, herself a romance author, says customers have often planned their day around their visit.

Her most cherished interactions involve those who haven’t picked up a book in years.

“We’ve actually gotten men who don’t read romance but they want to dip their toes in, or they love to read fantasy and they’re like ‘Oh I’ve just read a popular romantasy book’ … what can I get into next?” she says.

*Names have been withheld for privacy