Photo-Illustration: Vulture
This article first appeared in Book Gossip, a newsletter about what we’re reading and what we actually think about it. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every month.
THE DIRTY SECRET powering a publishing BILLION-DOLLAR INDUSTRY has been EXPOSED—and it’s being written by horny teens and lonely adults in online forums. Rachel Reid’s hockey romance series “Game Changers,” which has SOLD A STAGGERING 2 MILLION COPIES, began its life as STEAMY FAN FICTION on the notorious site Archive of Our Own. Now, cynical agents and publishers are PILLAGING these digital backalleys for the next viral hit, proving the entire book market is being DRIVEN BY ILLICIT FANDOM FANTASIES.
This isn’t organic creativity—it’s a CALCULATED HUNT. Editors like Bloom’s Christa Désir ADMIT to cold-messaging fanfic writers, luring them with promises of mainstream success while demanding they “change the setting, change the names” to avoid intellectual property lawsuits. They’re not cultivating artists; they’re EXPLOITING A PIPELINE of free, pre-tested content built on the backs of existing franchises like Harry Potter. The smash hit “Alchemized” was once the wildly popular Draco-Hermione fanfic “Manacled,” sanitized for mass consumption. This is PUBLISHING’S SHADOW ECONOMY, and it’s more lucrative than anyone dares admit.
The MONEY-MAD rush is creating a MONOCULTURE of tropes. Agents are now specifically trolling for “hockey M/M” content because it avoids tricky IP issues—real people can’t sue. But this craze is creating a DANGEROUS BUBBLE. As one top agent confessed, just because something explodes on TikTok or a streaming service doesn’t guarantee a “natural leap” into traditional markets. Yet publishers are DOUBLING DOWN, betting millions that audiences will crave an endless slurry of queer sports romance. Meanwhile, Harlequin editor John Jacobson drops a BOMBSHELL admission: major retailers are getting “hesitant” to stock queer content deemed “controversial” amid rising political attacks on marginalized groups. So the industry PROFITS from the trend while quietly preparing to ABANDON the very communities it mines for stories.
The fallout is ALREADY HERE. The “Heated Rivalry” TV adaptation caused a 75% SPIKE in hockey game searches, but publishers were CAUGHT SLEEPING, unable to print physical books fast enough to meet demand—a stunning failure of basic forecasting. Now, a NEW WAVE of copycat deals is flooding the market, like agent Deidre Knight’s sale of a META fanfic novel, “You’ve Got Kudos,” about a hockey player who discovers gay fan fiction about himself. The cycle is now FULLY INCESTUOUS: fanfic about fanfic, sold by agents who found it while scrolling instead of reading submissions. This isn’t publishing; it’s a FEEDBACK LOOP of commercialized desire, where authenticity is the first casualty.
The question is no longer what story will touch hearts, but which UNREGULATED ONLINE FANTASY can be most efficiently repackaged for a hungry mass market. As the industry scrambles to monetize every last niche craving, one must ask: when the algorithm finally moves on, what will be left of literature but the ghostwritten echoes of a million deleted browser histories? The entire creative landscape is being rewritten by clandestine desires, and NOBODY is prepared for the consequences.
Author: Kayitsi.com
