What type of adult fiction books are publishers buying?

That’s the question on my mind right now. This is what I discovered:

  • Literary fiction: represents nearly 40% of adult fiction book deals from the past month.

  • Romance, Fantasy, and Mystery/Crime, are commercial engine runner-ups.

  • Work-life stories are hot: leadership, management, and workplace satire punch well above their weight.

  • Readers crave emotional ballast (Love, Family, Grief) paired with zeitgeist frames (Power, War, Culture).

Oh, and witches are hot stuff…

Top 5 themes

  1. Love – 11 %

  2. Family – 7 %

  3. Magic / Folklore / Witchcraft – 5 %

  4. War & Conflict – 4 %

  5. Culture & Identity – 4 %

Top subject hooks (TopicTags)

  • Leadership & Management

  • Education & Campus life

  • Crime & Detective

  • Politics & Power

  • Mythology & Folklore

Pattern: Readers—and editors—want big feelings (love, grief) anchored in a headline hook (witch trials, corporate satire, campus scandal).

How big are the top deals?

Take-home: Big money still tilts to literary, but Fantasy and Mystery snag the occasional splashy auction. Romance keeps the mid-six-figure “good” tier humming.

Pitch Takeaways

  1. High-concept Lit-Fic Is the New Black
    Think witch trials x #MeToo or AI gone existential. Editors want sentences they can quote and a hook they can sell to Netflix.

  2. Romantasy Keeps the Lights On
    Romance plus swords and spells owns roughly one deal for every four commercial titles. If your fantasy world doesn’t throb with messy feelings, rewrite.

  3. Campus & Corporate Noir Is Heating Up
    Roughly 15 leadership-and-management–tagged novels crossed desks this month. Everyone’s re-thinking work; novels that skewer it are catnip.

  4. Readers Crave Big Emotions With Bigger Context
    Top themes: Love (11 %) → Family (7 %) → Magic/Folklore (5 %) → War (4 %). If your manuscript nails two of those four, you’re trending.

  5. The Sleeper Opportunity? Upper-MG & YA Literary
    Fewer than 40 “serious” teen or tween novels sold—publishers may be over-correcting after TikTok burnout. A knockout voice here could own the lane.