Booktok boosts Bloomsbury again as Sarah J Mass tops bestseller lists
Bloomsbury has been buoyed by the success of its fantasy-romance list as online discourse fuels mass interest in the books.
Sarah J Maas topped bestseller lists again this year with the paperback launch of House of Flame and Shadow in June, following global success with the previous two books in the series.
She has now sold over 75m copies of her books worldwide, making her one of the most successful authors of the century so far.
Bloomsbury expects revenue for the year ending 28 February 2026 to be £335.9m and profit before tax of £41.6m, in line with market expectations, with Maas significantly contributing to this figure.
The publishing house also expects J.K. Rowling’s Pocket Potters series, which will be released in August, to boost revenue in the second half of the year.
‘Booktok’ i.e. the online book community on Tiktok and Instagram, has been credited with bringing Gen Z back to reading, as well as driving a renaissance in the fantasy-romance genre.
Almost two-thirds of 16-25 year olds say that Booktok or book influencers have helped them discover a passion for reading, with over half turning to the platform for recommendations.
Rowman & Littlefield integration continues
Bloomsbury bought academic publisher Rowman & Littlefield for £65m last year, hoping to strengthen its trade in North America.
Over 5,300 titles have so far been digitised, and in June the Harry Potter publisher moved Rowman & Littlefield’s distribution in the US to Macmillan Publishing Services.
Bloomsbury also signed its first non-exclusive content partnership, allowing a partner the right to publish its media but retaining the right to publish it elsewhere.
It continued to expand further afield, too, with a new office in Singapore “set to benefit from the forecast growth in the student population in the region”, the company said.