Trend Desk · Science Fiction
Sci-fi & fantasy this week: LitRPG, romantasy and funny shifter titles
Two kinds of series own the Kindle Sci-Fi & Fantasy top 50: game-world LitRPG and romantasy. A funny shifter title is #2.
What's on the chart
We read the Kindle Science Fiction & Fantasy top 50 from Saturday, November 7. Two kinds of series take most of it.
LitRPG: books where life works like a video game. Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl has all eight books in the top 50, and book 1 is #5. Two more LitRPG series sit beside it: System Origin (book 9 of its series, #14, three days on the chart) and 1% Lifesteal (volume 5, #24). That's 10 of 50 spots for stories with levels, stats and a game-like system.
Romantasy: fantasy where the love story drives the plot. Sarah J. Maas has 10 books on the chart, led by A Court of Splintered Harmony at #1. Rebecca Yarros has four from the Empyrean series. Below the big names, indie romantasy series are holding several spots each: Aria Ashbrook's Hirathean Path (three books), Penn Cole's Kindred's Curse (two), Devney Perry's Shield of Sparrows (two) and LJ Claren's Selvaren (two).
A funny title is #2. I Accidentally Joined a Wolf Shifter Group Chat has been on the chart for 17 days. It's a paranormal romcom, and the joke is the whole pitch. Academy romances are here too: Soulmate University, Luftis Academy and Zodiac Academy.
Pure science fiction is thin. Red Rising (#36) and an illustrated Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (#39) are the main space stories in the top 50. Fantasy and game worlds lead.
The China watch
Fanqie, China's largest free-reading platform, said on November 2 that science fiction is one of the genres that keeps growing, along with history, realism and career stories. Its biggest new hit, Shentongzhe, passed 10 million readers in five days, and Shiting Qishou (Opening with a Time Stop) has trended again and again on social media. Fanqie also warned that readers drop books with slow openings.
What this means for your next book
- Game-world stories have a big audience. If your fantasy or sci-fi has rules, levels or a "system," say so in the subtitle. A LitRPG Adventure is right there in two of these titles.
- Write romantasy as a series. The indie romantasy authors here have two or three books on the chart at once. One book alone doesn't take spots like that.
- A funny, specific title can carry a book. I Accidentally Joined a Wolf Shifter Group Chat tells readers exactly what they'll get and makes them smile.
- Open fast. Chinese platforms report readers dropping slow first chapters. Get to the world's big idea in chapter one.