“From Pitch to Publication” is a series taking readers behind the curtain of modern publishing as a business.
She’s a special girl with boundless potential, and for some reason she has to save the world. But you wouldn’t know it by looking at her. The man training her is a hunky, brooding figure. As they train, she catches feelings and he swears to protect her. Also, there might be dragons. And the girl and hunky man might not even be human.
Romantasy, novels blending the fantasy and romance genres, are hot right now. But what happens when the trend moves on to cryptid hunters (fingers crossed)?
While a novel can take a year to reach shelves from the time of acquisition, a reader can find their next obsession in a matter of days – or even minutes,
depending on their algorithmic scrolling.
That gap can make traditional publishing look perpetually late. By the time an author writes the book, an agent sells it and a publisher edits, designs and distributes it, will anyone still want what everyone was asking for?
Jessica Faust, CEO and founder of BookEnds Literary Agency, isn’t particularly troubled by the roughly yearlong stretch between delivering a manuscript to an editor and seeing the finished novel in stores.
“I think a year is a fair amount of time, and I don’t think the market shifts that much in a year that that’s a problem,” Faust told USA TODAY.
Her concern, however, is the workload. She acknowledged that editors need more time to develop books, as their roles become increasingly saddled with additional tasks. Compressing the production calendar of a book doesn’t address that.
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Additionally, the industry’s sense of timing can differ from readers’ own. Faust offered an example where a hypothetical reader might discover a mermaid novel, while agents have already seen 50 manuscripts about mermaids. Publishers may have bought several before readers see the first.
“Industry professionals, like agents and editors, get sort of tired or weary of something before the reader does,” she said, adding that it can make entering a category harder for new authors even while readers remain interested. Readers may eventually settle on favorite writers rather than try every new release.
At Bindery Books, CEO and cofounder Matt Kaye says the company looks to reader communities for its acquisition decisions. It partners with creators and tastemakers who acquire books for their own imprints.
“Using existing book sales data to identify trends can mean missing those trends by years,” Kaye explained in a statement.
There are some aspects out of publishing's control
Kaye said Bindery can get books into stores about a year after acquisition, “potentially even as fast as nine months depending on how we work with retailers.” Its five-step editorial process runs alongside design and can take six months; distribution takes the longest.
While some production choices add time, external issues can also affect a publisher's ability to meet reader trends. A breakout book can run out of copies – as was the case with Josh Silver's "Fruit Fly" – and initial distribution also has a set time constraint per printer.
Printer Sheridan’s October update reported paper manufacturers adding fuel surcharges – generally $20–$30 per ton – and, according to the American Forest & Paper Association, U.S. printing-and-writing paper capacity fell 13.9% in 2025 (a broader category than just book paper). These external factors could impact a publisher’s print orders.
To speed up hitting the market, Bindery sends exclusive copies to tastemakers’ readers early, helping build word of mouth before publication.
For Danielle Finnegan, the brand marketing lead working on LYX’s U.S. program, responding to a trend can mean reconsidering the details of a physical book.
LYX decided to move faster with “Guard Your Heart,” a romance about two gay tennis players, following the attention around “Heated Rivalry.” It opted against sprayed edges, which Finnegan says can add one to three months to printing, depending on the process and season.
“The places that we would never cut down would be the editing process, giving the writer time to write, copy editing. All of that will always be the same,” Finnegan told USA TODAY.
A changing market can also call for a different pitch for the same story. Finnegan pointed to “Levels of Love”: Its rivals-to-lovers romance, women-in-STEM storyline and exploration of PTSD offer different ways to connect with readers.
The marketing can shift, but the manuscript doesn’t need to follow every turn. “We would never go back and change something just to hit a trend,” Finnegan said.
And even after rushing a book to market, there's no guarantee it will find an audience.
“Sometimes the market may have passed. Sometimes we all got really excited about something that we couldn’t get readers excited about,” Faust said.
A book can be good and still struggle to find traction – and the opposite is true as well. The challenge for the industry is building a track record through those shifts, while leaving room for something readers haven’t asked for yet.
External circumstances will always extend the timeline, but publishing can control some elements in a market calling for more immediacy.
Kaye said Bindery’s tastemakers sometimes set trends themselves by championing unfamiliar stories. Meeting the moment, then, can also mean giving readers a new obsession. Finnegan also suggested revisiting backlist books and changing which aspects of the story the marketing can highlight as reader interests shift.
When asked what could be done to better meet the moment, Faust said that "bringing in a larger team in publishing houses to pick up the slack so editors can go back to what they're really good at" could ease some pain points in the process.
The fact is: Books take time. And the result is businesses making bets on what readers will want a year from now (or longer).
Josh Rivera is an author and senior editor at USA TODAY. You can follow him on Threads or Substack.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Romantasy is everywhere now. What happens when readers move on?
