Data shows that 2023 was a record year for book sales in this genre.
From 2022 to 2023, sales of horror and ghost stories rose by 54% in value to reach £7.7m. It was the biggest year for the genre since accurate records began, The Bookseller reported. Sales rose 34% in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period last year, according to book sales data firm Nielsen BookScan.
Horror writers and publishers have suggested that part of this boom is due to the political nature of the genre. Jen Williams, whose novel Hungry Dark will be published next week, said: “Horror tends to wax and wane depending on what’s going on in the world at large, and is like a dark amusement park mirror that reflects the horrors of the real world. It shows,” he said. “Given the turbulent times we’re in, with wars, pandemics and climate change fueling anxiety, it’s interesting to see horror back in the spotlight and reaching a wider audience. ”
Atlantic Books editor Joanna Lee says horror is “inherently political.” She goes on to say that books such as Yeji Lee Ham’s The Invisible Hotel use horror to “confront what it means to live in the long shadow of inevitable war,” and that the genre He added that the “wild and disturbing” elements of “Illuminating the truth”. It’s a reality that would otherwise be difficult to convey. ”
Susie Dore, editor-in-chief of Borough Press, said critics often say that in dark times readers seek happier subjects, but “this trend doesn’t bear that out. It’s probably more like, ‘Well, it’s worse. There may be an element of ‘this may become the case.’ , could I be under attack by a vengeful spirit?
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Sarah Stewart-Smith, campaign director at Verve Books, which publishes horror novels such as Anne Helzel’s “Just Like Mother,” says many new horror books have distinctly feminist elements. He says this trend has become a patent for TikTok and Instagram. The genre has undergone a “transformation”, moving away from the “classic horror style” of authors such as Stephen King.
Stories about consent, motherhood and transgression are “exploding in popularity,” Stewart-Smith said. Readers are fascinated by stories about “the expression of female anger and what happens when what has been suppressed for so long finally bursts forth,” but the horror genre facilitates it “perfectly.” Masu.
Jane Flett, whose novel Freakslaw was published in June, agrees that the rise in horror is a reaction to “the many traumatic events we’ve experienced around the world in recent years.” “When everything else is so hard, there’s a perverse solace in leaning into the darkness. But more specifically, for me, queer horror provides a space where I can play both power and powerlessness. In a world that so often seeks to take away our agency, being willing to lean into those emotions can be incredibly cathartic.”
