So, Who’s Actually Reading Rom-Coms?💕📚
What does the template rom-com reader look like?
Have you ever wondered who’s buying all those cute illustrated-cover rom-coms flooding bookstore tables ? You know, the ones with titles like The Love Hypothesis or Better Than the Movies. The romantic comedy book boom isn’t just a publishing fad; it’s a reflection of a dedicated (and surprisingly data-rich) readership.
So, who is the template rom-com reader? Let’s dig into what the numbers, and a little cultural sleuthing, say about who’s really swooning over happily-ever-afters.
💁♀️ First things first: it’s (still) mostly women
No surprises here. Women are still the heart and soul of the rom-com readership. For years, surveys have shown that around 80% of romance readers are women. That’s a hefty majority, and it’s shaped the entire tone of the genre, from cover design to character archetypes.
But here’s the twist: men are slowly joining the party. Whether they’re discovering romance through audiobooks, TikTok recs, or even just wanting something that feels good after a stressful week, guys are popping up in the data more than they used to. Some industry surveys even say male readership is climbing every year. The romantic comedy, it turns out, might be one of the last safe spaces for optimism, and that’s not gender-exclusive anymore.
🧒 Age check: it’s a millennial (and Gen Z) playground
If you picture the rom-com reader as a middle-aged woman on holiday, you might be about 20 years behind. Today’s typical fan is much younger than you’d think. Most reader surveys show the biggest slice of the audience falling between 18 and 44 years old, with a strong bump in the late-20s crowd.
That’s right, the genre has gone full millennial, with Gen Z quickly catching up. They’re the ones driving the #BookTok craze, where titles like The Spanish Love Deception or The Hating Game go viral overnight. These readers love the emotional payoff and humor of a classic rom-com but want it wrapped in modern packaging. Think mental health awareness, queer representation, and texting mishaps instead of old-school misunderstandings.
Still, don’t count out older readers. The over-40 crowd remains loyal, especially to authors who’ve been around since the Bridget Jones days. Basically: rom-coms are now multigenerational comfort food.
🌎 Where in the world are rom-com readers?
If we zoom out geographically, most rom-com readers live in English-speaking countries, especially the U.S. and the U.K. That’s partly because these are the biggest markets for English-language publishing, and also because the cultural DNA of the rom-com. Meet-cutes, coffee dates, quirky best friends; these are baked into these societies’ media diets.
Within those countries, urban and suburban readers dominate. Big cities like New York, London, Toronto, and Sydney are overflowing with book clubs, indie bookstores, and readers swapping recommendations on TikTok or Instagram. Rural readers are there too, of course, but it’s the online communities that have made rom-com fandom feel so global.
And let’s not forget international readers. Translations and locally published romances are thriving in South Korea, Brazil, Germany, and India. The data is thinner here, but the vibe is universal: everyone loves a good will-they-won’t-they.
🧬 Ethnicity: still too homogeneous (but changing fast)
This is where things get a bit more complicated. Industry surveys show that the majority of romance and rom-com readers are white. Somewhere around 70–75% in U.S.-based data. Historically, that reflects who was being published, not necessarily who was interested.
But there’s good news: diverse authors and readers are breaking through. The last few years have seen huge successes for BIPOC rom-com writers like Talia Hibbert, Jesse Q. Sutanto, and Jasmine Guillory. Their books are bringing in readers who finally see themselves on the page, and reassuringly the data is starting to reflect that shift.
📱 How they’re reading: the digital love affair
The rom-com reader of 2025 isn’t just strolling through a bookstore. They’re also on Kindle, Audible, and TikTok, discovering new authors through reels and reviews. Digital reading changed the game for romance. E-books made it easy to binge a series, audiobooks turned commutes into date nights, and BookTok turned authors into overnight celebrities.
Publishers have caught on: the average rom-com reader today is digitally savvy, social-media fluent, and more likely to buy based on a viral trend than a newspaper review. Word of mouth now lives online.
🎓 Lifestyle, habits, and what they want
Rom-com readers are often educated, working adults, many with college degrees and busy jobs. They turn to the genre for emotional balance. A low-stakes, high-heart serotonin hit. Surveys show these readers want three things above all else: relatable characters, humour, and hope.
They’re drawn to tropes like friends-to-lovers, enemies-to-lovers, or fake dating, but what keeps them coming back is tone. They want warmth, wit, and authenticity. The modern rom-com isn’t just about finding “the one”, it’s about finding joy in the mess of adulthood.
❤️ So who is the template rom-com reader, in one line?
She’s a woman in her late 20s to early 40s, white, college-educated, living in an English-speaking city, and reading digitally for comfort, humour, and emotional escape. Though more men, younger readers, and diverse voices are joining the love story every year.
Below is how AI thought she might look, given the data.
This is how AI sees the template rom-com reader.
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