During the summer holiday season, there's nothing like grabbing a good book, heading to a cool, shady spot, and reading a story that takes you into another world.
However, with so many digital distractions, Australians are reportedly reading less often than they'd like to. Nevertheless, print books remained the most popular way we consumed literature in 2025.
When it comes to what Australians were reading, certain mainstay genres held onto their popularity while microgenres — such as 'rural' and 'single parent' romance novels — surged.
Meanwhile, online spaces like BookTok are also having a marked impact on our reading habits.
Here's what Australian readers couldn't get enough of in 2025.
Australia's most popular book genres
Katherine Day, senior lecturer at Melbourne University's publishing practice, said romance, true and fictional crime, self-help and memoir are all genres that consistently generate the best sales in Australia.
"Crime has been a popular genre for a few years ... and [its popularity is] mostly spurred on, if we're looking at non-fiction crime, by true crime, obviously. But also crime, generally speaking, is really popular," she told SBS News.
"The other huge one is romance, which encompasses lots of subgenres."
She said while many genres remain consistently popular, romance and crime are the real "mainstays".
Women, especially those in the 25-40 age bracket, make up the majority of romance readers, including its many subgenres, Day said.
These sub-genres range from rural romance — with its rustic wood interiors and a floral arrangement or two — to romantasy, which revels in elements of fantasy or science fiction: think mythical creatures, dragons, and magic woven into a romantic narrative.
Romantasy has come into its own in recent years, partly due to reviews on social media sites such as TikTok — a corner of the platform known as BookTok.
For instance, Australian booktokker Tierney Page's romance fiction reviews have garnered her over 800,000 followers.
Her reviews are unashamedly blunt, celebrating some of the more explicit elements of female sexual desire.
A romance subgenre she has a particular soft spot for is stories involving single parents, which she describes as "a trope that never gets old ... just gets better".
In this genre, the (usually heterosexual) parent is often divorced, widowed, or someone who suddenly gains custody of a young relative — think responsibility, vulnerability and the potential for blended families.
Day said a genre known as 'farm lit' is also having a moment.
This type of literature, according to Day, is generally "quite specific in the characters it uses and the story lines and the plots, which have to be set in a rural setting, mostly in Australia".
"That has actually translated quite well in some cases to an international market too. So I think the fact that it's able to pivot a little bit and tap into different likes and dislikes of particular readers is why it's sustained its popularity," she said.
Bestsellers and the power of BookTok
Writing NSW CEO Sophie Groom said it's hard to neatly categorise what counts as a bestseller in Australia.
"That is very variable. If you sold 100,000 copies of a book in Australia, you would be absolutely delighted. That would really be considered a household-name bestseller," she said.
However, debut authors would be doing well if they sold much less than that, she said.
"Most people who are writing a debut novel would be really happy to have 4,000 to 5,000 copies of that book selling in the Australian market at the moment," Groom said.
One thing is clear, though: BookTok content creators are having a significant impact on reading and buying habits, according to literary experts.
Tierney Page and Luke Bateman are both Australian 'BookTokkers' who have generated large online followings. Source: SBS News / TikTok
"I think the most popular booktokker in the US has millions of followers ... they do expose the book to a wider range of readers who follow them for whatever reason," she said.
"Some of them are really entertaining, some of them are just quite factual, but it's essentially a different kind of book review to the traditional review that would critique the book."
Luke Bateman is another Australian booktokker who has amassed an impressive following.
He said books have always been an important part of his life, particularly during dark periods.
In 2025, Bateman told SBS's Insight program that he used to lock himself in the toilet to read fantasy books.
Now, the former NRL player and The Bachelor star reviews fantasy fiction from his farm tractor in a style that has amassed him millions of views on TikTok.
How can people read more?
Monah University's Better Reading report for 2025 noted a decline in recreational reading among Australians, with more than half of the survey's 1,622 respondents reporting they wanted to read more than they currently do.
Groom said this is a positive sign.
"We've got the right intention there. It's just about this attention economy where it's so difficult for people to find time to read, and I think that that's where alternative formats can really help," she said
"So, things like audiobooks, like digital books, e-books — people can find a way of integrating reading into their lives differently."
However, most respondents — even those from gen Z — still prefer to read books in print format.
"Around 70 to 75 per cent of readers prefer to read in print, and around 20 to 25 per cent prefer to read in digital. And of course, you know some of those cross backwards and forwards between the two," Groom said.
However, she said the biggest growth is occurring in audiobooks.
"The numbers differ, and it's a little bit hard to tell because of the fragmented market, but [audiobook consumption is] probably up around 15 per cent, which is really pretty significant," she said.
Groom said while it's difficult to verify actual numbers, available data suggests the jump is mainly due to young men listening to more audiobooks.
"Most likely they are coming across from podcast into audiobooks, which is really encouraging to see because traditionally young men have not been really avid readers, so it's wonderful to see those people coming into the market," she said.
While the popularity of audiobooks is partly due to convenience — being able to walk your dog, exercise or do housework while enjoying a story — it's also about the comfort that comes from being read to, especially if it's a writer reading their own story, Groom said.
"A lot of [audiobook] memoirs are read by the author, and that's a really kind of special experience in audio, where you get to hear that person's story told in their own words."
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