A short pitch document

The romantasy market doesn't need explaining. What it needs is a structured marketing approach behind the right voice.

I put this together as a small extra to my application for the Marketing Manager role at Pinks Press. It's a quick reading of the market, the reader, and three places I'd start if we worked together — written specifically for an indie press with a real readership rather than a generic "five things to post on social" deck.

Market snapshot Reader profile Three places to start

Romantasy isn't a moment. It's the fastest-growing corner of UK fiction, and it has its own marketing physics.

+41.3%
UK Sci-Fi & Fantasy print sales growth between 2023 and 2024, largely driven by romantasy.
Source: Amra & Elma, 2025 publishing statistics
£83m
UK Fantasy category value in 2024, up from £29m in 2019. Now overtaking Romance in total value.
Source: Authorlink / Nielsen BookData
500–800%
Sales spikes that prominent romantasy titles regularly see within days of going viral on BookTok.
Source: PublishDrive, 2025 romantasy market report
691,000
Online mentions of "romantasy" in 2024 alone. The word now functions as a discovery keyword in its own right.
Source: Infegy social listening, via Hidden Gems Books

The Pinks Press reader is not a casual browser. She's an active member of a discovery community.

Who she is

Primarily women aged 25–40, with the most commercially active sub-segment now sitting in their 30s and 40s, particularly for darker, morally grey romantasy. Reads as both escape and emotional investment. Owns multiple copies of favourite titles. Pre-orders sequels months in advance.

How she finds books

Trusts peer recommendation over publisher marketing. Discovers through BookTok aesthetics, Bookstagram aesthetic carousels, Goodreads lists and Kindle Unlimited "if you liked X" loops. Rarely converts on cold paid ads alone — needs a community signal first, then an ad reinforces what she's already heard about.

What she values

World-building, morally complex characters, slow-burn tension and series continuity. Treats her favourite authors as creators she has a relationship with, not as anonymous IP. Responds strongly to author voice, behind-the-scenes content and acknowledgement of the community itself.

What she's tired of

Generic publisher marketing that talks down to the genre. Aesthetic-only posts with no substance. Ads that treat her as a one-time buyer rather than a series reader. Promo that feels disconnected from the books themselves or from the voice she fell for in the first place.

A few honest observations from looking at your work as a reader and a marketer.

1.

The product is strong, the back catalogue is real

Pinks Press already publishes a working author with multiple completed series, an established audience on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited, and an active Bookstagram tour partnership. This is a different starting point from "we're trying to launch a press from scratch" — there's a readership to grow, not invent.

2.

The brand transition is recent and not fully visible yet

The shift from publishing under "Harriet Moore" to "Pinks Press" as an imprint happened only in the last release cycle. From a marketing perspective, this is the moment when the new imprint identity, voice and reader-facing presence either gets defined deliberately or settles into something accidental. There's a window here.

3.

The marketing engine is currently one person carrying everything

From the outside, it reads like Harriet is still doing most of the marketing herself alongside writing. That's understandable for a single-author indie press, but it puts a hard ceiling on what can be tested, measured, and improved. A part-time marketing manager isn't there to take it all over, but to give some of it structure.

Not a 12-month plan. Three things that could be set up in the first six weeks.

Foundation

A reader newsletter built for series momentum

Authors with 6+ completed series and active readers should be running their own owned channel, not depending only on Amazon and BookTok algorithms. A monthly newsletter with a defined rhythm and a content shape readers expect.

  • Define audience segments (KU readers, series followers, paperback collectors)
  • Set up a release-window cadence with pre-order pushes
  • Behind-the-scenes content that gives readers something other channels don't have
Visibility

A structured social plan with weekly rhythm

Bookstagram and TikTok work best when posts are part of a system, not one-off bursts. A weekly content plan with defined post types, hashtag strategy and feed aesthetic gives the imprint a recognisable presence without requiring hours of creative thinking each day.

  • Content pillars matched to romantasy audience interests
  • Reels and TikTok templates that scale across multiple titles
  • Bookstagram tour planning aligned with release calendar
Performance

Paid social briefed properly, then measured

Meta ads for indie books work, but only when the briefs, audiences and creatives are strategic. I'd brief the campaigns, work with a PPC specialist on the technical setup, and report monthly on what's working — so the budget moves toward what actually drives KU page reads, not just impressions.

  • Audience setup based on existing reader data and lookalikes
  • Creative briefs built around series tropes and reader hooks
  • Monthly performance reports tied to commercial outcomes

Why I'd be a useful person in your corner.

I'm a marketing professional with 15+ years across content, brand and campaign delivery, including over three years working with the UK market. I plan and run multi-channel marketing for small UK businesses — social calendars, newsletters, website work and paid social campaigns coordinated with PPC specialists.

Earlier in my career I worked with publishers on book promotion campaigns and with course authors on educational content, which taught me how authors actually want to work with marketers (and how they don't).

I'm also writing a humorous non-fiction book of my own about rebuilding a working life in the UK as a Ukrainian, around 60% drafted. Working with authors is familiar to me from both sides of the table.

For Pinks Press specifically, I'd bring structure to existing marketing work, run the recurring channels (newsletter, social, paid coordination) and give Harriet back some hours each week to focus on writing.

Happy to chat through any of this.

Available part-time, remote, around the £20/hour mark — open to discussion.