On the NYT’s paperback fiction bestseller list, one name rules them all: Colleen Hoover.
With 8.6m print sales this year, Hoover is outselling the Bible, per The New York Times, and her readers are arguably more devout than the Old Testament’s.
Hoover’s story starts in Texas…
… where she began writing to pass the time at her son’s play rehearsals. She shared her work with her boss who loved it so much that she picked up Hoover’s shifts to give her more time to write.
Hoover is a unicorn in the publishing world for several reasons:
- She defies genre, dabbling in romance, thrillers, and ghost stories, and doesn’t have a massive brand like Harry Potter or Fifty Shades.
- Her success is largely due to her fans, nicknamed CoHorts, who post enthusiastic reviews on TikTok, where the #colleenhoover hashtag has 2.4B+ views.
One publishing exec called the dynamic “the reverse of the Oprah book club,” since hundreds of fans are making the recommendations rather than just one person.
For her part, Hoover has remained true to herself, living on the same plot of land she grew up on, and regularly shopping at Walmart in her pajamas.
