QBD bookstores will open early and host special events to celebrate the surging interest in fantasy fiction and the changed life-cycle of books.
QBD says fantasy is now the chain’s leading fiction category, with some titles being pre-ordered months ahead.
It has declared October 2026 Fantasy Month and will stage early morning openings, special release events and a midnight book launch as part of the celebrations.
QBD Books CEO Nick Croydon said social platforms such as TikTok helped change the “lifecycle” of books.
“Fantasy has always had passionate readers, but BookTok has given that community somewhere to find each other,” he said.
“We’re seeing readers discover a single title online and then go back through an author’s entire catalogue or immerse themselves in a series.
“For retailers, that changes the way we think about a book’s lifecycle. A title doesn’t necessarily have its biggest cultural moment when it’s first published. It can find a completely new audience months or even years later.”
Fantasy Month celebrations will also include:
- Many QBD stores have opened early on September 30 for the release of Rebecca Yarros’s Threshing Day.
- On October 13, five selected QBD Books stores will open early for the release of The Sixth Faction.
- On October 27, QBD stores across Australia will open an hour early for the release of the latest instalment in Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses series – A Court of Splintered Harmony.
Brisbane readers can access the book even earlier. On the night of October 26, there will be a launch event at Cloudland, running from 8pm to 1am and culminating with fans having access to the new book from midnight.
QBD is seeing that online fantasy fandom retains a strong connection to physical books, bookstores and shared experiences.
“There’s something interesting happening where an incredibly digital community still has a very strong attachment to physical books and physical bookstores,” Mr Croydon said.
“The conversation might start on TikTok, but readers still want the book on their shelf. Increasingly, they also want to share the experience of getting it with other fans.”
