How ‘Fearful’ Author Lauren Roberts Became a Romantasy Star (Exclusive)

Lauren Roberts always loved to write, but when she first launched her BookTok account at age 16, she didn’t expect it to help her land a book deal.

Roberts, who was raised in Michigan, was an avid reader growing up, but fell out of the habit as she got older. It wasn’t until she was 17, and found a subgenre of fantasy books that featured romance (known as romantasy), that the habit came back full force. Roberts also noticed an online collective of readers who loved romantasy just as much as she did, which encouraged her to create her own book-focused account on TikTok.

“I was like, ‘If no one follows, I’m going to delete it. I’m not going to do this,’” Roberts, 22, recalls to PEOPLE. “All of a sudden, I remember sitting there and watching the comments and the likes roll in. It was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe that people cared about what I was saying.”

Two years later, Roberts began posting about one of her own projects: a romantasy novel that she’d started writing in her bedroom. Roberts would go on TikTok Live to get her followers’ opinions about the story. People in the comments began giving her plot ideas. One user even helped Roberts come up with the name of the book’s protagonists, Paedyn.

“I started writing the book and I would promote it as I was writing,” Roberts says. She dropped out of college to focus on her work and, at age 20, self-published what would become the first book in her Powerless trilogy.

Roberts was originally content with being an indie author, but readers’ love of the book blew up. In 2023, publishing giant Simon & Schuster reached out to Roberts about picking up the series.

Now, Roberts is the bestselling author of the novels Powerful, Reckless, and Fearless. Her latest book, a novella titled Fearful set within the Powerless universe, is out on Sept. 2.

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Four books in, and Roberts’ story is what author dreams are made of. But when she began her publishing journey, Roberts says that romantasy as we know it today was still in its early stages of popularity — and she hit the trend right as it was starting its stratospheric climb to popularity.

“Romantasy was on the rise,” Roberts says. “That was something that was growing. If I were to write [the book] now and try and get it out there, it probably wouldn’t have happened the same.”

Today, romantasy’s staying power can’t be understated. Romance has always been popular, but romantasy is steadily becoming one of its most visible subgenres, as seen with the success of blockbuster authors like Sarah J. Maas or Rebecca Yarros, or the growing number of authors debuting in the genre today.

“I think we are all searching for escapism,” Roberts says of the genre’s appeal. “Our world is not very fun. We’re all looking for somewhere to run off to, in a sense … Especially in your young teenage years, it’s so formative. We’re just looking for that yearning and that desire that romantasy gives us.”

That’s why the Powerless books are getting a new life beyond the page too. Roberts is collaborating with Funko to create a line of Pop! figures inspired by her characters — the first Funko toys to be created alongside an author. A television series of the books is also in development at Prime Video.

“I have big dreams of screenwriting and being on set one day, because that is something I would love to move my career into in the future,” Roberts says. “This is so cool, to be able to pull back the curtain and be involved.”

Though Roberts notes that finding readers via the BookTok algorithm can be “the luck of the draw,” the platform is more than just a tool for getting reading recommendations: It’s a community, especially for the next generation of writers.

“It’s never been so accessible to be published and follow your dreams, in any criteria,” Roberts says. “I truly think this generation’s next Emily Dickinson and Shakespeare, they’re on the other side of the phone screen, waiting to be told that they can do it … as soon as you see someone else do it, which is now so prominent with the internet, it spurs you to do the same.”

Roberts teases that Powerless fans of all stripes will find something to love in her latest book, which follows Mara as she returns to the kingdom of Ilya (“I’m very excited for the Kitt lovers and the Kitt haters to read it”). But Fearful also marks a new beginning for the writer.

“I’m slowly stepping into how I want to write in the future,” Roberts says. “I love romantasy and I’m going to stay here for a while, but I really wanted to take the writing and the storytelling and make it feel almost a bit literary fiction-esque.”

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Looking back on her journey as an author — and all of the writing yet to come — Roberts says she now has the confidence to take that leap.

“With Fearless, I came to this conclusion that that book took years off my life in the best way,” Roberts says. “I worked so long on that book, and at the end of it, I was so proud of what I had done. There’s of course going to be people that don’t like it, but that’s okay, because I love it.”

“Self-doubt is always going to be there, but I’ve learned to cope with it much better and spin it in a positive light,” she adds. “I just can’t wait for people to read and I can’t wait for it to find its people.”

Fearful is now available from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, wherever books are sold.