The strength of the romance category in the publishing industry has led to several outbound licensing programs of late (as we have covered here and here). These include examples that have crossed into mainstream distribution, such as Rebecca Yarros’ Empyrean series, as well as many more specialist programs targeting bookish readers mostly through e-commerce and subscription services. The landscape is diverse, ranging from romantasy (romance + fantasy) — which has spurred many of the largest licensing programs — to sports romances (e.g., Heated Rivalry, which, on the strength of the book-based TV series, has extended into a dedicated merchandise website as well as Funko figurines).
A perhaps less high profile but still notable trend over the past several years consists of properties from the worlds of entertainment and sports extending into licensed original novels that fit into the romance genre. For instance:
- The Star Wars franchise has been a key player, producing several titles in partnership with various imprints of the Penguin Random House and Disney publishing families over the past decade. Examples include the new young adult romance Star Wars: Eyes Like Stars, by Ashley Poston (Random House/Star Wars), which came out on July 21 of this year, The Princess and the Scoundrel by Beth Revis (Random House Worlds, 2023), and A Queen’s Hope by E.K. Johnson (Disney Lucasfilm Press, 2022).
- Star Wars’ corporate sibling IP, Disney Princess, has also been active, notably through the Meant to Be series from Disney Hyperion. Seven titles have been published to date, starting with If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy in August 2021 and most recently Snow This Is Love, a holiday collection of original short stories by the authors of the series, set for an October 2026 release. Each book in the Meant to Be series is written by a well-known romance author and puts a Disney Princess into a modern romance setting.
- As part of Dungeons & Dragons’ extensive officially licensed publishing program, which covers a wide range of formats and categories, Random House Worlds published The Feywild Job by fantasy author C.L. Folk in June of this year. Book Riot named this cozy fantasy romance as one of the most anticipated romantasy titles of 2026.
- In an older example from the world of sports romance, NASCAR paired with Harlequin in a long-running partnership that started with Dangerous Curves by Pamela Britton in 2005. All told, the program yielded 91 titles, by a variety of authors, before ending in 2010.
Licensed novels that are shelved in other categories of fiction can also have strong romance story lines. For example, Assassin’s Creed: Heresy is typically considered a historical thriller, but romance is a big part of the plot. Similarly, Star Trek: Imzadi and Star Trek: Imzadi II, among other Star Trek titles; several Doctor Who novels, including Doctor Who: Human Nature, Doctor Who: The Stone Rose, and more; a number of titles in the Halo book series; and The Lost Stars by Claudia Gray in the Star Wars franchise are all typically shelved as science fiction but have a strong romance element.
While romance is top of mind as a publishing category today, licensed properties have also fit squarely into other categories of genre fiction over the years. These include not just the most common example, science fiction and fantasy, but things like historical fiction and mystery. Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire (DK, 2024), for example, is shelved as historical fiction in many bookstores.
Probably the most consistently successful example of this phenomenon comprises licensed mystery series based on TV sleuths. These can sometimes be in-world tie-ins. In the long-running series of novels based on the Murder She Wrote TV series, which has produced more than 50 novels and counting, the fictional center of the series, mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher, is the “co-author” of the books. And, in the novels adapted from the Castle series, the show’s protagonist, Richard Castle, is credited as the author, and the stories feature his in-world fictional detective Nikki Heat.
Additional examples, many of which lasted well beyond the TV shows themselves, include series tied to Monk, Diagnosis: Murder, Columbo, Veronica Mars, and The X-Files. And new examples pop up from time to time as well. The Masterpiece Mystery! series Miss Scarlet and the Duke has led to a new original fiction story, Miss Scarlet and the Duke: House of Mystery by Victoria Dowd, with audio and digital editions published last month by Simon & Schuster imprint Simon Maverick and a print edition expected to follow.
If you’re interested in the intersection of licensing and publishing, check out Karen Raugust’s column, Licensing Hotline, and her other writings in Publishers Weekly. You can see a list of recent stories here.
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