Rising demand for horror novels as we read our way through dark times

AS A genre, horror fiction has always thrived when times are turbulent and readers are anxious. Recent figures show that horror novels are selling briskly in our post-pandemic era, when devastating wars, political unrest, economic inflation and climate change are putting people on edge.

In the UK, trade publication Bookseller notes that sales of horror titles rose by 54 per cent year on year between 2022 and 2023. In the first three months of 2024, sales were 34 per cent higher in value than in the same period of the previous year.

In Singapore, leading wholesaler Pansing says there is “a healthy growing interest in new horror authors and titles… Stephen King continues to do well for us. But we’re also seeing consistent demand for critically acclaimed horror authors such as Graham Masterton, Paul Tremblay, Stephen Graham Jones, Grady Hendrix and others”. Pansing declined to share figures.