Australian readers are gravitating toward romance on their eReaders and epic fantasy on their headphones, according to the Kobo 2026 Book Report released on 11 November 2026. The annual survey of Kobo users worldwide points to a year shaped by niche online communities, screen adaptations and a wide appetite for genres that range from dark romance to cosy mysteries.
Different formats, different tastes
The report's most notable finding for Australia is the gap between what readers choose as eBooks and what they prefer to hear as audiobooks. Romance remains a major force in the eBook market, with Elle Kennedy and Sarah J. Maas among the authors featuring prominently on Kobo's 2026 bestseller list. Sports romance, helped by the Heated Rivalry and Off Campus series, has drawn interest that Kobo says extends to Canada, the United States, Italy and Spain.
Audiobook listeners, by contrast, gravitate toward long-form epic fantasy. Kobo names J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series, Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy and Raymond E. Feist's Magician as established favourites in audio form. The report does not explain why these titles resonate in that format, but the listening experience lets readers follow sprawling, multi-volume stories during everyday routines.
Discovery moves into smaller communities
Social media still shapes what people read, but Kobo says recommendations are fragmenting. Instead of one viral title dominating everyone's feed, readers are finding groups built around cosy fantasy, dark romance, so-called sad girl lit and specialised romantic fantasy subgenres. Michael Tamblyn, CEO of Rakuten Kobo, said the company "stopped seeing 'one book for everyone' bestsellers and started watching what happens when fans find their people." Kobo also notes that this shift gives independent authors a chance to build audiences in niche genres, something it has observed through its Kobo Writing Life self-publishing platform.
Screen adaptations still lift the books behind them
Film and television remain powerful drivers of interest. According to Kobo, readers' interest often rises when a trailer appears and can keep climbing for one to two months after release. Titles drawing attention in 2026 included The Odyssey, Wuthering Heights, East of Eden, The Love Hypothesis, Verity and Sunrise on the Reaping. Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary stood out as Kobo's most-read page-to-screen adaptation of the year and became its bestselling title in the United States, a result the company attributes to the film's success.
What Kobo expects in 2027
Kobo's literary experts forecast four trends for next year: folk horror drawing on rural myth, dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction, darker examinations of traditional domestic life following the popularity of Caro Claire Burke's Yesteryear, and romantic fantasy that blends in political intrigue and mythology. These are projections rather than measured results, and the report presents them as expectations for the coming year.
For more on Kobo's digital reading ecosystem, see Kobo Australia.