Smutty profits: Why Canada should invest in its hopeless romantics
Posted April 30, 2026 5:12 am.
If you’ve felt compelled to pick up a steamy, smutty book throughout the last few months, you wouldn’t have been the first – and you probably won’t be the last.
It’s no doubt romance novels are having their moment, and besides the books themselves, readers and consumers alike are going beyond the pages and diving into their respective worlds.
Host Maria Kestane speaks to Deborah Aarts, a freelance business writer, about how Canadians are opting to invest in community, and how the recent boom in romance novels could teach other traditional media how to meet consumers where they’re at.
You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.Add CityNews Edmonton as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.
