FairyLoot

  1. Home
  2. Wiki
FairyLoot
Company typeSubscription service
Founded2016; 9 years ago (2016) in London, United Kingdom
Founder
  • Anissa de Gomery (co-founder)
  • Michael Sammer (co-founder)
Websitefairyloot.com

FairyLoot (founded 2016)[1][2] is a UK-based[3] online subscription service and store that produces exclusive editions of fantasy books. The company, which offers multiple types of subscription across fantasy subgenres, is best known for its monthly boxes that ship internationally and contain exclusive redesigned editions of new hardcover books and licensed merchandise.[4]  

History

[edit]

FairyLoot was founded in 2016 by cofounders Anissa de Gomery and Michael Sammer. The company was initially home-based and marketed directly to cofounder de Gomery's existing social media followers[2] with its offering being limited to a young adult fantasy book box containing a new hardback release and up to 5 exclusive items.[5] The company's first featured book was The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury.[6]

Since 2016, FairyLoot has expanded its subscription to produce exclusive hardback editions of new releases in collaboration with book printers and publishers.[2] For its young adult book box, FairyLoot also produces book related merchandise and collectables[7] with past items including enamel pins, fabric items and a series of “tarot cards” featuring character art.[8] During the COVID-19 pandemic FairyLoot gained further popularity[9] with the company's CEO attributing the growth in subscribers to people "rediscovering reading" during the COVID-19 lockdowns.[2]

FairyLoot's CEO de Gomery, has stated that the company's aim is to create a sense of community through a subscription where readers “would all receive the same book every month and discover that world for the first time, together”;[2] this along with the company's emphasis on subscribers promoting FairyLoot products on social media[10] have also been attributed to FairyLoot's growth.[11] The company experienced a tenfold increase in sales between 2020 and 2024 and is now estimated to ship over 10 thousand books a month[5] including both subscription books and standalone special editions of major upcoming fantasy fiction titles.[12][13][14] The exclusivity of the company's products, with a waitlist in place for all its subscription options,[15] has resulted in the company's editions often having much greater resale values.[16] By July 2024, FairyLoot had grown to employ 35 members of staff[17][5]and reported a yearly profit of £2,650,778.[12]

In April 2024 the subscription service expanded its offering to provide a romantasy focussed book box.[18] The subscription was well received with over 10,000 people signing up for a waitlist prior to the release[15][19] of its first box, featuring Analeigh Sbrana's Lore of the Wilds, shipped in May 2024.[20] In addition to the company's “commitment to championing diverse voices”[1][2] FairyLoot has also included independently published books in its romantasy subscription differentiating it from other book box subscription services.[19] In 2025, FairyLoot launched an epic fantasy subscription box in response to strong demand from customers.[21]

Like many “book boxes” FairyLoot is considered an increasingly important marketing tool for many books,[22] with a marketing manager at Sourcebooks, the publisher of one of FairyLoot's 2020 books, stating in an interview that book boxes like FairyLoot provide a valuable “nonreturnable sale” with “digital and social promotion through unboxings and other user-generated content”.[23] The large number of instant sales afforded by FairyLoot's subscriber base is often sufficient for a book to feature in the Sunday Times Bestseller List following its release[24] and the success of books such as Saara El-Arifi's Faebound, which was featured in FairyLoot's December 2023 Adult Fantasy subscription[25] and sold 14,503 copies in its first week,[26] have been attributed to concentrated first week sales to subscribers of services like FairyLoot.[27]

Publishing imprint

[edit]

In January 2025, FairyLoot announced the formation of their Science Fiction Fantasy publishing imprint, Wayward txf,[28] in collaboration with Transworld.[24]

The imprints first book, Sable Sorenson's Dire Bound, was acquired in a 7 figure, 3-book deal[29][30] and subsequently published in August 2025.[31] The book was an instant The Sunday Times fiction hardback bestseller.[32]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Our Story – FairyLoot". Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Anissa de Gomery". Female Leadership in Publishing. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  3. ^ "FAIRYLOOT LTD overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  4. ^ M, Kennie (2023-06-02). "10 Book Subscriptions Worth Checking Out | TheReviewGeek Recommends". The Review Geek. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  5. ^ a b c Nawotka |, Ed. "FairyLoot's Fantasy Book Boxes Cast a Spell Over Readers". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  6. ^ "March-2016-FairyLoot-Box-1 – FairyLoot". Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  7. ^ "YA Book + Items Subscription – FairyLoot". Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  8. ^ Jones, Jada (2023-07-24). "We rounded up our favourite book boxes of 2024". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  9. ^ Nawotka |, Ed. "Transworld, FairyLoot Partner on New Fantasy Imprint". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  10. ^ "What is the photo challenge?". Help & Support. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  11. ^ Shen, Sabrina (2019-01-01). "Purchase Decisions for Bookish Boxes: Influence of Instagram". Honors College Theses.
  12. ^ a b "FairyLoot limited annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024". 30 December 2024. p. 4.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ^ "Spredges effect: why books are becoming more beautiful". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  14. ^ "Do subscription boxes have a long tail?—The sub box model surges at launch". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  15. ^ a b Hackett, Laura (2024-03-15). "Why young women love book boxes — the craze shaking up publishing". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  16. ^ "Secondhand FairyLoot, OwlCrate, Illumicrate, and Other Limited Editions". pangobooks.com. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  17. ^ "The Bookseller Rising Stars: Introducing the Class of 2024". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  18. ^ Mussen, Maddy (2024-02-22). "Sex, dungeons and dragons: are you ready for romantasy?". The Standard. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  19. ^ a b "'Thousands' join the waiting list for FairyLoot's new romantasy subscription box". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  20. ^ "PAST BOXES: Romantasy Book-Only Subscription – Page 3 – FairyLoot". Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  21. ^ "FairyLoot to launch an Epic Fantasy subscription box". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  22. ^ Diaz, Renata Rafaela (23 April 2024). "An Examination of Fourth Wing and Babel as Case Studies for Diversity in Spec-Fic Publishing" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  23. ^ Nee, Katrina (2020). "Publishers innovating marketing through alternative channels : reaching readers beyond the page". www.theseus.fi. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  24. ^ a b Thomas, Rhys (2025-04-16). "A new chapter for publishing? Book subscription services launch their own titles". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  25. ^ "PAST BOXES: Adult Book-Only Subscription – Page 4 – FairyLoot". Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  26. ^ "Saara El-Arifi's Faebound leads a subscription box-fuelled fantasy flurry". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  27. ^ "Do subscription boxes have a long tail?—The sub box model surges at launch". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  28. ^ "Transworld and FairyLoot reveal name and logo of collaborative fantasy imprint". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  29. ^ "Transworld triumphs in 'hugely competitive' eight-way auction for three-book series from self-published Sable Sorensen". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  30. ^ Maher |, John. "Book Deals: Week of May 26, 2025". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  31. ^ WSJ, Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg | Photographs by Madeleine Hordinski for (2025-08-30). "Direwolves, Vampires and Sex! It's the Formula for a Hit Book". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  32. ^ Times, The Sunday. "The Sunday Times Bestsellers List — the latest UK book charts". Archived from the original on 2025-09-18. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
[edit]