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How Powerless author Lauren Roberts became a bestseller at just 22 years old
The idea for Lauren Roberts' debut novel came to her when she was just 18 years old.
So she did what any teenager with access to a phone would do next: start a live stream to share her idea with BookTok.
"And [my followers] were like, 'We want to read it!' Telling me to add this trope and that trope," the US writer tells ABC Arts.
She spent the next three months writing Powerless, which went on to become a bestselling YA romantic fantasy (romantasy) novel, in between studying at college and working a part-time job.
"I'd be up until 4am every day writing, and then I'd wake up and go to school and then [to my job] and do all of that all over again."
After finishing the first draft, Roberts hired a freelance editor to help shape her manuscript, asked her mum if she could leave college and moved back home, where she Googled: "How to self-publish a book."
Somehow, in 2023, she pulled it together and published her debut just after her 19th birthday.
The world was very interested, as it turns out, in Roberts' protagonist Paedyn Gray, a pickpocket from the slums of Ilya considered a powerless Ordinary in a society that only serves Elites with special abilities.
Until, that is, she unwittingly saves the life of Prince Malakai and is thrust into the kingdom's annual purging competition, a series of deadly trials meant to showcase the most powerful Elites and reinforce the tyrant King Edric's rule.
By late 2023, Roberts had signed a deal with a traditional publisher who wanted to pick up the first instalment in her dystopian tale of romance and political intrigue.
Since then, she's written four more books (the third novel in the Powerless trilogy, Fearless, came out in April) and become a New York Times bestselling author. And a TV adaptation is underway.
All this by the age of 22.
"I can't believe this has happened. I didn't imagine this would ever be a thing," Roberts says of her success.
She says life has simultaneously changed "so much" and "not at all". She's still living in the same apartment with her cats.
But she's quit her part-time job and is now writing romantasy full time.
"I get up and I just write most of the day. But, aside from incredible [book] tours — when I get to meet so many people that love these books and it's like, 'Whoa, this is crazy' — it doesn't feel big. It's just me in my apartment."
Roberts is still learning to navigate the pressure — and scrutiny — that have accompanied her success.
Not only is she a young author new to the publishing world, who started out as a BookTok influencer, she's also faced criticism over what some readers believe are similarities between her debut and popular YA fantasy series such as Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games and Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen.
Roberts has been open about this for years.
"Absolutely, there are similarities to The Hunger Games … and to so many other amazing books out there," she says now.
"And that's how it is because there are billions of works."
Still, the Goodreads pages for her books are filled with reviews by readers arguing the Powerless series is, at best, derivative and too heavily reliant on romance and dystopian fiction tropes and, at worst, a rip-off of various fantasy novels.
Roberts says this "can be a little frustrating".
"But I do remind myself that, a lot of the time, they're 14-year-olds and we know how the internet is. And at the end of the day, there's inspiration from every angle, and tropes are something that are in every book.
"On the internet, I don't feel the need to address it because it's simply not true."
This strategy is working — for now, at least.
While Roberts can't say much about the Powerless TV adaptation, she confirms, "There are things happening behind the scenes [and] we're very excited."
There's also an upcoming international book tour, including Australia.
"We're travelling from one side of Australia to the other, with tons of stops, and I'm really excited to answer the readers' burning questions," she says.
There are more books in the works, too, including another Powerless novella titled Fearful, out in September.
After that, Roberts plans to slow down the release schedule.
Not only did she write Powerless in three months, she also finished the first drafts for follow-up books Reckless and Fearless in the same amount of time. Roberts wrote Powerful, the first Powerless novella, in just 28 days.
"It is daunting. It's not like, 'I'll just write for two hours today and whatever.' It's definitely three months of head-down writing," Roberts says of her process up until now.
"This past year, it has been go, go, go. So I'm reaching a point where I do want to space out the books a little more. Nothing crazy, but even just writing one book a year."
Rebecca Yarros, another high-profile romantasy author, signalled plans to do the same in November 2023.
At the same time, the publishing industry is facing increasing comparisons to fast fashion, with some readers attributing the "Sheinification of books" to what they perceive as the decreasing quality of fantasy novels. The Powerless series is frequently brought up as part of these conversations online.
Roberts doesn't let the criticism get in her way, instead choosing to "focus on the positives".
She says her number one goal in finishing the Powerless series is "staying true to what 18-year-old me started".
Lauren Roberts will be discussing Powerless at events in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth from June 21-29.
