From the NRL to Bachelor to BookTok influencer and a romantasy book deal. Meet Luke Bateman

The Age

2 days ago

On April 22, Bateman posted his first TikTok setting himself up as a book lover who wanted to chat about his favourite genre, fantasy, and in particular, romantasy. 'I love fantasy…but I've never had anywhere to talk about it or share those things because, obviously, being a male…from the country,' he told his followers.
Why has he gained a Booktok following on TikTok?
If you view the comments on any of his posts, it's obvious his audience is predominantly female. In his first post, Bateman even comments 'There's a lot of females here, and you all love smut and spice…I think I may have to have a little delve into it myself and see what all the fuss is about.'
The followers lapped this up and he played up to it, his greeting quickly going from 'Hello BookTok' to 'Hello besties' which has become his trademark address.
His posts are almost always filmed in a truck or in the fields, the dirt and sweat from a hard day's work still visible on him, along with his well-worn Akubra. But he's not shy to show his softer side, even crying when he posted about his new book deal.
Loading
And he has embraced popular romantasy books, like A Court of Thorns and Roses, which decreed him somewhat of a unicorn in the BookTok community – a rugged young man who is passionate about reading genres usually embraced by young women.
What is romantasy?
The term is a melding of two genres: romance and fantasy. But it's the romance side of it that is central to this sub-genre.
The term was added to the Urban Dictionary in 2008 but has gained particular traction in the last decade thanks to authors like Sarah J. Maas of A Court of Thorns and Roses fame – the hashtag ACOTAR has had almost nine billion views on TikTok - and Rebecca Yarros, author of Fourth Wing.
Bateman is a new but enthusiastic consumer of romantasy, even donning a cap sent to him by Dymocks which reads 'romance reader'.
Who has signed him up for a book deal?
Bateman has been signed to a two-book deal by Atria, a brand-new imprint of Simon & Schuster Australia. In the US, where Atria has been around since 2002, it has published bestselling authors like Taylor Jenkins Reid, Colleen Hoover and Fredrik Backman.
Bateman's first book will be out in early 2027 and he says it will be a coming of age story about a young boy battling hardships and set in a fantasy world. It's a story he says he has carried with him since childhood and now it's time to get it out of his head and onto the page.
Why sign him if he has no book yet?
While you don't have to have written an entire book to nab a book deal, Atria publisher Anthea Bariamis says the publishing house would never sign an author for fiction without seeing whether they can actually write first.
'[Luke] and I had a long meeting where he went over the scope of the series he was working on, detailing the magic system and the journey of the protagonist across the series. These are the two things that, in my opinion at least, are most important for assessing fantasy submissions,' she says.
'He then submitted a writing sample, a thorough chapter outline for book one, and a synopsis for the series. In total, we had almost 10,000 words to assess his commercial and literary potential.'
Why has this sparked debate?
The debate was sparked by one post made on May 26 – in which Bateman announced he had been signed by Atria – and in particular one line in that post in which he said 'I can't wait to write this book'.
Loading
The comments section blew up. TikTokkers could not understand how someone who had not even written a book could be signed by a major publisher.
'I'm so confused – how did you get a book deal with no book written?' one asked.
But angry comments soon focused on race, gender and privilege.
'This opportunity is the intersection of white privilege, male privilege, and pretty privilege,' a TikTokker wrote. Another added: 'There are so many talented and skilled authors from marginalised communities who HAVE put in the effort, who HAVE worked to refine their skills, who HAVE worked to build their platform, and yet this is what publishing prioritises. Yikes!'
And from another: 'Firstly, congratulations, I'm happy for you! I also want to acknowledge that had you been a woman (especially of colour) this probably wouldn't have happened.'
But for every negative comment, there was a positive one.
'Why the hate?' one user asked. 'Why is it about race? Why is it about gender? We made him famous. Now we are tearing him down? He did nothing wrong.'