Alchemised hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list this fall. Legendary paid more than three million dollars for the film rights, reportedly a record for a debut novel. The book started its life in 2023 as “Manacled,” a Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger fan fiction posted on Archive of Our Own. SenLinYu stripped out the Harry Potter names, renamed the leads Helena Marino and Kaine Ferron, and sold the result to Del Rey as an original dark romantasy.
The industry has turned it into the current business model of an entire genre.
