Ana Huang is one of the most popular authors on TikTok, known for her steam convolute and Kings of Sin Romanians. Now, he is back with a new series that is already heating up the internet.

Forbes reported in July, the 33-year-old romance writer sold more than 1.4 million copies of her books in 2024 alone — and that’s well ahead of the release of her 13th book on October 22, strikerwhich is already a best seller. The 592-page novel tells the story of a talented footballer who falls in love with his rival’s sister, a former prima ballerina.

Huang spoke with Yahoo Entertainment about her latest project, her journey from self-published to superstar writer, and BookTok’s constant discourse about sex scenes in romance novels.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you decide what? striker and who was it going to be about?

Ana Huang: This is the first book of The gods of the game series and Asher, who is the main male character here, has actually appeared as a supporting character in some of my previous books. I thought there was so much to explore with this famous Premier League footballer in terms of what his career and personal life would be like. I found it so interesting because it’s so flirty on the surface, but there’s so much depth beyond that. The challenge, for me, was who I was going to do with it. I had to work harder to reveal Scarlett (Asher’s love interest) than Asher because I had two years to spend with him. I decided I needed someone who understood the pressures of his career.

It sounds like you put a lot of thought into how your characters would fit well. How do you keep things looking realistic?

Huang: I have to figure out, OK, what is their emotional wound? What is their personal journey in this book? What prevents them from being open to love at the beginning of the story? Only certain plots make sense for certain types of characters, and when I watch them together, I think, how do these two people make each other better? How do they help each other overcome their hurts and what do they really like about the other person? I think that’s what makes a love story more realistic – when you read a book and it makes you believe that they are able to overcome obstacles even after the book ends and they live happily ever after.

You talk about your characters as if when the book ends, they’re still coming out. How do you see them?

Huang: They definitely come across in their backgrounds. They live their lives. You will usually see previous couples appear in the future. (My books are) interconnected standalones, so you can read each book completely on its own without losing context. When I walk into (these books) it’s like walking into a family. It’s like every book is a different house and you go to a party and sometimes you see neighbors coming. Each book has a main couple, but all the other couples are still living their lives – going on vacations, getting married, and having children. Their story doesn’t end just because the book ends.

Your story is incredible – you wrote a lot at the beginning of the pandemic, self-published it, and broke out on TikTok. This is the dream of many people. But what happened before that? How did you learn to write and how did you decide that this is what you really wanted to do?

Huang: I started writing since I was 5 years old. My mother (asked) me to write him a short story every day. She didn’t tell me it was to improve my English. She was very conscious of nurturing that hobby of mine and took me to the library every weekend. I grew up a reader, but had no formal (writing) education outside of English classes in school. It was my creative outlet through middle school and high school and I never shared what I wrote with anyone during those years and looking back I’m glad I didn’t because it’s not cool. As I got older and started to burn out a little at my day job, I knew I loved writing as a hobby, but I never thought I’d make it a career until the pandemic hit. It was the highlight for me to rediscover my love of writing, which I had lost a bit after college when life was so busy.

I think a lot of people, especially on BookTok, are inspired by that. But if I mention BookTok, I have to ask how it exists so often speech about how carbon black it’s the only thing people i am reading. When that topic comes up, how do you react?

Huang: It seems that this type of conversation is making a comeback. It’s been the same speech for the past four years. It’s interesting to me because I feel like people have this very flashy reaction to sex, especially when it’s focused on women. In my books, there are spicy scenes, but if you calculated the percentage of spicy scenes, it’s like less than 20% of them. It’s not all sex and I don’t write erotica – there’s nothing wrong with erotica either, it’s just its own genre – but to me it’s funny when people read racy scenes and think, “This is all rubbish.” Well, no! What do you think happens in the other 350 pages, you know? Just because a book has sex doesn’t mean there’s no personal or character development or plot. It’s a little frustrating to me that the moment people hit a spicy scene, it’s like all the other scenes don’t exist anymore. Sex exists in other genres, but people don’t call it smut. There are so many spicy scenes Game of thrones, but no one ever calls that “just smut”.

Do you have a favorite trope or relationship dynamic that you enjoy writing about?

Huang: I love a good enemies to lovers arc. I love grumpy sunshine and I love a good grovel. If fictional men suffer a little, great. There are also a lot of smaller scenes that I really enjoy writing. I don’t even realize I’m doing it consciously, but I feel like there’s a similar scene in all my books with a big dance or a gala or a club.

What advice do you have for people who love to write but don’t know where to start?

Huang: Just start! I know it sounds easier than it is, because there is so much that goes through our minds when we try to write a story for the first time, but the most inspired writers are also heavy readers. When you’re reading all these books that you love and are inspired by, there can be a bit of pressure to see these books finished and think that my first draft has to live up to the other books I’ve read. You can’t compare the first draft to someone else’s finished product. Once you release that mental block, it becomes much easier to sit down and think, “OK, I’m just writing this for me.” I think we all learn how to grow as we continue to write. And the magic, I think, is also in the editing. You can’t edit a blank page, so you just get the story out and everything can be worked out in the later stages.

I know there is already a second book in the series on the horizon. Can you give us any information about it?

Huang: It’s called defender, and when people read striker and see the title, they’ll know who it’s about. I can’t go into too many spoilers, but it will also have a bit of forbidden romance because the heroine is the coach’s daughter.