# She Wrote Her Debut at 18 ā€” Now It's a Viral Romantasy Series | Powerless by Lauren Roberts Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-to-read-next-book-recommendations-for-romance-thrillers-escape-reads-9873/she-wrote-her-debut-at-18-now-it-s-a-viral-romantasy-series-powerless-by-lauren-roberts Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-to-read-next-book-recommendations-for-romance-thrillers-escape-reads-9873/she-wrote-her-debut-at-18-now-it-s-a-viral-romantasy-series-powerless-by-lauren-roberts.md Podcast: [What to Read Next ā€” Book Recommendations for Romance, Thrillers & Escape Reads](https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-to-read-next-book-recommendations-for-romance-thrillers-escape-reads-9873) Published: 2026-05-21T10:00:00+00:00 Episode link: http://www.whattoreadnextblog.com Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/d7f40372-dd2e-40e9-8b20-13bd0b883b4c.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/what-to-read-next-book-recommendations-for-romance-thrillers-escape-reads-9873/episodes/she-wrote-her-debut-at-18-now-it-s-a-viral-romantasy-series-powerless-by-lauren-roberts Duration seconds: 1073 ## Resource This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. She wrote her debut novel at 18, self-published it, went viral on TikTok ā€” and now she's a Simon & Schuster author with a dramatized audiobook. Lauren Roberts is living proof that passion plus scrappiness can take you very, very far. In this episode, Lauren breaks down the wild origin story behind Powerless ā€” from pitching the idea live on TikTok to Googling her way through ISBN numbers and copyright filings. We talk about what makes the Powerless trilogy so addictive (enemies to lovers! forbidden romance! high-stakes trials!), the incredible new dramatized audiobook of Powerless , and the literary fiction authors who are quietly shaping Lauren's writing voice. Whether you're a romantasy superfan or just looking for your next unputdownable series, this one's for you. šŸ“š Books Mentioned Powerless by Lauren Roberts ā€” Buy on Amazon | Romantasy / YA Fantasy | Audio āœ…( Dramatized Audiobook available! ) Reckless by Lauren Roberts ā€” Buy on Amazon | Romantasy / YA Fantasy | Audio āœ… Fearless by Lauren Roberts ā€” Buy on Amazon | Romantasy / YA Fantasy | Audio āœ… Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake ā€” Buy on Amazon | Literary Fiction / Romance | Audio āœ… Masters of Death by Olivie Blake ā€” Buy on Amazon | Literary Fiction / Fantasy | Audio āœ… One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig ā€” Buy on Amazon | Gothic Fantasy | Audio āœ… Vicious by V.E. Schwab ā€” Buy on Amazon | Dark Fantasy | Audio āœ… Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson ā€” Buy on Amazon | Fantasy / Romantasy (Duology) | Audio āœ… ā±ļø Timestamps [00:00] Welcome & introducing Lauren Roberts [00:45] Lauren's background ā€” writing at 18 and the TikTok origin story [02:30] Figuring out self-publishing from scratch (ISBNs, copyright, eā€¦ ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/what-to-read-next-book-recommendations-for-romance-thrillers-escape-reads-9873/episodes/she-wrote-her-debut-at-18-now-it-s-a-viral-romantasy-series-powerless-by-lauren-roberts/transcription-requests` ā€” Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-to-read-next-book-recommendations-for-romance-thrillers-escape-reads-9873/she-wrote-her-debut-at-18-now-it-s-a-viral-romantasy-series-powerless-by-lauren-roberts.md` ā€” Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.