Emily Henry on Writing Best-Sellers Without Tours and TikTok

Emily Henry has never been on a book tour or done a traditional bookstore reading. She’s not on TikTok. Her Instagram features book covers and an occasional giveaway; there are no closet tours, rescue cats or elegantly plated snacks.

Henry doesn’t want to be, as she puts it, a “writer slash mini-celebrity.” She’s a romance novelist, full stop. It’s an uncommon, maybe even gutsy, approach in the era of the all-access pass, when readers of popular fiction expect a level of quasi intimacy with favorite writers.

Nevertheless, Henry — “EmHen” to fans — has launched five No. 1 best-sellers in four years. Her latest blockbuster, “Funny Story,” has been on the best-seller list for nine weeks. In its first two months, the book racked up almost 60,000 customer reviews on Goodreads and sparked a cottage industry of T-shirts, sweatshirts, candles, bookmarks and stickers.

All told, Henry has sold seven million copies of her books in the United States since 2020. Three of her novels are in development to become films. On Tuesday, Henry announced that another, “Happy Place,” is going to be a series on Netflix.

“It’s been kind of a whirlwind,” Henry said. “The last four years have felt like they were 35 seconds long.”

Chatting with Henry outside Coffee Emporium in leafiest Cincinnati, it was hard to imagine her retreating into quietude. She presented as an instant connector, parrying substantive conversation while perusing a menu that included a Brew Hoo, a Flying Piggie and an Orange Jillius. And while we’re in the vicinity of old school mall food courts: Imagine Elisabeth Shue in “