Dialogue Books falls for Sarah Desai's TikTok sensation

Dialogue Books has snapped up The Dating Plan by Sara Desai, a "swoon-worthy" South Asian romantic comedy, secured in a three-book deal.

In her first acquisition for the publisher, Amy Baxter acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to the Marriage Game series from Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House US. 

The Dating Plan, the first book in the trilogy, has been the subject of over 3.5 million views on TikTok since its original publication in the US last year. The e-book and audio editions were released by Dialogue in the UK in February, and all three books in the series are set to publish in paperback in the UK in July.

The Dating Plan follows software engineer Daisy Patel, who has no interest in love and is facing mounting pressure from her family to get married. Left with few options, she asks her childhood crush—who himself needs a marriage of convenience to fulfil the terms of his late grandfather’s will—to be her decoy fiancé.

"I am absolutely delighted to be publishing The Dating Plan and my South Asian romantic comedy series with Dialogue Books in the UK and Commonwealth," Desai said. "With their commitment to diversity and inclusivity in publishing, Dialogue is the perfect home for Daisy, Liam and the meddling aunties of the Patel family."

Baxter, who is also the editor-in-chief of award-winning literary platform Bad Form, added: “I’m so excited to be publishing The Dating Plan here in the UK and Commonwealth. As a British-Indian woman, it’s thrilling to be publishing an unabashedly swoon-worthy romance centring a hilarious brown woman. I first saw the book on Instagram and from the cover alone I knew that this was a book I was meant to read—and I’ve been utterly obsessed ever since. The whole Dialogue Books team is wholly committed to Sara and her brilliant books, and can’t wait for a new audience to fall in love with Daisy and Liam, too.”

Sharmaine Lovegrove, publisher and founder of Dialogue, said: “I am super-excited for Amy to have made her first-ever acquisition and am thrilled it’s for Dialogue. Amy’s ambition and passion for The Dating Game is infectious and it totally chimes with our mission to grow myriad audiences across genres.”