These authors were sold a romantasy convention. Instead, they got the Fyre Festival of the book world
CBC
Imagine getting dressed up in your finest for a fantasy-themed ball, only to find yourself standing on the concrete floor of a massive, nearly empty convention hall, decorated only with a few rose petals.
Welcome to A Million Lives Book Festival. What was billed as a romantasy BookTok convention for indie authors and book fans is now being compared to infamous event flops like Fyre Festival and DashCon, after a flood of social media posts from attendees painted a picture of a confusing and disappointing event.
Some authors say they're out thousands of dollars after carting books and merchandise to Baltimore, Md., for the event, which was held May 2 to 3 at the Baltimore Convention Center, and not being able to recoup the costs.
Pitched as "the perfect event to make more bookish friends" on organizer Archer Management's website, the festival was supposed to include a vendor hall, panels, a content creation room, cosplay meetups and a competition, as well as a fantasy ball for those who bought VIP tickets at $250 US each.
But although numerous authors say they were told 500 tickets were sold, they reported being greeted with fewer guests than authors, and a barren convention hall instead of the promised ball.
Perci Jay, who writes romance and fantasy books, called it "the Willy Wonka experience but with books," in a TikTok, referring to the 2024 Glasgow event that caused a stir after its real-life warehouse location failed to live up to the AI images used to advertise it.
"I flew out for this," the author, who is from Texas, said. "I planned my pregnancy around this event like a clown."
Grace Willows, the organizer behind Archer Management, posted a video statement through her event planning company's TikTok page on the weekend, apologizing for the ball being "not set up to standards."
"If you would like a refund, please contact me and I will issue you a refund immediately," she said.
Archer Management, also known as Archer Fantasy Events, has since apologized for the entire event and stated that refunds are being processed automatically.
After confirming receipt of CBC News's request for comment, Archer shared a new statement on TikTok on Tuesday evening. It has not responded to further requests for comment.
"We take full responsibility for the way that AML was handled," the latest statement reads, with a remix of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit playing in the background.
"We are doing refunds for every attendee, author and vendor. We are also canceling all of our future events and will be processing refunds for those as well."
Across numerous TikTok posts, authors and attendees allege that the event had problems from the beginning. Issues ranged from panels starting late to authors not being given badges and the promised swag bags not being delivered.
