Inside the 'Fyre Festival of BookTok' as US book festival is shrouded in chaos
Traumatised authors, thousands of lost dollars and a missing DJ: welcome to the " Fyre Festival" of BookTok. Over the past weekend, hundreds of authors flocked to Baltimore to attend what should have been the perfect event for fantasy book-lovers. Instead, it transformed into something closer to a horror fic.
The A Million Lives book festival was held over May 2 and 3 and set up by Archer Management for fantasy authors and their readers. 'Romantasy' is viral on TikTok, with almost one million posts falling under the hashtag, and includes novels like the bestselling book series Acotar by Sarah J. Maas.
Tickets for vendors cost between $50 to $250 (£37 to £186) and promised to be the "perfect event to make bookish friends". One of its most exciting draws was that it also promised a lavender-themed ball.
But over the past few days, authors have been running to social media to detail what some are describing as the 'Fyre Festival of book festivals'. Accounts depict an event hall filled with chaos, with minimal staff or identity checks and, most notably, hardly any attendees – despite false promises made by the organiser.
One author, Samantha Heil, told Newsweek that there were around 40 attendees on Friday, compared to about 100 authors. Saturday only improved to about 125 people coming to the event. However, this is in stark contrast to how many tickets the owner of Archer Management promised had been sold.
Authors claimed online that Grace Marceau, a writer who runs Archer Management, told them personally that between 600 to 1400 tickets had been sold. But the videos showing a near-empty convention hall tell a wildly different story. The Mirror reached out to Archer Management for comment.
Stephanie Combs, author of The Stars Would Curse Us, posted a now-viral TikTok, declaring: 'I survived A Million Lives book festival. Or should we call it: a million lies.' She continued: "That is one of my dreams, bucket goal lists. I wanna be invited as an author to an event like this. Where I get to meet readers and get to connect with other authors."
However, the experience she was met with was a poorly-organised mess. She explained: 'We had no badges, because they apparently shattered in transit. People were just wandering around because there was no one checking badges or wristbands. It was just very unprofessional.'
It also put many authors out of pocket, as those who had travelled long distances had had to pay for both transport and accommodation. Some have even claimed to have wasted 'thousands of dollars' on the event.
But the most egregious disappointment was the ball. BookTok authors dressed up in their finest romantic gowns for what they had been told was a black tie event – only to be met with an almost empty ballroom, minimal decoration and no snacks or refreshments save for some cookies.
There wasn't even any music. According to one report, the DJ was hospitalised pre-event and they couldn't find a replacement. One attendee came onto TikTok to claim that a security guard had felt sorry for them so he 'brought a shower speaker from his home' that they could use.
Grace Marceau took to TikTok on May 5 to apologise to the authors affected. She said, 'I do understand that the ball tonight was not set up to standards. There were a lot of issues getting set up, and it was not set up well…If you would like a refund, please contact me and I will issue a refund immediately.'
However, the apology was not enough for many commenters on TikTok, who have labelled the entire event 'a scam.' She failed to address the fact that many of the events participants claimed she lied about ticket numbers. Comments also pointed out that, given the thousands of dollars some authors spent on accommodation and transport, that a refund wasn't enough to cover damages.
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