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Daily Mirror
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Inside the 'Fyre Festival of BookTok' as US book festival is shrouded in chaos
A book festival hosted in Baltimore, US has turned into a social media storm as authors have recounted every awful detail of the event - while many claim they were lied to by the event's organiser 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.
Newsweek
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
People Lose Thousands of Dollars at Failed A Million Lives Book Festival
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Authors and visitors say they are out thousands of dollars after paying to attend and have sales tables at the A Million Lives book Festival in Baltimore over the weekend. The book fair, put on by an author and event planner listed on social as Archer Events aka @archerfantasyevents, links to a website called Archer Management, focused on fantasy and romance novel readers and writers. In dozens of social media and TikTok posts, authors expressed their dismay at not recouping the cost of attending and said they were duped into attending a low-quality book fair with poor attendance. Newsweek has reached out to the organizer for comment as well as authors and attendees of the event. The organizer, Grace Marceau, posted a statement on TikTok Monday that read "AML: Refunds. I wholeheartedly apologize for how the event turned out this weekend. We are currently processing refunds as fast as we can. All refunds will be processed by May 31. We thank and appreciate you for your patience." She also posted a video Sunday apologizing to those who attended, saying, "Hi everybody. I am wanting to issue a formal apology. I do understand tonight that the ball was not set up to standards. There were a lot of issues getting set up and it was not set up well. I want to apologize. If you would like a refund, please contact me and I will issue a refund immediately. Thank you." Why It Matters The rise of BookTok has given more freedom to independent authors, allowing them to advertise their work, but it has also made them a target for those seeking to gain at their expense. A Million Lives Book Festival Baltimore, MD - Saturday, May 3, 2025. A Million Lives Book Festival Baltimore, MD - Saturday, May 3, 2025. Samantha Heil The failed festival has been compared to Dashcon and FyreFest, both infamous flops that saw people spend thousands expecting high quality and receiving bare bones. Indie authors and booksellers face extreme up-costs in order to participate in such festivals, paying out of their own pocket in hopes of gaining recognition and sales. Authors who attended this event said they weren't even able to pay for the cost of parking following the disastrous weekend. What To Know Tickets to A Million Lives Book Festival hosted at the Baltimore Convention center were listed ranging from $40 to $200 on ticket website Eventbrite. Festival-goers dressed in their best as the event was billed as black tie. The sparkle and glam of full-length gowns and movie star makeup stand in stark contrast to the nearly empty event space. Videos on TikToks show a mostly empty, undecorated room with bare concrete floors in a convention center, dotted by maybe a dozen people and folding tables lined with a single row of fake rose petals punctuated by books. The large ballroom only magnified the small number of attendees. The weekend book fair was advertised by Archer Management as an "incredible gathering of literary minds" on the website. "Discover a world of books, meet your favorite authors, and grow your bookish community. Whether you're a bookworm, a book dragon, or simply looking for a fun event, this festival is perfect for everyone," the description said. "Explore a vendor hall with authors from a wide range of genres, from fantasy and romance to mystery and dark romance. Engage in with other book lovers, attend insightful panels, and participate in our content creation room." The bottom of the page read: No refunds! Many attendees and authors have taken to social media to recount their experiences and illustrate their financial losses. Author Samantha Heil cowrites with best friend under the pen name E.S. Rosalynn. She spoke to Newsweek about the experience and said the writing was on the wall before they even arrived. "Friday, going into the event, kind of knew it was going to be a mess. No one knew where they were supposed to be or where they were supposed to go," Heil told Newsweek. She said that on Friday, there were maybe 40 attendees, and there were about 100 authors. Saturday only improved to about 125 people coming to the event, which Heil said is a tiny amount compared to how many tickets the organizer told people she sold. A Million Lives Book Festival Baltimore, MD - Saturday, May 3, 2025. A Million Lives Book Festival Baltimore, MD - Saturday, May 3, 2025. Samantha Heil Other authors who spoke with Heil said they were all given different estimates of how many tickets were sold, with Marceau telling people anywhere from 600 to 1400 tickets had been purchased. "The worst part came afterwards," Heil explained. "The amount of lies coming out were wild. Huge tall tales about why this happened." Heil explained that many authors confronted Marceau, and she apologized to them. However, Heil said the organizer has not yet issued any refunds and gave many people different stories as to why the event failed, including a COVID outbreak and the hotel losing swag bags that Heil says never existed in the first place. Saturday night, the influencers and authors were set to have an actual the food consisted of some cookies on a table. "No DJ, no decorations, nothing," Heil said. Overall, Heil said she was out about $1,000 but said other authors are out a few thousand each, the money for registering and sponsoring sent directly to Marceau's PayPal. Author Perci Jay posted a three-part video on TikTok about her experience at the Baltimore-based event. "It was even worse than what you're seeing," she said in the video. Perci Jay she paid $150 in February of 2024 to have an authors table and then an additional $250 to sponsor the event at the highest ties because it was advertised to include several perks, including a free hotel stay at the Hilton next to the event space, as well as an author takeover day on Facebook, posts on archer management, a featured decal, merch, and other benefits. The author says two weeks before the event, organizer Grace sent out an email saying their Hilton rep wasn't responding, so the group would be moved across the street to the Days Inn. "The bar was on the floor, but it went to hell real fast," Perci Jay joked on her TikTok posts. She says there were over 150 authors listed to attend, but there was nearly no advertising. She continued as planned because she knew a lot of other authors who were going and was still thinking there would be a lot of attendees and potential readers. However, she said when she was the tickets were being advertised by Archer Fantasy on social media for 40 percent off, she knew things were about to get worse. "That's when I knew that, like, ain't nobody was coming." The social media pages attached to Archer Fantasy's account show Marceau began posting in 2023 and has hosted at least one other event called Night in Terrasen, although a search of that event did not show any videos of the actual event or review of it. Marceau has been posting advertisement for A Million Lives since at least February of 2024, and posted authors who would be in attendance to those social media platforms. What People Are Saying: Author duo E.S. Rosalynn posted on Facebook: "There have been a lot of posts detailing the absolute devastation many of the authors and vendors experienced at this weekend's A Million Lives Book Festival. As indie authors, we put our own time and money into these ventures in the hopes that we'll be able to connect with new readers. These events take a lot of time, energy, and money to be able to attend. We unfortunately didn't even make enough in two days to cover one day of parking in downtown Baltimore. We are out somewhere in the ballpark of $1000 between hotel, parking, inventory, food, travel, etc." Author Perci Jay said on a video on TikTok: "I planned my pregnancy around this like a clown. I scheduled my uncle in laws funeral around this event. I even paid extra to sponsor this event." What Happens Next Although the organizer said she would issue refunds, many authors have posted online that have not been refunded and are still out thousands of dollars. Many of these booksellers have been tagged on social media and are asking for people to purchase their writing to help recoup their costs. Marceau has posted about another event scheduled for October, which is titled The Elegant Nocturnal Social.
