Readers in the Wild
The romance fan convention boom
Hi, friends, and welcome especially to my new subscribers from Book Riot, Publisher’s Weekly, and Jane Friedman. Romancing the Phone is an exploration of the ever-changing landscape of the publishing industry in the digital age, focused in particular on BookTok trends, romance subgenres, and reader culture. I’m so glad you’re here!
This week, I’m tackling the expansive new reader fan convention landscape. As a veteran RWA attendee before the organization’s implosion, I’m no stranger to book conferences. But the reader conventions of 2025 are an altogether different experience and can tell us so much about the ways book culture is evolving. Before we dive in, this is by no means an exhaustive list, and it’s focused on romance fan conventions (the area where I am seeing the most growth). New events are growing at such a pace that when I see one come across my feed, they’re often booking out authors for 2026 or 2027 (which doesn’t sound like a real year to me).
In fact, events are becoming such a vital part of the romance ecosystem that Entangled (always on the cutting edge of the trends) recently hired a new director of experiential marketing, straight from a role in events at Apple.
So, without further ado, let’s go.
Steamy Lit Con
I’m starting with the only one of these new conferences I’ve attended - Steamy Lit Con. Founded by Mel Saavedra, owner of Tampa’s Steamy Lit bookstore, the con started in 2023 with an emphasis on spotlighting romance authors of color and non-binary/genderqueer authors (and they really walk the walk). I attended the August 2024 event (and plan to attend this year’s con as well).
I was struck by the relative youth of the attendees - roving groups of cool young women with colorful hair and tattoos and rolling carts filled to the brim with books to be signed. Vendors selling illustrated special editions and stickers and even miniature library models were everywhere. And attendees I spoke to had often been to multiple other romance events in the past year or two, comparing the lines and organization and size of the crowd at the signings to other cons (consensus- Steamy Lit is extremely well organized compared to some comparable events).
None of this is cheap - a ticket to Steamy Lit Con costs somewhere around $300, and that’s before you add on the special edition books to be signed and the cost of a hotel stay, if you aren’t local. These women are unashamed to be romance readers and have money to spend. For all that romance has grown, I see the popularity of these types of events as an indicator that there is still more room for the romance market to expand. Will event producers and publishers try to develop more and more exclusive, immersive, and expensive events? Is the romance Star Wars Hotel really that far off?
Tickets for most of these events sell out months in advance (I got mine last year via a complicated handoff in a Facebook group) and author slots book out just as quickly.
Unlike previous RWA events I’ve attended, which had a focus on the business and the craft and were primarily targeted towards aspiring authors and industry professionals, panels at Steamy Lit Con were more fan focused, closer to a ComicCon than a writers’ conference. Ali Hazelwood led a rollicking session about fanfiction that culminated in all of the panelists drawing what they thought the knot in omegaverse fanfictions looked like and other sessions included panels on romantasy and monster romance.
Steamy Lit Con does have an author focused event that takes place before the fan portion: Romancing the Craft (fun title!). And in fortuitous timing, they announced just this week that Dr. Roxane Gay is sponsoring a one-day, East Coast edition of the event on the Rutgers campus in May:
Some book con essentials?
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@DebraKelsey kind of sounds like she’s preparing for a military campaign, but she’s not wrong.
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Barnes and Noble Book Fest
A couple of weeks ago, my FYP began to fill up with videos from Barnes and Noble Book Fest, hosted at the flagship store in New York’s Union Square. Tickets were available for signings and panels (a ticket for an individual panel cost $25 but included a $10 B&N gift card) and featured authors were a lot of BookTok favorites: Tomi Adeyemi, Rachel Gillig, Ava Reid, Kaylie Smith, Julie Soto, Jeneva Rose, Ashley Poston, Laurie Gilmore, Emily McIntire, Tia Williams, and more.
Based on the videos I’ve seen recapping the event, attendees received a lot of free books.
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Hats off to Barnes and Noble - just another sign that they are tuned in to reader culture as they continue to claw their back to cultural dominance.
Essential quote here: “It’s giving the Scholastic Book Fair but 100 times better.”
Romance Con
Another of the heavy hitters, RomanceCon takes place in Milwaukee in the fall. The con is organized by Mischief Management, a New York based company that has been organizing fan conventions since 2009. Their events now include BroadwayCon, EnchantiCon, and RomanceCon. RomanceCon’s list of attending authors is extensive (up to 229 for the 2025 event), and many attendees use the con’s reading list as a way to prep for the event. Cons tend to have a mix of traditionally published and indie authors, and can provide opportunities for discoverability.
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RomanceCon is more focused on book signings - the reading list has columns for readers to check off when they’ve pre-ordered the books they want to get signed.
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And there are many other similar events across the country focused on book signings:
Wild and Windy Book Event in Chicago, Orlando, and Las Vegas
Subgenre-Specific Cons
Along with the boom in cons comes an expansion into more specific programming. In February, Los Angeles hosted Romantasy BookCon (organzied by Fabled Fantasy Events). Orlando will be getting its own version of the event in the fall (it’s bi-coastal!). In Austin alone, there have been multiple romantasy-themed balls in the past year. With many adults stepping away from Harry Potter fandom (for obvious reasons) in the past several years, some of these fantasy-focused events might be able to fill the gap left by things like LeakyCon (and now we’re back to the popularity of Dramione fanfiction again).
Readers are eager for a chance to immerse themselves in a glamorous world for a day or two - the ultimate escapism. And, of course, these events are also designed to be posted on social media (they all have elaborate balloon arches out of a sorority recruitment event). Just see this TikTok with 320k views:
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Shoutout to the Romantasy BookCon organizers for choosing a venue with a real sense of occasion:
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Romantasy conventions are to be expected, but this spring also boasted the inaugural Sports Romance Con.
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Calling it now, based off of this and Flutter Bookstore’s merch: romance-themed hockey jerseys are going to be a thing.
I’m also following an as-yet mysterious instagram account (@swoonsfest) that seems to promise an historical romance-themed con in 2026.
More Tidbits
All of this is happening in the shadows of a giant - namely, Colleen Hoover’s late, lamented event Book Bonanza, a con that set the stage for a lot of the way this new crop of events run. At last year’s final event, readers were the first people to see the premiere of It Ends With Us:
Having never attended, I don’t have a ton of insight to add here, except that I’ve heard from many people these events were extremely overwhelming.
Friend of the newsletter Erin Cotter attended Love Y’all in Atlanta over Valentine’s Day weekend this year and reported back on the presence of custom sprayed edges stations - for $15, readers could get the edges of any book sprayed (obsessed, fascinated, is this the future?)
And research librarian friend of the newsletter Sarah is attending the Association of College and Research Libraries conference shortly where, you guessed it, there will be a panel on romantasy.
I guess one of my questions here is: when will we reach saturation? How can local indie bookstores tap into the energy around book-related gatherings? And will we see more publishers hiring experiential marketing managers to run events? Will there be an Entangled experience at SXSW next year (if so, please invite me)?
And finally:
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The rolling carts are SUCH A THING!
I attended one of the last RT BookLovers conventions (a fan-focused event where I embarrassed myself crying to Meg Cabot about how much I love her) about ten years ago - it’s amazing to see how much the industry has changed since then.
Admin note: next week I am on vacation (!!!) so I am taking next Friday off from the newsletter. I’ll miss y’all but I’ll hopefully use this time to read as many books as possible on a stormy, foggy beach.
This weekend, paid subscribers will be receiving a monthly link roundup focused on industry news, emerging trends, and what I’ve been reading lately. In April, paid subscribers will also receive a deep dive in Q1 trends on BookTok.
ok I don't know how I missed this but also announced this week: Fourth Wing theme night at a Red Sox game on September 3! Also reminds me of the random Emily Henry night at a Cardinals game in 2023. If you attend, you'll receive a Red Sox x Fourth Wing flight jacket inspired by Xaden.
I might need the rolling cart that doubles as a seat!