Vendors from Baltimore's disastrous viral book festival are creating their own event

CBS News

15-05-2025

After taking part in what's been described as the Fyre Festival for books, Maryland book vendors are putting together one of their own.
Romantasy in the Valley is scheduled for 2026, but Amber Hodgson and Matt Hodgson are trying to do as much work now to prevent a repeat of the A Million Lives Book Festival, and help the authors and vendors who participated in the event that turned into a flop..
This is on top of other support that's already been in the works for the authors and vendors who took part in AML.
Turning a negative into a positive
The A Million Lives Book Festival became a viral sensation after authors, vendors, and attendees started posting about it nearly two weeks ago.
Archer Management, the festival's organizer, promised authors and vendors hundreds of attendees, but the event instead drew maybe a little more than 100 over two days.
Archer has apologized and promised refunds.
The Hodgsons had a table for their business, Bookish Signs and More. Their business works with authors to make special editions of books, as well as works with other businesses that create book boxes.
They took a financial hit participating in AML, but the loss didn't deter them from wanting to put on another, better festival.
"Between our backgrounds and her connections -- the authors and people she knew -- I knew we could make a positive from a negative," Matt Hodgson said. "That was always the goal, to turn this around."
So, Romantasy in the Valley was born. There's already a date for it, July 25, 2026, and the Embassy Suites location in Hunt Valley will be the venue.
Amber Hodgson wanted to be very transparent in the planning process, posting updates on social media almost daily.
Any author and vendor who participated in AML has first dibs to take part in Romantasy.
For the Hodgsons, it's all about making it right for them.
"We just wanted to redo the event. If we make money, that's great, but [if we don't], that was a risk that we were in a fortunate position to take on. That we wanted to do," Amber Hodgson said.
Authors and vendors interested in participating in Romantasy have until June 1 to submit an application. You can find that here.
Other support for AML authors and vendors
Atlas Creed, a DMV-based author who also had a table at AML, created a one-stop webpage that shows every author and vendor who participated in AML.
The webpage was put on a website he had already created as a resource for authors.
The webpage has been shared widely since its creation.
"It just seemed like the right thing to do to try and help them recoup some of their losses," Creed said. "By using resources that I already have, and I can just extend upon."