Hey Romance Lovers!

Every week seems to bring another moment where I stop, stare at my screen, and think, "Oh. This is actually happening."

One of the biggest milestones since this whole thing started has been confirming our first Day Two speakers—and I couldn't be more excited about the expertise they're bringing to the festival.

Joining us is my co-author and friend, Tracie Delaney, a six-figure indie author who has built a successful career over her years in publishing. Tracie will be sharing her insights on visibility, marketing, and what it really takes to build a sustainable author business in today's publishing landscape.

We're also thrilled to welcome romance editor Jess Snyder, whose client list includes some of the biggest names in romance, including Pippa Grant, Lucy Score, and many more. Jess will be leading a session exploring what authors can learn from television storytelling and how those techniques can strengthen our books.

Seeing speakers of this calibre say "yes" to the RLF feels incredibly special and reinforces exactly what I hoped this event could become: a space where romance authors can learn, connect, and grow together without ego, gatekeeping, or overwhelm.

Behind the festival scenes, I'm also deep in speaker planning, sponsor conversations, and trying to source food and drink vendors for the weekend—because while books are essential, caffeine is arguably a close second.

Thank you for being part of this journey. Whether you've bought a ticket, shared a post, joined the newsletter, or simply cheered us on from afar, you're helping turn a wild idea into something very real.

Now, let's get into this month's festival news... 

If you've been looking at our website at all, you'll have spied a few authors names are out of the bag.

Autumn Archer

USA Today bestselling author Autumn Archer writes dark and gritty romance with guaranteed happily ever afters.

A lifelong daydreamer, late diagnosed autistic ADHDer, romance reader and music obsessive, she dedicates her waking hours to romancing the darkness, using fictional words to weave raw emotion into morally gray men and the feisty women who capture their hearts.

Whether it's a mafia boss, a cartel criminal or complex anti-hero, she delivers page-turning stories that will leave you hungry for more.

Seána Tinley

Seána Tinley is an award-winning, bestselling Irish author. She has won two RoNA awards, the HOLT Medallion, and the prestigious Rita Award for romance fiction. She writes saga historical romance with a strong emphasis on women’s social history—like Call the Midwife but in 1930s/40s Ireland. She also writes regency romance as Catherine Tinley. She has published eighteen novels so far.

Tickets: Tickets are available to purchase here, at https://romanceliteraryfestival.eventbrite.com

The Butterfly Book Club is a monthly subscription box with a twist. Each month, they collaborate with an indie author to produce an exclusive edition book design, which will be sold in a monthly readalong package. Readers who purchase a package will be added to a readalong group for that book, to read the book together and discuss the book with each other and the author, who will also be in the chat! This is a great way for bookstagrammers and authors to make new connections.

If you're a published author and want to join us for our day two author event, you should grab a ticket. They're limited and going fast.

Jess Snyder

Title: The Architecture of Obsession: How Jacob Tierney and Heated Rivalry built devotion scene by scene (and you can too!)

Description: Most romance writers know what to write. We’re going to learn how to make readers feral. Using Heated Rivalry (the show, not the book) as a masterclass, this course teaches the technical storytelling devices—callbacks, character specificity, pacing, symbolic talismans, and more—that turn casual readers into an obsessed fandom that looks for all the tiny details they missed the first two (eight, forty-one…) times they read the book.

Tracie Delaney

Title: Is TikTok dead? Marketing in 2027 and beyond

Description: The landscape of publishing is a never-ending rollercoaster and the last couple of years has brought challenges including AI books flooding the market, and social media and advertising platforms “not working” any longer. In this session we’ll discuss the various ways we can still get our books in front of rabid readers, and talk bluntly about what it takes to succeed in 2027 and beyond.

How else to keep up to date with our shenanigans? Attendee's Facebook group, Facebook page, follow us on socials: @romanceliteraryfestival, or check out our website.