This year’s edition of Bookstore Romance Day, the sixth, took place on August 17 and proved to be the largest yet. “There were more than 550 participating bookstores across the US, Canada and the UK,” reported Billy Bloebaum, founder of the event. This represents a significant increase from the first event in 2019, which saw just over 150 stores participate.
“Year-over-year growth in the number of bookstores participating is typically about 15 to 20 percent,” Bloebaum noted, adding that the event’s reach extends beyond traditional brick-and-mortar stores as well: “About 10 percent of this year’s participants were online, mobile, pop-up or other non-traditional models.”
Bookstore Romance Day organizers hosted nine virtual events over two days, with a total of about 1,150 participants registered. The events covered a wide range of romance subgenres, from romance novels to sports novels, and featured a lineup of 46 authors from the Big Five publishers, independent publishers, and the self-publishing and hybrid publishing worlds, Bloebaum said. All events were recorded and can be viewed on the Bookstore Romance Day YouTube channel.
Libro.fm, an audiobook distributor that works with independent bookstores, also participated in the celebration. “The bookstore partners were able to give away free copies of (select) audiobooks in their stores on the 17th,” said Albee Romero, advertising manager at Libro.fm. The promotion included titles such as 10 things that never happened by Alexis Hall (Dreamscape Media) and Canadian friend by Jenny Holiday (Hachette Audio).
Bookstore Romance Day in photos
The highlights of Under the Cover Romance Bookshop’s celebration of Romance Bookstore Weekend in Kansas City were the author signings. Pictured here (back to front, left to right): Pam Godwin, EC Garrett, Julie Murphy, Adib Khorram, Naima Simone, Sierra Simone, M. Jay Granberry, and Lisa Rayne.
Customers waited patiently in line Saturday morning for Tropes & Trifles in Minneapolis to open its doors.
Chicago’s Last Chapter Bookshop was packed with readers during Romance Bookstore Weekend, no doubt stocking up on books in preparation for traffic delays in the Windy City during the Democratic National Convention, which began Monday.
At Powell’s City of Books in Portland, Oregon, “we even had a marriage proposal in the rare book room,” said Jeremy Solly, Powell’s marketing director. The happy couple posed with red roses.
