The A Million Lives Book Festival was advertised on TikTok as a festival for independent authors to sell their books and for fans to meet their favorite authors. There was also a panel of published authors, as well as some other activities to entertain the guests. Authors brought inventory based on ticket sales and paid anywhere from $50-$150 for a table, not to mention the cost of travel, lodging and food; some authors spent upwards of $1000 for the two-day event. While this type of expenditure isn’t abnormal for authors who travel to these types of events and make their living selling their books at tables, the return on this particular festival was less than expected, and authors weren’t even given what they were promised in exchange for their appearance.
On top of comped lodging, authors were promised $1000 for their appearance. After the event, some authors came on social media and said not only did they not get their check, they had to pay for their own lodging as the card their room was booked under wasn’t working, and the authors had to put up their own credit cards for collateral.
On top of all of that, a few queer authors of color came to TikTok to say they didn’t feel they were in community with the authors on the panel, stating the vibes weren’t accepting of the LGBT community and made them uncomfortable. All of these mishaps were at first met with grace by attending authors, as many knew that mistakes are bound to happen when planning big festivals like this one, but there were too many mistakes for this to be a small mishap with organization. Eventually attendees came to the conclusion that the event organizer, Grace Marsceau, was dishonest about everything from the number of tickets sold to funds for authors’ lodging.
While this was just one festival, it was a lot of independent author’s first festival. The fact that it was advertised on TikTok where an entire book-loving community lives, attracted many first-time authors who were excited to meet their community and the fans that supported them. Hopefully, one bad event didn’t ruin it for the authors who were genuinely interested and the next time a festival is advertised, authors and attendees alike will know what to research to make sure their investments are respected and honored.
