‘A Million Lives’ shattered: This fantasy ball was just dubbed the Fyre Festival of BookTok—and authors are furious

A book festival took place over the weekend in Baltimore, but even if you’re local, you likely didn’t hear about it until after the fact. The event, called “A Millions Lives Book Festival,” is now trending on social media, but for all the wrong reasons—it’s being called “The Fyre Festival” of book festivals, if that’s any indication of just how disappointing it seems to have been.

A Million Lives, organized by author Grace Willows and Archer Management company, came to Baltimore’s Convention Center on May 2 and 3. While the event was allegedly described to authors as an extravagant fantasy-themed ball where they could promote their books to hundreds to thousands of attendees, videos on TikTok and Threads suggest that barely a handful of attendees showed up, and there hardly appeared to have been any set up done in terms of decor.

Videos show what looks like a mostly empty room with some tables. The only real set-up appears to have come from the book vendors themselves and whatever books, signage, and display items they brought.

In one of many recap videos posted to TikTok, one author explains that prior to heading to Baltimore, she was convinced the event was going to be absolutely massive. Author Perci Jay says she counted at least 120 vendors, authors, narrators, and speakers prior to attending. The numbers were so big, she cleared her schedule, and even planned huge life events around the book festival. “I’m currently pregnant with twins,” Jay says in her recap video. “I planned my pregnancy around this event like a clown.”

Jay now says that doing so was a huge mistake. Not only did she not earn back the money she spent on the event from book sales, she lost a bundle. In addition to the $150 table fee she paid, she also shelled out $250 to sponsor the event in order to get extra author promotions, such as social media posts, her logo on the organizer’s webpage, and more. She also traveled from Texas to Baltimore.

However, according to Jay, none of what she signed up for ever came to fruition. She didn’t get her logo on the site, no social media posts about her were made, and the event itself was a huge flop with almost no readers in sight.

Beyond that, Jay claims there were issues with hotel bookings. According to her, “featured authors” like herself were promised a free stay at the Hilton, which is connected to the Convention Center, but at the last minute were bumped to the Days Inn across the street. “Does this look like I’m at the Hilton?” Jay jokes, panning the camera around her hotel room.

Other authors reported not being able to check in to their hotel at all, or having to pay hotel fees they were promised were already covered. Author Luna Laurier, who also posted on TikTok, said that not only is she out thousands of dollars from the event, but the hotel actually called her in the middle of the night saying that she had to take over payment for her room, which she had been told would be covered by the organizers. “I’m still kind of in shock,” she tells her audience in the post. “I really cannot believe that it got as bad as it did.”

Mikayla Horendo, an author who saw red flags prior to the event but decided to attend anyway because she used to live in Baltimore, was utterly disappointed, as well. Horendo shared her experience at the festival on TikTok, saying that her very “generous” estimate was that 40 attendees in total showed up on Friday.

Archer Fantasy Events did not respond to Fast Company‘s request for comment, but did post an apology online, which directed vendors seeking refunds to reach out to them directly.

“I do understand that the ball tonight was not set up to standards,” organizer Grace Willows said. “There were a lot of issues getting set up and it was not set up well . . . if you would like a refund, please contact me and I will issue a refund immediately.”

Still, for many, the apology fell short. In the comments section of Instagram and TikTok, many flat out called the event a “scam.” Multiple comments mentioned that Willows explicitly told them in emails that hundreds, if not thousands of tickets had been sold. “In our correspondence, you told me you expected 1200 attendees; otherwise I wouldn’t have paid the table fee, which I hope you refund,” one commenter vented.

Other comments pointed to the thousands that some vendors spent to get there, with one suggesting that giving refunds may not be enough to make up the financial cost for some authors: “Honestly, you need to be worried about litigation at this point given how many people are saying they were told a lie about how many tickets you sold,” it read.

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