Help Bookstore Romance Day Continue & Grow

tl;dr: Bookstore Romance Day expenses are up. Donations and sponsorships are not. Your donation helps to ensure that Bookstore Romance Day can continue.

My name is Billie and I am the founder and organizer of Bookstore Romance Day. Bookstore Romance Day was founded in 2019 and had less than 200 bookstores participating. In 2020, the world changed and Bookstore Romance Day had to change with it. Since that time, Bookstore Romance Day has offered a full slate of virtual programming over the two days of Bookstore Romance Day weekend every year. In order to keep these events accessible to the most people possible, they are always offered free of charge. In 2022, virtual programming began to be offered throughout the year, as well.

In 2023, there were more than 500 independent bookstores in the US and Canada who officially celebrated Bookstore Romance Day and even more that celebrated unofficially. For the first year, all virtual programming was brought "in house," with no publisher-created content. There were nearly 50 participating authors, 10 bookstore co-hosts/moderators, 10+ hours of conversation, and over 1000 registered attendees.

Sadly, as Bookstore Romance Day has continued to grow, so have expenses and, unfortunately, donations and sponsorships have not increased accordingly. I don't want to decrease the amount of programming offered, nor do I want to have to start charging for event attendance, knowing that even $1 can be a barrier to attendance for many. I would also like to offer even more programming throughout the year, to increase the number of participating bookstores, to offer swag for bookstores to give away, and to implement some plans that have had to be kept on the back burner.

What your donation will support:

Continued and expanded virtual programming

Free admission for everyone to all virtual programming

Outreach to bookstores and publishers

Operating expenses such as postage, internet service, newsletter service, virtual events platform, etc.