How 831 Stories is building a romance fandom community that goes beyond books

• 831 Stories is a romance-focused entertainment company that seeks to create a more immersive experience for readers.

• The company publishes their own romance novellas, as well as themed merch that accompanies each title.

• They also offer other popular romance-themed products, including their best-selling trope hats.

Fandom is nothing new. Whether it’s cosplayers at a Comic-Con, collectors of Star Wars memorabilia, or that friend who knows all of the Real Housewives by name, there’s no shortage of ways to express your affection for the things you love.

But when friends and business partners Erica Cerulo and Claire Mazur became voracious romance readers during the pandemic lockdown, they started hankering for a genre community that could transcend the physical books themselves.

“You had all of these women talking about these books on TikTok and Instagram, and they’re not just talking about it the way you might talk about a normal book,” explains Mazur of her realization of the size and scope of romance readership. “They’re talking about it the way a comic book enthusiast talks about comics. The way a Bravo fan talks about Bravo.”

“There is a fandom here and an audience that wants more than just the books,” she adds. “They want the escapist, immersive continuation of the books and they want the community.”

That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of spaces for romance readers to gather, be it on the internet or in one of the independent romance bookstores that now total nearly 50 different locations across the United States. But Mazur and Cerulo noted a hunger for something even more holistic.

“We were seeing fans wanting to stay in these worlds,” Cerulo says. “Romance bookstores were fueling this fandom and individual authors were fueling this fandom, but there weren’t really companies that were focused on building out beyond the page experiences for fans from the very beginning.”

Thus, 831 Stories (the 831 is ’90s pager speak for “I love you”) was born. The founders describe the company as the “DVD extras” of books, citing The Idea of You author Robinne Lee’s Facebook group as a heavy source of inspiration.

“Women were making August Moon T-shirts on Zazzle and selling them on Etsy,” notes Mazur. “You had people posting fan fiction, you had people who had created fake movie trailers for this book long before the movie was in production. It’s like these women were all suffering from a terrible book hangover and this Facebook group is the hair of the dog.”

The idea wasn’t merely to create book merch or offer events, but to truly provide a full–scale experience, beginning with a book as the foundation.

831 Stories publishes their own novellas, books with brightly colored but otherwise simple covers. Their first title, Big Fan by Alexandra Romanoff, hit shelves last year, and they’ve now got four books under their imprint. While 831 Stories has partnered with publishers for production and distribution, they’re handling everything else, including finding authors, poring over pitches, and seeing the book through from first kernel of an idea to finished manuscript.

For now, they plan to stick to novellas, enjoying the accessibility the shorter form provides both readers and writers.

“You can sit down and you can read one of these books on a Wednesday night,” explains Cerulo. “There’s a lot of satisfaction that comes with reading something from beginning to end in one sitting, being able to take it on a plane or read at a beach. It has that bingeable quality that people forget that books can have.”

That appeal, they hope, will also perhaps bring some new acolytes to the romance genre.

“Our number one purpose and goal is to delight and excite the existing romance community,” explains Mazur. “But there is a secondary goal, which is to turn everybody into a romance reader. We really believe romance is for everyone and that these books have the power to change the world.”

She continues, “It is the only form of mainstream media that centers women’s pleasure, joy, desire, and sexuality. By putting these books out that are a little bit smaller, that are a little bit quicker to read, we hope that we might pull in someone who normally wouldn’t.”

The books are short one-offs written by already established authors, generally focused on career women who find themselves plunged into a romance. Their latest, Set Piece by Lana Schwartz, is a second-chance romance about single mom, CJ, and actor, Jack Felgate, who reconnect when Jack is starring in a The Great Gatsby adaptation for which CJ is the production designer.

But it’s not merely the book that 831 Stories wants fans to experience. When you visit their website, you’ll find additional reading, including an epilogue set a year after the book’s conclusion and “fan fiction” about Flames Flicker Eternal, the fictional TV show that launched the novel’s hero to stardom.

Then, there’s the merch, including a “The Just OK Gatsby” crewneck sweatshirt, which is the wrap gift in the book and a Flames Flicker Eternal lighter. It’s all there waiting for readers to snap up from the moment they turn the final page (and authors participate in a profit share of every single item 831 puts out that;s inspired by their work).

It was the merch that first attracted members of the romance community to 831 Stories. In a bid to meet and introduce themselves to more of the already existing fandom, the founders began hosting book swap events and giving out swag to help build name recognition.

It started with an 831 Stories “Only One Bed” key chain and their most popular item — trope hats. That would be baseball caps with a beloved romance trope — Enemies to Lovers, Forced Proximity, Fake Relationship, etc. — emblazoned on it.

“Healthy fandom does have merch close to the center of it,” says Mazur. “Tropes are the zodiac of the romance community. So, we made these hats to say, ‘Hey, we’re one of you. We speak the language.'”

That plan worked out far better than expected, and soon, romance bookstores like the Ripped Bodice began stocking the hats. 831 Stories could barely keep them on shelves.

While all of their books and merchandise are available for purchase individually, the success of the trope hats led Mazur and Cerulo to introduce a membership to 831 Stories, called “The Ones,” far earlier than they ever intended. For $99, the membership includes the next five novellas as they’re published, exclusive swag, discounts on merchandise, and exclusive events and/or early event access.

Their events range from panels on romance-related subjects like the rise and fall of the “bonk-buster,” book club meetings for their titles, and even cooking tie-ins. For their last novella, Comedic Timing, 831 Stories partnered with Brooklyn-based shop, Big Night, known for their dinner parties in a box. 831 and Big Night created a pasta date night box inspired by a scene in Comedic Timing, and the store also invited Mazur and Cerulo to curate a library in their space.

While the company wants to create holistic, immersive experiences starting with their books and working outwards, they also hope their events will create space for the community outside of their work.

“We love romance as a whole,” says Mazur. “Doing these events that are about bringing the community together, bringing new voices into it, or supporting other romance authors who are not publishing with 831, that’s just as important to us. Romance is a force for good, so how can we nurture, support and grow the community through what we’re doing?”

For 831 Stories, the sky’s the limit — and they hope to continue expanding the possibilities of romance fandom and genre immersion, including potential ventures into producing content for the screen.

“The hope is really that we have a chance to experiment and ultimately lean into every format,” says Mazur. “When you fall in love with a story, you never want to let it go. You want to keep experiencing it in all of these different ways.”

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly