Booky Call, a free book discovery platform cleverly disguised as a dating app, is hosting BookyCon, the world’s largest virtual book festival Nov. 12. Held in the Metaverse, the festival will feature hours of author interviews, meet-and-greet opportunities, book club lounges, user discussion areas and exhibit booths.
“We are dedicated to bringing books to life,” Booky Call’s CEO Brant Menswar noted. “We’re excited to host the first large-scale celebration of authors and their books in the Metaverse.”
Participants will be able to interact with authors, industry insiders and leaders of virtual book clubs as they guide their avatars around the virtual convention space. They can visit a virtual bookstore, purchase merchandise, join a book club discussion at a virtual bar, test their knowledge and trivia and engage in fireside meet-and-greets after hearing speakers on one of seven stages. The main stage is powered by Ingram Spark while HTP Books, Button Poetry, Inkyard Press, Blue Box Press, 4 Horsemen Publications and New Shelves are sponsoring the genre-themed stages.
The Independent Book Publishers Association, Women in Publishing Summit, 4 Horsemen Publications, Florida Authors and Publishers Association, and The Custom Library Co. store will host exhibit booths while the Book Nerds’ Book Reviews, Black Girl Book Club, YA & NA Fantasy Book Lovers and the BookTok Baddies — four virtual groups on social media — will be hosting Book Club Bars.
There’s also an “Introverts Happy Hour” quiet zone sponsored by Silent Book Club.
The headliners will be Christopher Rice (romance and supernatural thrillers), Jennifer L. Armentrout (romance), Nathan Monk (contemporary fiction), Brendan Slocumb (mystery thrillers), James Dashner (YA), Erica Spindler (mysteries) and Mary Katherine Backstrom (nonfiction).
Monk, whose works include “All Saints Hotel and Cocktail Lounge” and newly released “Russian Sleeper Cell,” is excited to meet new fans and reconnect with existing ones in the new format. “What I love about BookyCon being hosted in the Metaverse is that it will have that convention room vibe while still creating accessibility to folks from all over the globe.”
More than 65 authors will be participating including M.J. Rose, Sheila Wray Gregoire, Gregory David Roberts, Sasha Alsberg, Kristen Ashley, Jennifer Probst, Dylan Allen, Sophie Strand, David McAfee, Madeline Martin, Danielle Prescod, Nisha Sharma, Sawyer Bennett, Denny S. Bryce, Stacey McEwan, Charissa Weaks, Faitth Brooks and Laura Taylor Namey.
BookyCon registration is free. Tickets are available for 3,000 booklovers who will be able to attend the virtual event throughout the day from the comfort of their homes. They are available at www.bookycon.com on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Booky Call, the fastest growing book discovery app that’s available in both the App Store and Google Play, combines the psychology and functionality of dating apps with creative “humanized” dating profiles for thousands of fiction and nonfiction titles.
