{"id":103987,"date":"2025-07-30T05:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T05:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/103987\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T05:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T05:28:10","slug":"more-than-100-authors-to-be-a-romance-book-convention-in-scranton-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/103987\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 100 authors to be a romance book convention in Scranton Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The region\u2019s first romance book convention is in Scranton on Saturday, with 113 authors organized by level of spiciness and around 450 tickets already sold. Scranton author Tara Conrad and her husband, George, said Electric City Love Con is exceeding their expectations.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what romance lovers can expect:<\/p>\n<p>Authors will chat with readers, sell and sign books, and give out little extras, such as stickers and bookmarks. Among the best known authors are Dakota Willink, who is the convention\u2019s main sponsor, and Aleatha Romig, also a sponsor. Regional authors include Tina Gallagher, Cissy Mecca, Raven Storm, Eden Bradley and Stephanie Julian.<\/p>\n<p>A map will lead readers to various genres of romance, such as dark mafia, LGBTQ + and romantasy, a blend of romance and fantasy. A scale of hot pepper icons will steer readers to their comfort level of sexual explicitness. \u201cWe have such a variety of authors,\u201d Conrad said.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"mng-gallery-initialized mng-gallery-slider\">\n<li data-index=\"1\" class=\"mng-ge mng-gallery-active\" id=\"mng-ge-0\" aria-hidden=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\"><img alt=\"Dakota Willink is one of the nationally known writers participating...\" class=\"size-article_inline\"  \/>\n<p>Dakota Willink is one of the nationally known writers participating in Electric City Love Con. ( Dakota Willink)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"2\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Aleatha Romig will meet readers at Electric City Love Con...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/STT-L-ROM-0730-03.jpg\" \/>\n<p>Aleatha Romig will meet readers at Electric City Love Con on Saturday. (Aleatha Romig)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"3\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-2\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Author Willow Winters will be at Electric City Love Con....\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/STT-L-ROMCON2-0309-01.jpg\" \/>\n<p>Author Willow Winters will be at Electric City Love Con. (Willow Winters)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"4\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-3\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Tara Conrad at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel, where she...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/STT-L-ROMANCE-X-1.jpg\" \/>\n<p>Tara Conrad at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel, where she will hold Electric City Love Con.&#13;<br \/>\n(JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Show Caption<\/p>\n<p>1 of 4<\/p>\n<p>Dakota Willink is one of the nationally known writers participating in Electric City Love Con. ( Dakota Willink)\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-enlarge mng-gallery-fullscreen-expand\" aria-label=\"Expand fullscreen slideshow\">Expand<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The setting is the Radisson at Lackawanna Station hotel, 700 Lackawanna Ave., an elaborate 1908 train station Conrad said would be perfect for a historical or time-travel romance.<\/p>\n<p>Electric City Tattoo will be offering themed tattoos and the Lackawanna County Library System will be issuing library cards.<\/p>\n<p>Admission is $25 at the door or at <a href=\"https:\/\/taraconradauthor.com\/eclc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">taraconradauthor.com\/eclc<\/a>. Admission is free for library and bookstore staff, with identification. All 125 VIP tickets and all the scheduled dinners with authors sold out within weeks of being announced, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Around 50 foreign authors, most of them Canadian, canceled. \u201cThey specifically said they are afraid to cross the border,\u201d Conrad said. The convention was originally going to use two spaces in the hotel; now the entire event will be in a ballroom.<\/p>\n<p>Amid increased immigration enforcement, there have been high-profile accounts of travelers and American citizens delayed or detained at borders, even with valid passports and visas. Canadians are wary, and angry, as President Donald Trump repeatedly says he wants Canada to become an American state, Conrad said.<\/p>\n<p>The convention is a sign that romance is big business, Conrad said. A frequently cited statistic puts annual revenue for American romance writing at $1.4 billion. It boomed after \u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d became a bestseller in 2011. The number of authors and readers grew with the rise of self-published books and e-books, Conrad said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes people laugh at us. But you know, we are cashing our paychecks,\u201d said Conrad, who will be selling and signing. She has published 14 books under the tagline \u201cWhere Darkness and Love Collide.\u201d Her books include retellings of Edgar Allan Poe stories, with mafioso in leading roles.<\/p>\n<p>If you go<\/p>\n<p><strong>What:<\/strong> Electric City Love Con romance book readers and writers convention, with 113 authors and on-site tattoos.<\/p>\n<p><strong>When:<\/strong> Saturday, from 1 to 5 p.m.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Where:<\/strong> Radisson at Lackawanna Station hotel, 700 Lackawanna Ave., Scranton.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tickets:<\/strong> $25 at the door and at <a href=\"https:\/\/taraconradauthor.com\/eclc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">taraconradauthor.com\/eclc<\/a>. The website also gives a list of authors. Admission is free for library and bookstore staff, with identification.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"(Ravi Kant via pexels.com)\" width=\"6016\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/STT-L-ROMCON-WBOX-0730-01.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"1373050\" \/>(Ravi Kant via pexels.com)<\/p>\n<p>Originally Published: July 30, 2025 at 12:00 AM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The region\u2019s first romance book convention is in Scranton on Saturday, with 113 authors organized by level of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":103988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1022,171,13162,728,2830,13163,1072,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-103987","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-lackawanna-county","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-scranton","14":"tag-things-to-do","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}