JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Start with a beloved '80s rom-com, then turn up the heat.
ERIKA VEURINK: I took "When Harry Met Sally" as a start, and then was like, can I make this sexier? Because watching the movie is painful.
SUMMERS: That's first-time author Erika Veurink. Her book, "Exit Lane," is the newest release from 831 Stories, a fledgling romantic fiction company. And this room at the Strand bookstore in New York is full of people who know her.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Hi. Are you here for the event today?
SUMMERS: Some friends and family, others follow Veurink's popular Substack newsletter or social media presence. When it came to writing the book that would become "Exit Lane," the cofounders of 831 Stories approached her.
VEURINK: Honestly. They made it so easy. I always knew what was next. It's not like I dove into a draft and sort of, like, hoped for the best. I would really die to see some of those early drafts...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Laughter).
VEURINK: ...But I felt like they were holding my hand through the process.
SUMMERS: We know that romance is hot right now and has been for years, and it doesn't seem like there's a ceiling for the popularity of this genre.
BRENNA CONNOR: So if we go back to 2019 and 2020, I can tell you that romance print sales for those years were about 17 million. So within the last year, we're looking at 46 million.
SUMMERS: That's Brenna Connor, books industry analyst at Circana.
CONNOR: That tells me, within a four-year period, the romance market has more than doubled in size in terms of unit sales, which is quite significant.
SUMMERS: For decades, romance novels have been seen as this guilty pleasure. You can talk about them online but maybe don't read them in public. 831 Stories wants to change that.
VEURINK: My mom read it like a month ago. I was a bit nervous to have her read it, but she was like, I'm an adult. She's like, I read sexy books. I was like, OK.
SUMMERS: Meet and greets are part of their playbook, stoking fandom among ravenous readers who devour the books, searching for the promise of a happily ever after, but also offering up other opportunities for connection, like steamy epilogues, fan fiction and even merch. Here's Brenna Connor, the book analyst again.
CONNOR: I think what 831 Stories is doing is very interesting. They're really differentiating themselves from existing romance publishers. So standing out on the shelf, that's key. But then also tapping into this new generation of romance readers and what's important to them.
(CROSSTALK)
SUMMERS: At the Strand, people hold thin, purple and marigold copies of "Exit Lane" as they wait in line to have their book signed. That's where I meet Cameron Langford (ph). She says the length of the book is part of the appeal.
CAMERON LANGFORD: A long book is great, but I think something that you can get through in an afternoon and a busy life is also great.
SUMMERS: Since 831 Stories launched a year ago this month, the company has released six novellas. Rachel Benchamal (ph) first learned about the company at her local bookstore.
RACHEL BENCHAMAL: I said, I need feel-good, interesting reads. And she just gave me "Set Piece," "Big Fan," "Hardly Strangers" and another one for 831. And then she was, like, describing me the plot of "Hardly Strangers." I was like, say less. I'll take all four. Literally, didn't even take that much convincing.
SUMMERS: Benchamal met Veurink more than a year ago. She loves the 831 books, but also the merch. For "Exit Lane," there is a $125 rugby shirt reminiscent of the book's male main character, Teddy, a $35 baseball cap, both in purple and marigold to match the cover of the book.
BENCHAMAL: This is, like, kind of cool aesthetic, with the merch, in line with the book, and I love the color coordination of it all. It might sound a little silly, but you love holding a book that almost feels like an accessory, like a fashion piece and statement.
SUMMERS: Ahead of the event at the Strand, I sat down with 831 Stories co-founders Claire Mazur and Erica Cerulo. And before I asked them about their company, I wanted to know their origin story. Here's Erica.
ERICA CERULO: Oh, my gosh. We have a true meet-cute, Claire and I. We met at the dining hall at the University of Chicago in 2002. A mutual friend set us up and was like, you two, there's something here. And it was, like, off to the races ever...
CLAIRE MAZUR: Love at first...
CERULO: ...Since.
MAZUR: ...Sight. Yeah.
CERULO: Yeah. Yeah.
SUMMERS: All right, so you've told us about your meet-cute. Now I want to know your romance origin story. How did the two of you get into romance books?
CERULO: We, like, had sort of trickled into them or tiptoed into them. But then it was, like, during the pandemic that it was, like, oh, this is all we want to read ever. And it was sort of that, like, immersion in romance, of reading books, like - you know, just completely devouring them in the way that hardcore romance readers do.
MAZUR: Erica would read a book and be like, I was up all night reading it. Two days later, I'd be like, well, now I haven't slept because I read that book. And then we just kept seeking, you know, more and more from these individual books. You'd join the Facebook group, and then somebody in the Facebook group would make a fake movie trailer for that book. And we were just so fascinated by that possibility to immerse yourself in the stories.
SUMMERS: One of the things that I think it's impossible to not notice when you pick up an 831 Stories book is what the books themselves look like. I think, for many of us, our early memories - right? - are of the romance books you get in the supermarket checkout lane with the shirtless man with the flowing hair, and that is not broadly what romance book covers look like at all. But your book covers look quite different. Can you talk a little bit about that choice?
MAZUR: Aesthetics and cover designs have always played this really big and important role in romance. And so we knew that the covers had to signal to the readers, not only that you're reading romance, but you're reading a 831 romance. And that maybe when you see somebody on the other end of the subway car also reading that romance, there's a little bit of a wink and a nod, right? Like...
CERULO: And I even if it's not...
MAZUR: ...I see you.
CERULO: ...The same book, like...
MAZUR: Yeah.
CERULO: ...But it's another book from the same publisher.
SUMMERS: I want to talk a little bit about the merch because there's a lot of economic uncertainty out there. Everything is getting more and more expensive. Part of your model is based on merchandise. You can buy the $100-plus rugby shirt or you can buy a keychain or a $45 candle. How do you think about that part of it, and especially in a moment where many people are having to cut back?
MAZUR: For us, the fun of getting to wear the rugby shirt that the male main character wears in the book is that way of continuing to exist in the universe. It feels like world-building to us. It feels like expanding the story beyond the page.
CERULO: I think it's also fun for a lot of readers, even just to know that the merch is there - to be reading the book and being like, wait, I wonder if that sweatshirt, if they've made it.
SUMMERS: Even if you don't necessarily pick it...
CERULO: Even if you don't...
SUMMERS: ...Up yourself.
CERULO: ...You don't need to buy it and own it.
MAZUR: Now you know what it looks like.
SUMMERS: We've talked a lot about the books themselves and the company, but I want to talk about the sort of community that has been built up, and that you guys have been very intentional about building around the books that you've published.
MAZUR: I mean, that was such a big piece of the motivation for starting 831, was this excitement and enthusiasm that we had about the community and about being a part of the community. And so really early on, even before, you know, we had published our first book, we were gathering community together for book swaps and learning a lot, frankly, too, about, you know, not just what excited us about community, but the members, as well. And realizing how many women our age came to romance through fan fiction - Harry Potter fanfic on Wattpad, right? Or "Twilight" fanfic on Archive of Our Own - and really getting so excited about what that means - right? - that, like, this really generative, creative fandom is, like, expanding these stories in new ways and that sort of literary tradition of fan fiction - so things like that.
And there's a real joy at the center of the romance community and also a real, I think, like, a nonjudgmental element to it, right? There's no moral superiority around romance because everybody's horny for something else, right? - for something different. And...
SUMMERS: (Laughter).
CERULO: We all have different tastes...
MAZUR: Yeah.
CERULO: ...And we can acknowledge it here.
SUMMERS: And that joyful and nonjudgmental community was in full effect at the karaoke after-party - a nod to several moments from "Exit Lane."
ERIKA VEURINK AND UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing) If I should die...
SUMMERS: While in the book main characters Marin and Teddy belt out Prince songs, author Erika Veurink picks "No Air" by Jordin Sparks. Friends, family and fellow book lovers shout the lyrics along with her. Perched on her head, a purple and marigold 831 road trip romance hat.
VEURINK AND UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing) Took my breath away...
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
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