Welcome to Romantasy Illustrated!

Romantasy Illustrated, a bookish magazine by book lovers and for book lovers.

First off, we are SO happy that you are here. As we write this, we are deep into editing the website to launch and getting Volume 2 in the final editing stages. As of now, we have Volume 1 of Romantasy Illustrated out, over 1,000 friends on Instagram, sold over 70 physical copies of Volume 1, had over 400 digital downloads, and just broke over one million views on Instagram. So, only four months into having Romantasy Illustrated, she is doing some really BIG things!

Now, for those of you who are new to Romantasy Illustrated, we are the first and only all-things bookish magazine made by book lovers and for book lovers. What you can expect to see and read from us is anything bookish, whether it is music, art, dance, cosplay, creators, merchandise, events, or anything and everything in between. While we are "romantasy", which for those unaware is when there is romance within fantasy, we are so much more than that. When it comes to books, we will primarily read and promote romantasy books, but you will also find so much more, including both generic romance and fantasy, as well as other genres sprinkled in. When it comes to the specific types of books, there can be everything from light to dark romance, cowboy, sport (we LOVE hockey!), young adult, new adult, gothic, dark academia, and seriously, just so much more.

When it comes to social media, Instagram and Threads are our besties. Instagram will also be a mixture of content from magazines, interviews, books we are currently reading, reviews, and of course our iconic memes. Now, most of the memes come from the Meme Queen Allison, with a few (anything LOTR or old Disney) being from Rachel. Threads are just chaos and random thought but of course, make it bookish.

Romantasy Illustrated is essentially three book lovers coming together and creating a platform and brand that is for everyone and meant to be both a resource in this community and also just fun. It started by Rachel + Allison, honestly, as a joke (but mind you, taken very seriously in the creation process), it was at a time when both were overwhelmed and just needed a fun passion project. We are talking we have been having a three-hour working meeting at our favorite coffee shop, and Rachel joked, "What if that was a magazine?" talking about the Allison Romantasy Illustrated art series. Allison proceeds to say, "What if we really did it?" and well, we did it. Rachel was making social media accounts while Allison built out an entire brand kit (fonts, colors, logos, etc.), and well, 20 minutes later (kid you not, we work fast!), we had a logo and social media launched and meetings scheduled for what would actually go into the magazine. When it came to getting Volume 1 together and out to readers, everything kind of just worked out and fell into place for it. A lot of Romantasy Illustrated has been just the right connections and opportunities at the perfect moment.

Within days of launching R.I., Allison + Rachel were in attendance at a three-day convention, FaeBall, in Austin, TX. We were able to throw together some stickers and business cards and really were just winging it at that point. While at the event, they were able to meet so many amazing creators and authors including: Amber V. Nicole (Gods & Monsters series, interview in Volume 1), Hannah Nicole Maehren (Assistant to the Villain, interview in Volume 1), Kaven Hirning (A Forbidden Fate, interview in Volume 2), Andrew Tong (creator, interview in Volume 1), Abigail Owen (The Games Gods Play, interview in Volume 2), Tracy Wolf (Crave, something coming soon), and honestly so many more. We were able to sit down with Amber, Hannah, and Andy for interviews while at the event. We have since run into Tracy Wolf at two other events, and she remembered us!

Kid you not, Olivia, who we met in Baltimore in September while at A Night in Terrasen is actually from Dallas, where we are based, and we were able to connect with her again 3 months later and have her as a model for the Volume 2 cover shoot. Turns out she is also a part of Always Bookd a local podcast that we were also able to meet up and collaborate with on a special episode!

Another fun example of things just happening for us was when we were in attendance at The Night Ball in Phoenix in October we met Kristin + Daniel (Expose in Volume 2). Aother iconic and perfect moment, Volume 1 had literally launched minutes before we met Kristin + Daniel, they came up to our table, Rachel + Allison had no clue who they were but Andre (Volume 1 cover model, The Blushing Rose) immediteable started fangirling over them and their content. Rachel + Allison introduced themselves and the magazne and they immeditley showed interest, followed on social media and funny enough submitted to be a part of the magazine. In all honesty, we met a lot of people and post event wee just exhausted, it took weeks for us to follow up with them, which was primarily at the incestance of Andre, and wow we are so glad that we did. Want to read an epic expose? Check out Kristin + Daniel's in Volume 2!

As this is being written 2024 is coming to a close and we are already prepping for how busy 2025 is going to be. R.I. was able to be in attendance as 7 events since launching and has 25 booked for this coming year already. We have authors lined up for interviews going into Volume 4 already; we have collaborations that are way to big and special but have to remain a secret for now, we have a lot of really big dreams. The R.I. team has already had to expnd beyond just Allison + Rachel due to its rapid growth and has brought on another Editor, Rachel M. owner of Darling Embers and who was also one of the cover shoot models and couples shoot for Volume 1 and then was a Guest Writer on Volume 2. We are incredibly excited and lucky to have her on this team, and R.I. will be all the better for it. Already Rachel M. has brought connections for future Volumes and is a joy to get to work with.

If you are wanting or looking for opportunities to be involved with R.I. there are SO many. Please use the "Submissions" page to submit any ideas or content you have that you want to see featured by us. We are planning to bring on 2-3 guest writers per Volume, feature at least one short story or excerpt, feature a minimum of 10 businesses, and all the events that we will be in attendance at. When it comes to authors, we are also looking to support more Indie authors, especially if they are debuting, but this is the hardest for us as we have to know, so we regularly post when looking for new authors or opportunities to be featured in the magazine. On top of books, we look to feature artists of all mediums and creators in this community.

We have told you more about R.I., how we came to be and some of what you can expect from us, but the word that represents what R.I. represents is 'connection'. We strive to be a connector in this community, to bring the different corners of this world together. So, thank you for being here and a part of the R.I. family.

What to expect moving forward: expansion. As we said above, there is so much to come, and some of the biggest and newest changes and updates are R.I. officially having its own website, the launch of our shop, and the upcoming release of Volume 2. When it comes to the website, there is the establishment of The Blog! This is the first of so many blogs to come, moving forward, we plan to move the article from Volume 1 and all future magazines onto the blog, as well as posting reviews and other bookish content on here. It is meant to just be another fun space for us to come to spew all of our thoughts, feelings, and opinions.