Amber Hodgson had dreamed of starting a book festival, a gathering of authors, readers and all who prefer to spend their time between pages.

But Hodgson, who runs an online and pop-up business called Bookish Signs and More with her husband, Matt, said she never followed through on the idea because she is “a weird introvert” — the opposite state of mind needed to plan a huge event with lots of people. “I didn’t have a kick in the pants.”

The Bel Air resident received that much-needed kick in the nether regions the first weekend in May, when she and Matt set up a table at the inaugural A Million Lives Book Festival at the Baltimore Convention Center. It did not go well.

Hodgson was one of several vendors and attendees left despondent after the festival, which attracted a paying audience one-tenth the size of what participants were told, failed to deliver on promised goods and services. That disappointment convinced her to start pulling together Romantasy in the Valley, a festival now planned for next summer at the Embassy Suites By Hilton in Hunt Valley.

“Most book people are a little shy, a little introverted. We live inside our books,” said Hodgson, whose business creates special editions for customers by digitally printing page edges with color and patterns. “Our worst fear is that someone’s going to come to our table. You think, ‘Why did I leave my house?’”

It’s her goal to present a proper showcase for her loyal, motivated community.

Hodgson reached out to the Hilton chain, whose Baltimore Convention Center hotel was the official lodging for A Million Lives, to talk about planning a 2026 event. “I didn’t think people would be comfortable going to the same venue,” she said.

She and her husband, who has years of experience planning large events, are offering discounts for their Romantasy event to participants from the other now-infamous book festival. Hodgson posts updates to the event’s official Instagram with bold green checkmarks marking each planning task she’s accomplished, from ad spots to securing balloons, for transparency.

It’s a change in pace from how A Million Lives was run. After the festival blowback went viral, organizer Grace Willows of Archer Fantasy Events posted a promise on Instagram to refund each vendor, at the very least, their $150 table fee as well as travel or other paid expenses. So far, it appears one of the only people who has seen any money is Celaena Cuico, who agreed relatively last-minute to sell books for the event, only to have authors take free books at Willows’ suggestion to make up for missing swag bags.

Cuico said she’s received roughly $1,600, about $300 short of what she’s owed. “I did not charge her for the books taken from the booth, as I thought if I charged too much others would not receive their refunds and I didn’t think that was fair,” she told me. I have repeatedly reached out to Willows, who agreed to answer questions a week ago but has not yet responded.

“I’m not expecting to get any money back,” said Hodgson, who brought thousands of dollars of books to sell to crowds far smaller than promised. What she has gotten from the A Million Lives festival, she said, is a new community of writers, “good exposure to people all through the country.”

And the Hodgsons are not the only people planning alternative programming to reach the writers and bookish people, who need a good reason to leave their homes.

“The intent is to get people in front of these authors,” Amber Hodgson said. “That’s all anybody wanted in the first place.”