It was the 9th of August last year.
An ordinary, somewhat boring day.
Starlin Marot picked up her phone camera and recorded a message to her non-existent followers.
What happened next would shock her, everyone around her, and eventually catch the attention of the BBC, The Guardian, and The Times.
With a big cheesy grin, she shared some exciting news. She'd be running a Romantasy book pop-up in London, and her hope was that 20 people might come along.
Here's the bit she didn't mention in that video: she'd already quit her marketing job. No safety net. No backup plan. Just a maxed-out credit card, a stack of books she loved, and a hunch.
4 days later, she posted an update.
Remember how she hoped 20 people would grab a ticket?
She'd sold over 900. And 40,000 people had watched the original video on TikTok.
So what happened next?
Patience, my dear (I know, a bit patronising).
But first, a bit of context so you can fully embrace the story.
What is Romantasy?
BookTok is basically the corner of TikTok where readers live and breathe books — ranking them, rating them, sobbing over a death they didn't see coming. It's not just a fun hashtag anymore, it's become one of the most powerful forces in publishing. If BookTok falls for a book, it sells out. Gets reprinted. Sells out again.
Romantasy is what happens when you smush romance and fantasy together — dragons, fae courts, slow-burn enemies-to-lovers, "fated mates" who take 400 pages to admit what we all knew by chapter three. And of course, the brooding, morally-grey love interest you're absolutely not supposed to want. But do.
It's not a new genre, but it's had a proper moment. You may have heard of the author Sarah J Maas? If you haven't, she's a big deal she's sold over 75 million copies of one series alone.
Rebecca Yarros just had the biggest UK hardback opening week in a decade.
So this isn't some niche corner of the internet anymore. It's one of the biggest stories in publishing right now. And for a long time, this whole world only really existed online, in comment sections and group chats.
Which is exactly the gap Starlin walked into.
As a Romantasy lover herself, she felt there wasn't anywhere she could go to meet other people who loved these books — or find anything beyond the same handful of mainstream titles every bookshop already stocked.
So she ran with it. Sourcing stock she couldn't really afford, running pop-ups on pure adrenaline, queues forming from 7am with no idea if anyone would actually show up.
They did. In their hundreds. Some flew in from Ireland, Norway, Italy — empty suitcases in hand, ready to fill them.
Eventually, she raised £30,000 to open a permanent shop in Oxford and it launched last Saturday.
Here's my sharp take.
Taking that bold step or making that courageous pivot isn't going to feel warm and cuddly. You will have to put yourself out there and you will likely feel terrible whilst doing it.
And that's ok.
Nobody jumps up and down in excitement maxing out their credit cards.
Everyone feels cringey recording a video and posting. It's not meant to feel like Disneyland.
But if you truly want to leave that dull, monotonous Groundhog Day job, you'll have to ask yourself this question.
Would I rather ache slowly in a job I dislike, or sting briefly chasing one I love?
Starlin made that decision one year ago.
And it looks like it's paying off.
Now it's your turn. If you're circling that decision yourself, reply and tell me where you're at I read every single one.
And if you want the tools to actually build the thing on the other side of that decision, that's exactly what we're covering in our free September AI workshop.
What do you think about this newsletter?
DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial or legal advice and we are not certified financial advisers or lawyers! This newsletter is strictly entertainment. Please consult with an independent financial advisor or lawyer for advice on your specific circumstances.
