TropiCon'25 Saint Augustine Book Expo & Writing Convention
Saint Augustine's premier 3-day booklovers convention featuring NYT, USA Today, WSJ, Amazon & Award-Winning Bestselling and Local Authors!
Date and time
Location
Renaissance St. Augustine Historic Downtown Hotel
6 West Castillo Drive St. Augustine, FL 32084Refund Policy
About this event
Are you ready for the 2nd Annual TropiCon Book Expo & Writing Convention in Saint Augustine? Good! Because we're bringing 70 Authors & Vendors to town and 3 days of bookish bliss! Bestselling New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Amazon, Award-Winning and Local / Regional Authors all at one expo in the heart of America's Oldest City!
HERE'S WHAT TO EXPECT:
- Welcome Wednesday 2/19/24: 7-10 p.m. Meet & Mingle at the Renaissance Saint Augustine Historic Downtown Hotel (6 Castillo Drive, Saint Augustine, FL) with our authors, vendors, models and special guests!
- Thirsty Thursday 2/20/24 (Flamingo VIPs only): 8 a.m. - Flamingo VIP registration, badges/lanyards, convention totes and swag! 9 a.m. - Orientation for VIPs, Authors, Vendors, Models and Special Guests. 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. - Author Panels, Special Guest Speakers, Classes from Publishing Industry Professionals, and How-To Workshops for authors and aspiring authors of all skill and experience levels! 12 p.m. Buffet Lunch with the authors included!
- Fangirl Friday 2/21/24 (Flamingo VIPs only): 8 a.m. - Flamingo VIP late registration. 9 a.m. - Orientation and casual social hour with the authors. 10 a.m. Author Panel and Q&A for readers. 11 a.m. - Surprise! 12 - 2 p.m. Lunch Break. 2 - 5 p.m. - Reader-centric classes: How To Write A Book Review Like A Pro; Bookfluence - What Is It And How Do I Start?; How Do I Start A Book Club And Keep It Going? As Scheduled: LIVE readings with the authors! 12-5 p.m.: (OPTIONAL) Lunch With The Authors and Author Group Excursions around Saint Augustine (sign-up list will be available in the readers group on Facebook as we get closer to the convention - (2) TropiCon Book Expo Readers Group | Facebook ).
- Super Signing Saturday 2/22/24: 9:30 a.m. - Early Bird Entry for physically disabled guests (wheelchair, walker, cane, motorized chair). 10 a.m. - Flamingo VIP Entry for the book signing event. 11 a.m. - Early Entry (1-day) VIP ticket holders entry. 12 p.m. - Box Lunch time for authors. 1- 5 p.m. - General Admission entry (Saturday only).
- SATURDAY RAFFLE: 1 Raffle Ticket will be awarded for each book you purchase and get signed by an attending author! Additional tickets may be purchased for $1 each, or $5 for 6, or $10 for 12, or $20 for 30! ***100% of raffle ticket sales go to the official local humanitarian 501c non-profit charity partner of TropiCon Saint Augustine!
- Survivor Sunday 2/23/24: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. - Champagne Brunch & Recovery with the authors (off-site, pay as you go -- restaurant TBA -- meet in the lobby). 1 - 4 p.m. - Last Chance Signing in the ballroom. 6 p.m. - ??? - Sip & Shop through Colonial Saint Augustine (meet in the lobby).
Frequently asked questions
YES. Your safety is our number one priority. We have security (in uniform) or peace officers at our Saturday signing event, and hotel security staff are onsite 24/7 and monitoring security cameras throughout the complex and surrounding property. Venue staff actively patrol our conventions as well.
ALL on-site scheduled activities for all four days are included with your Flamingo VIP Ticket, including Thirsty Thursday buffet lunch. You also get 2-hour early entry to Super Signing Saturday (and in and out privileges for both signing events), an event tote, badge & lanyard, and event swag.
YES. We have a maximum of 1,000 tickets available (including General Admission), and we abide by fire code for occupancy, but we had over 600 attendees at TropiCon'24 Saint Augustine (same venue), and had no issues with overcrowding.
NO. We segment our readers into separate entry times on Super Signing Saturday: Flamingo VIP 10 a.m.-12 p.m. (limited to 300), Early Entry 1-day VIP 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. (limited to 200), and General Admission 1 p.m.- 5 p.m. (limited to 500). VIP ticket holders of both types are welcome during GA times.
YES. Our ADA guests requiring wheelchair, motorized chair, walker or cane get a dedicated half hour in the Super Signing Saturday event prior to all other ticket entry times. Our venue is fully ADA compliant, and we maintain a minimum of 4-foot aisles at all times.
NO. Each day is dedicated to a single purpose and vicinity in the venue. Thirsty Thursday is all about learning. Fangirl Friday is all about giving back to our readers via interactive quality time fun with the authors. Super Signing Saturday is all about meeting your favorite authors and books.
YES. We don't ticket for specific in-demand 'big name' authors. Lines go down fairly quickly, and we encourage meeting new-to-you authors while waiting for lines to shorten. We have 'bigs' spread out to prevent traffic jams as well. In addition, Flamingo VIPs get 3 full days w/ the authors.
We cannot guarantee General Admission will get to see every author in the 4-hour GA signing period on Super Signing Saturday. We do, however, offer a bonus opportunity to ALL ticket holders to come back on Sunday for a 3-hour 'last chance' signing period (1-4 p.m.).
YES. We have plenty of bottled water and ice water stations, along with coffee at our conventions all 3 days.
YES. Welcome Wednesday Meet & Mingle with the authors will have a cash bar at the event, and the Castillo Craft Bar & Kitchen has a fully stocked bar in the hotel just steps from our event spaces.
YES. A full-service Starbucks is in the hotel lobby and open morning to late afternoon.
NO. Our venue hotel has a total of 85 luxury rooms and suites. Our event room block is reserved for authors and vendors only. If any rooms in the block are not filled within 30 days of the convention, then we would open up rooms to readers. Over 950 lodgings in St. Augustine are on Booking.com
YES, but this will be released at a later date, once all of our authors and vendors have been announced on social media. For the most up-to-date list, DO visit our TropiCon Readers Group page regularly, as we announce them starting in May 2024... https://www.facebook.com/groups/tropiconreadersgroup
YES. We have designated quiet spaces in the hotel away from all the noise and activity if you need it. You may ask an event staff volunteer at any time to guide and/or escort you to the nearest quiet space to recover. We understand a festive event of this size can be a bit much to take in at times.