831 Stories co-founders Claire Mazur and Erica Cerulo built their romance entertainment company around the question: “what does it look like to be a modern fan?”
The book publisher and romance lifestyle brand released its first title, Big Fan, in September 2024, and has plans to release six more within its first year in business. So far, five titles are out. The company releases books in partnership with Authors Equity with distribution by Simon & Schuster, and is represented by UTA.Â
To serve the modern romance novel fan, 831 seeks to give readers the experience of storytelling beyond the page—inspired by the way Bravo caters to reality TV fans, Marvel to comic book lovers, and A24 to cinephiles.
“Our hope is that this does a lot of work of introducing people to the world of 831,” Mazur told ADWEEK.Â
Mazur and Cerulo previously founded the e-commerce brand Of a Kind, which they sold to Bed, Bath & Beyond in 2015. They also co-host a podcast and write a newsletter, A Thing Or Two, about their entrepreneurial journey.Â
Before it had commissioned any books, 831 led with the idea of romance reading as a lifestyle by releasing a line of hats with popular romance tropes spelled out in cursive, including “celebrity / normal person,” “fake relationship,” and “second-chance romance.” Celebrities from Chloe Kim to Kristen Bell have been photographed in 831’s signature hats.
The hats served to increase brand awareness and to signal to romance readers that the brand is here to serve them. But their popularity also indicates what kind of novels its audience is most interested in.
For example, the “enemies to lovers” hat was consistently a leader in sales, but 831 didn’t have a book that followed this genre trope in its line up yet. Its first one, Square Waves, came out last month in response, said Cerulo.