The romance-focused magazine Romantic Times, along with the RT Book Reviews, RT VIP Salon and RT Booklovers Convention brands, is shutting down after 37 years, Carol Stacy, RT's publisher, announced yesterday. The closure is effective immediately, and though the RT website will remain up for another year or so, there will be no new content in the future.
Kathryn Falk, who founded Romantic Times in 1981, first announced the closure, as well as her retirement from publishing, during the welcome breakfast on the opening day of the 2018 RT Booklovers Convention in Reno, Nev., yesterday morning. According to the website The Romance Dish, it was also revealed that "at least one of the people behind the RT conventions" plans to launch a successor convention called "BookLoversCon" next year.
In a farewell e-mail, Carol Stacy wrote that she was "very proud" of what the team has accomplished over the years, adding, "I'm proud of the contributions we've made within the book industry and proud of our place in the expansion and evolution of the romance genre."