Who We Are
The Realm Makers Mission
To support writers and artists who create science fiction and fantasy in their journeys from idea to marketplace. Whether participating artists wish to gear their content for inspirational or mainstream audiences, Realm Makers seeks to encourage them from a faith-friendly perspective.
Realm Makers began in 2012, when founder Becky Minor’s vision of creating a faith-friendly event where writers could celebrate all things science fiction and fantasy kicked into motion. Online discussions made it clear that Christian writers of speculative fiction didn’t have a place or event where they could really feel at home. Everyone agreed…the “spec fic” crowd was a couple shades too weird for the established Christian writers conferences, and the comic con scene wasn’t really the right fit for most either.
And hence, Realm Makers was born.
In the summer of 2013, Realm Makers offered its first conference. Would anyone show up? In that first effort, writers indeed supported the notion of having their own conference to call home, and over 60 authors came together to learn and connect.
The History of Realm Makers
🍁 Fall of 2012: Rebecca Minor undertakes the planning of the first Realm Makers conference.
☀️ Summer 2013: Realm Makers’ first annual writers conference takes place at UMSL in St. Louis, MO.
📊 2012 – 2015: Realm Makers operates under a sole proprietorship DBA of Faith & Fantasy Alliance. Rebecca heads up planning the conference content, while Scott begins to take a hand in deeper logistics in 2016.
🗓️ 2015: Scott and Rebecca Minor establish Faith & Fantasy Alliance as an LLC, under which they will later add Realm Makers Conferences, LLC and Realm Makers Bookstores, LLC.
🏆 2016: Realm Makers establishes The Realm Awards to honor the best Christian-written speculative fiction novels.
📚Late 2017-2018: Realm Makers undertakes their first Mobile Bookstore events, as well as running a Christmas season pop up bookstore at the King of Prussia Mall.
🎉 2018: Realm Makers devises the first iteration of their paid membership organization, which would evolve over the coming years into The RealmSphere on the Mighty Networks platform.
❄️ 2020: Realm Makers offers its first annual retreat.
👨🏻💻 2020: Scott leaves his outside employment to work on Realm Makers’ multiple arms of business full-time. Rebecca resigns from her “gig work” shortly after.
🦠 2020-2024: Annual Conferences and retreats continue (one virtual, the rest hybrid.) Authors come back in greater-than ever numbers post-pandemic.
💥 2025: Realm Makers offers its first Expo in conjunction with the conference, bringing Christian storytellers from many arms of entertainment media together to celebrate their projects and the spirit of fellowship that binds them together.
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Throughout all these developments, the original writers conference continues to thrive, drawing over 500 authors to the event, plus hundreds more to the growing Expo.
FAQ
Is Realm Makers a publisher?
A: No, aside from Rebecca P. Minor’s books and one anthology (2018) Realm Makers does not engage in any publishing activities.
How does Realm Makers choose their conference faculty?
A. Faculty selection is primarily on an invitation-only basis. If you wish to propose conference content you would teach, you can always contact us for consideration, but there is no application process for any specific event.
Is Realm Makers an offshoot of another organization or community?
A: No. While Rebecca has been an attendee at other conferences and participated in author’s forums (early in her writing journey, when forums were still a thing) Realm Makers is entirely rooted in her own desire to begin something she saw would meet a need. It is not a splinter group, nor did any faction from any other organization work with Rebecca to found the conference and company.
Is Realm Makers now a large company?
A. No. Realm Makers is literally a mom and pop organization that strives to provide the best possible products on a small budget. The company compensates a handful of contractors who work on year-round operations, but it has no headquarters or corporate trappings.