If you are in our discord server, you may have noticed a new channel appeared yesterday. One I titled: Top Secret Bookclub Project.

It's time to talk about that!

Earlier this year, I hosted a secret bookclub for all of my paid subscribers to read through their Advanced Reader Copies of our Haitian mermaid/pirate fantasy, Devil of the Deep. And, well, I'd like to do it again, but much much bigger.

Exactly one month from Saturday, our next book comes out into the world. Buzzard is our first dystopian and I could not be more excited. You know how much I love dystopians. In fact, I spent months last year just talking about the importance of dystopian stories and the role they play in challenging society's understanding of morality and power. So, for me, Buzzard is much more than just a story about a midwife risking her freedom to do the right thing. It is an opportunity for us to facilitate an important conversation about reproductive justice and the fight for the marginalized. It is an opportunity for us to openly challenge bigotry and to put out a call for everyone to get involved in bringing change.

Which means that it is important to me that we set this book up for early success.

We are in great shape so far. Buzzard has received an overwhelmingly positive response from booksellers around the country. So positive, in fact, that it was one of the very few books chosen for the fall Indies Introduce list, which is a short and exclusive list of books named by the American Booksellers Association as upcoming standout debuts.

And Buzzard didn't just make the list, it was voted for unanimously.

In general, booksellers are among the most capable of predicting what books will appeal to everyday readers. So the fact that it was unanimously voted for, among the hundreds of books coming out in the second half of this year, is a great sign.

However, as we have talked about extensively, the work of launching a book well happens long before publication date. If we want Buzzard to have the widespread impact that it is capable of, we need to do everything that we can to make sure people are hearing about it, and ordering it, right now.

We have 33 days until launch. And as of earlier today, we were sitting comfortably at 365 pre-orders. That is not referencing books that will be on bookstore shelves. Those are the books that readers have actually already ordered. Or at least the ones ordered from stores and retailers that report that information this early.

I want to be clear, that is not a discouraging number. For most books, 100 pre-orders is a reasonable goal. But we are not after reasonable results. Because as we know, most books never reach their full potential. A sad fact that becomes even more true if they are written by a marginalized person, or written to challenge people's worldview. Both of which are true for this book.

Buzzard is doing well, but we have to approach this launch very aware that it is not easy to get access for stories like this. Stories that confront people with the systems of oppression they not only suffer under, but are complicit in. Stories that demand we look at the suffering happening around us and refuse to look away. Stories that challenge us to not settle for crumbs, but to fight for a future that actually serves us all.

I chose this book to be our next Left Unread publication because I believe in the message Inez Ray is trying to project to the readers of the world. I believe that what she has to say matters, and the conversation she is having in this book needs to be amplified.

Which is why it is incredibly important to me that we use these last 33 days to fight like hell for this book. Yes, it is doing great. And it will continue to do great. But if we give it the proper momentum, it can do unprecedented good for the world.

Seriously. Imagine if stories like this did numbers like Fifth Wing or ACOTAR. Imagine if people were talking about the fight for abortion access the way they shout from every corner of the internet about dragons and racially ambiguous fae princes. Imagine the good that could be accomplished if we propelled this book onto the main stage.

That is what I am asking for help with. Help giving this book a reasonable shot at making it onto bookshelves all across the country. Or even the world.

So, what's the plan?

Starting this Saturday, August 22nd, I will officially launch our super secret bookclub f0r Buzzard.

Plenty of you already have the book. If you were a paid subscriber in time, you were sent an ARC months ago. And hundreds of you who aren't paid subscribers also received copies through Netgalley, Goodreads Giveaways and random ARC drops. In fact, the number of people who already have the book is well over double the amount of pre-orders. Which makes me happy. I want this book in as many hands as possible. And I want to invite every single one of you to spend this last month before launch reading the book together and SATURATING social media with this incredible story.

If you are not a paid subscriber and have not been lucky enough to get a hold of an Advanced Reader Copy, I would love you to go request one now so that you can be a part of our community read! Here is a direct link to go request your copy on Netgalley: https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/795603

Please go request it right now. I want as many of you as possible to be able to participate this month. If we want to have these kinds of results in just 33 days, it's going to take us all.

Also, make sure you have pre-ordered your copy! There are four thousand of us here. Let's run these numbers up. Grab it at the following link for 15% off: https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781967967261

Throughout the month, Inez will be dropping exclusive treats for you. I don't know exactly what she is going to put together, but we've toyed with ideas like exclusive writing, character backstories, unique POVs, secret videos. Who knows what all she is going to whip up! These are just ides. But there will be treats for you.

I will also be creating content and posting regularly as we read throughout the month.

Additionally, I will be hosting REGULAR giveaways, including not only e-book giveaways, but also physical copies pretty much every week until launch. I will communicate as each of those start and would love you all to participate and to help spread the word.

I will share not only exclusive content, but also ideas throughout the month on ways to spread the word and build buzz.

As I said earlier, we have 33 days to make sure everyone and their momma has heard about Buzzard. Hopefully, that effort will pay off and we will see a huge boost in the amount of people talking about the book, anticipating the book, and ordering the book. Which absolutely impacts how many bookstores order it, how many copies they stock, how many libraries put it on their shelves, how much attention it gets from bookish creators, press, literary magazines, etc. And, if we are very lucky, it can impact whether or not we hit bestseller lists launch week--which is the most likely time for a book to hit a bestseller list in the entire life of the book.

It's crunch time y'all.

We know how to do this. Because we've done it before. We pushed Cry, Voidbringer until it was a finalist for a major literary award. We propelled Devil of the Deep onto the Indie Press Top 40 Bestseller list. And we are going to push Buzzard even further.

So yeah... let's get this done.

You ready?

Great! Dust off your ARC, charge your e-reader. We ride at dawn (on Saturday though, lol).