Today is a big day for Left Unread, as I'm sure many of you are already aware of. For the last year and a half, we have been working to get our next publication, Buzzard, ready to be ushered out into the world. And yall... it's time. Inez has been through months of editing, involving rewrites, new content, and rigorous effort. And on the marketing end, our team has worked tirelessly to get this book in front of as many readers, booksellers, media outlets, and bookish influencers as humanly possible.

And truly, that combined effort has worked. Buzzard is being talked about everywhere. Not only are reviews dropping everywhere, but bookseller are feral for it all around the country. Over and over again, I am hearing from people who are telling me that this book is the new standard.

I'm telling you, Buzzard is READY.

That said, we have the rest of today to propel it toward the impact we all know it can have.

As we have talked about more times than I can count now, pre-orders do have a tangible effect on a book's launch, and often even how far of a reach that book ends up having. Which is not to say that a good pre-order guarantees success or that low pre-orders guarantees a book will fail. Because that wouldn't be true even a little. But it DOES have an impact.

We can not ever control how well a book does or how far its reach is, but fighting hard for an excellent launch is our most powerful tool in ensuring a book has its best chance at a large reach.

And guys, I need you to hear me, books like Buzzard not only deserve that effort. They need it.

You and I understand the importance of this book. And you and I understand the importance of the conversation it is trying to have. This community was built around our collective passion for human rights and marginalized people. But the industry as a whole does not share that passion. And there are many many industry professionals who see stories as heavy as this one as a risk.

Fighting for this pre-order campaign is really about helping those people see that it is not a risk. Fighting for this pre-order campaign has never been solely about sales. It has been about propping this book up and openly proving that it is a conversation and story that readers WANT and are ready for.

Our goal was to hit 1,000 pre-orders. And I am going to be honest with you, while we are far above the number of pre-orders the majority of books get, we are very far from our goal. As of last week, we were just shy of 450. Still an incredible number. But not what we were aiming for.

But I for one do not believe we are too late to make that happen.

When we published Cry, Voidbringer in the fall of 2025, I came to this community and I told you we needed about 600 sales to hit our pre-order goal. And within 48 hours, we had sold 900.

I know what this community can do, and I fully believe we can get it done again.

Buzzard is a about a midwife named Mae who is the last reproductive healthcare worker still fighting to provide abortion access in a near-future fractured, puritanical version of the United States. It is about a woman fleeing the law and fighting for justice. A woman who has lost everything, including her family, to do the right thing. But what is more important to keep in mind as we go into this launch is that it is also a reflection of the VERY NEAR world we are watching our politicians and neighbors build right in front of us today.

This book matters because it is not a what if story. It is a picture of what is right around the corner if we do not get our asses in gear and do something.

I want to see this book on lists come this time next week. I want to see it being talked about in papers and all over social media. I want to see news outlets reaching out. I want to see pro-lifers raging about the conversation it is starting. In fact, 40 days for Life (a nationally coordinated campaign against abortion rights) starts on Wednsday, just one day after Buzzard launches. I want this book's conversation to be so loud that it gets its own spotlight in the nightmares of those protestors.

I want this book to shift the conversation across the country.

Inez wrote this book because she was pissed the fuck off. And MY goal is to make sure that its success leaves the people stripping away human rights just as pissed the fuck off.

And we have TODAY to propel us toward that goal.

There are four thousand people in this community. And I am asking you with as much passion as I can muster to please order your copy today.

Here are a few places where you can order it that we can track easily, so I can provide updates as the day goes!

Bookshop: Using THIS link gives me the easiest and most direct way to track how many pre-orders came in today. In addition to being easily tracked, you will also get 15% off the physical copy. (The e-book is available for $3.99)

Paperbacks and Frybread: Paperbacks & Frybread is an Indigenous woman owned bookstore based out of NC. HERE is a link to order from them online.

Sunny's Book Truck: Sunny's is a woman-owned bookstore based in Arizona. Buzzard is actually their October bookclub pick! HERE is a link to order from them online.

We have also partnered with a number of bookstores, including the two listed above, to donate toward local reproductive healthcare organizations as a part of our launch campaign. I will provide more information on that later, as I'd love help amplifying that and getting the word out!

This community has always stood ten toes down when it comes to human rights. And that is what this book is trying to do. And we can help it do exactly that. Order your copy right now and help us race toward best-seller lists, news articles, and most importantly, the bookshelves of every American who needs to be confronted by Inez's anger or comforted by her ability to dream of a way out of this shit storm.

I love y'all and am so excited to celebrate this book's launch with you all tomorrow.

And on that note, I would also like to invite you to join Inez and I tomorrow at 4:00 PM CST to celebrate the launch of Buzzard and to chat about the book together. Feel free to come whether you have read it or not. It will be a spoiler free event. We just want to celebrate Inez and her amazing achievement as a community! BYOB by the way. lol

I will post a zoom link for that first thing in the morning. But please add it to your calendar!

Have a great day y'all! And in case you forgot already: Go order your copy. lol