Why, do you ask, is this month scary? We are not in October, after all. Halloween is coming up but not that fast.
The reason, my dear friend, is that I am the midst of not one but TWO BOOK RELEASES (cue the stress dreams). Yes, the paperback for Shad Hadid and the Alchemists of Alexandria arrives September 19th.
In fact, watch my unboxing video if you have not already!
What’s really cool about me even getting a paperback is that it is not a given. Many books do not perform well enough to get a paperback, so this is a testament to the fact readers are resonating with this series.
The best part is that it’s only going to be $10! That makes the book so much more accessible. If you are able and would love to either have this simply gorgeous book on your shelf—or want to gift it to someone who may have a birthday or just be an avid reader—you can pre-order a copy here!
And, if you let me know and would like it, I will happily send you a bookmark, sticker, and signed book plate (which you can place into the book as though I had signed the book myself).
The same is true for the second book in this series, Shad Hadid and the Forbidden Alchemies, which releases on October 17th (the day after my birthday!). This is a GORGEOUS book and you can pre-order that here. Same deal with the free stuff if you send me proof of purchase (from anywhere, not just the link above)!
Now that I’ve convinced you to buy some books, I can talk about other things. What is actually scary about September. One is the fact that this is my wife’s (which still feels surreal to say) last year in law school. Or that I have around ten flights booked this Fall amid a COVID spike (yikes)!
On top of all that, however, is that I am teaching three workshops. Am I burnt out? Yes. Am I going to keep adding to my workload anyways? Probably.
The thing about being an author is that you can rarely make a TON of money selling books. More often, if lucky as has been the case for me, we make enough to get by year to year. For that reason, I’ve been lucky enough to retain a day job but also do things for side income like host retreats, teach writing classes, and even do school visits (by the way, if you know of any schools who might be interested this upcoming year, please do reach out!).
So, after getting real with you all for a moment, I’ll close with noting some of those upcoming side things I’d love to see you at if you have the desire and the means (otherwise, just buying my books will do <3)!
Spotlight on School Visits: everything you need to know about getting into school visits, creating a presentation, and other valuable author tips & tricks
Writing and Selling Children’s Books (highly recommend this one): a three-part deep dive, workshop style, into how to not only write but also sell children’s books
Gotham Writers’ Creative Writing 101: a six-part look at writing (and selling) all sorts of fiction & non-fiction with activities interspersed to get you going
Don’t ever hesitate to reach out with questions on these, or anything else I’m doing, friends. Thanks for reading!!