A Humble Peddler of Weres

You mean like how people read books at libraries, and end up buying them if they like them?

“That’s not the same 😡”

Just saw this in my notes and thought I'd reply. You can't get into libraries if you only use Amazon, but platforms like Draft2Digital, Ingram and Kobo Writing Life make it possible for self-pub authors to have their work made available to libraries across the global network.

You're sometimes more likely to get picked up by libraries if you list yourself as having a publisher, but as a self-pub author you can do that by registering as an LLC (which for me was $250 back in 2020, I don't know what it is now) and then listing the name you used as the publisher. But even that's becoming an unnecessary step with how prominent self-pub has become.

Dishwasher still fucked 👎

Scheduled repair people 🤞

Emails cleared 💪

Meals prepped 💃

Dishes washed by hand 💅

We had two different mold remediation companies tell us our basement was "fine" only to end up ripping everything out ourselves because there was black mold behind all of the walls and it was making me horrendously ill.

Dishwasher still fucked 👎

Scheduled repair people 🤞

Emails cleared 💪

Meals prepped 💃

Dishes washed by hand 💅

Dishwasher still fucked 👎

Scheduled repair people 🤞

Emails cleared 💪

Meals prepped 💃

Dishes washed by hand 💅

They even had the audacity to screenshot their own email, so I've screenshot their most recent email in the same email thread that counters that other email, and now I'm trying to find a professional way to say, "this you?"

Attention ancient history nerds and fans of really weird and unusual fantasy books, THE WISDOM OF EMPERORS kickstarter campaign just launched!

Hello, btw, I'm Alexandra Rowland, the author of A TASTE OF GOLD AND IRON, RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND, YIELD UNDER GREAT PERSUASION, and several other books. This is my new one!!

Inspired by the story of the Ancient Roman emperor Hadrian and his lover Antinous, THE WISDOM OF EMPERORS is a second-world adult fantasy novel written in the style of a fictional academic text. It documents the translation and study of a world-changing artifact discovered in an archaeological dig: a manuscript which provides the clues to finally unravel one of the most perplexing mysteries in all of ancient history.

If this sounds like your jam, go back it on kickstarter! If you're not sure whether it is your jam, the merch reveal updates on the campaign include excerpts from the book so you can get a flavor for it -- the ENTIRE Foreword to the book is on there!

I do not have a publisher to help with a marketing and publicity budget, so this book's success really depends on grassroots support from readers -- if you can spare a signal boost, that'd be amazing.

I'M GONNA GO WALK INTO THE SEA NOW AND BECOME ONE WITH THE MOLLUSCS, but before i do, here is the full summary of the book:

SUMMARY:

     An ancient emperor who, along with his entire army, vanished from the historical record for ten years, as if into thin air. A long-suffering scribe, dragged along on a quest that was doomed from the start, furiously scrawling his thoughts in a manuscript that will be lost for millennia. An enslaved young man, as beautiful as a marble statue, breaking his chains and flying to freedom. And a patient, steadfast scholar, dauntlessly seeking the answer to a mystery that has plagued historians for two thousand years.

The great tragedy of studying history is that there is so much we will never know. But a recent archaeological excavation has discovered an ancient manuscript, allegedly the journal kept by one of Emperor Cabian’s scribes during the years of his mysterious disappearance. Though most historians initially dismissed it as a hoax or a forgery, Amatio Orlanti took on the challenge—not only proving the authenticity of the manuscript, but translating it, uncovering the most jaw-dropping corroborating sources and, at last, presenting these astonishing revelations to the world: The truth of Cabian’s ill-fated journey, the twin poisons of imperialist violence and desperate, misguided love that drove him relentlessly onwards, and the ultimate fate of his lost beloved, the legendary beauty Anaticula. This new edition of Orlanti’s dissertation, with its academic commentaries and explanatory footnotes now revised for the general public, offers a glimpse of one of the most famous figures of Ancient Lausa—and casts a light on the rot and depravity lying behind the empire’s outward magnificence.

Miracles in history and archaeology just don’t happen… except when they do.

1300+ backers

over $100,000 raised

Audiobook stretch goal reached!

Collector's Edition fully upgraded to its fanciest form: High-quality sewn binding (NOT glued), gold foil and embossing on the cover, ribbon bookmark, sprayed edges, illustrated endpapers (full color) and 7 interior illlustrations (greyscale) by @holographings and @qwertyprophecy

Enamel pin stretch goal! Alternate colorway dust jacket stretch goal!!

There's still 4 spots available to claim a copy of the luxury HANDBOUND edition made by an incredibly talented bookbinder.

Every physical order comes with 5 art cards (so far) of the illustrations in full color (and we might hit the stretch goals to get a couple more!)

Here is the first illustration that's been completed, by the amazingly talented @qwertyprophecy:

Are you speechless? I'm speechless.

This has truly been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Like, I've published over a dozen books before this and I've never felt so much an outpouring of love and community and CONNECTION... This is what making art is all about. I'm so, so grateful. Thank you so much.

If you haven't had a chance to check out the kickstarter, YOU SHOULD GO DO THAT THING. I'm making something really cool with the help of some really cool artists!