If you haven't seen on social media yet, let me be the first to let you know that, as of this morning, Left Unread has its first (of many) Bestseller!!!

Devil of the Deep was on the Indie Press Fiction Bestseller list!

What does that mean?

The Indie Press Bestseller list is put together by the IPC (Independent Publishers Caucus) weekly with data provided by the American Booksellers Association. This weekly list compiles sales data from bookstores all across the country and lists the top 40 books being sold over that seven day period.

Which means two things to me:

First, it means that on top of all of the support we saw rolling in through bookshop.org and other online retailers over an incredible launch week, this community was also walking into their local bookstores to buy copies. Which brings me joy. Indie bookstores are an incredibly important part of the book economy and I am so grateful to be a part of a community that is intentional about bringing our support right to their doorsteps.

Second, it means that the incredible booksellers who are a part of our community, or see our content online, or came across Devil of the Deep in a catalogue or at a convention were in their stores this week, intentionally putting this book in front of their customers.

There is a lot that we can accomplish with online marketing. The right viral video or the right newsletter can have a massive impact on sales. And I'm sure that happened many times over the last seven days. But it is important to note that our books continue to perform BEST in indie bookstores. Better than on Amazon. Better than at Barnes and Noble. Better than at Bookshop.org. Better than everywhere else. Indie Bookstores continue to be the place where our books perform best again and again.

And I know that is because of a combined passion from the conscientious readers fighting for these stories right beside us, and the booksellers who are excited to partner with us to bring these stories to their readers.

It is incredibly difficult to compete with, and outperform, major publishers. And yet, because of the incredible dedication and care being demonstrated by the readers and booksellers we are so proud to be in community with, we did...and we will continue to do so.

I have been texting with Falencia all day, letting her know how proud I am of her and how grateful I am that she let us be a part of this story. And she has expressed her gratitude to this community, which I share. Without all of you, none of this would be possible. This should be an uphill battle. We should be struggling to keep up. Bindery is a brand new company. Left Unread is even younger. The stats are against us. The industry, itself, was designed to leave us behind. And yet, we are flourishing.

It has been less than six months since we launched our first book and, already, we have a book nominated for a major literary award, and now a bestseller.

That. Is. Because. Of. You.

Thank you.

I can't express how much this work matters to me. Or how much of myself I have invested in this fight for change. There is no plan B here. This is what I want to do with my life. Fight for the authors that are getting overwhelmingly left behind. And more importantly, to be a disruption to the very systems that allow that to keep happening. And because of this unbelievable community, I get to do that. And I get to do it WELL.

The kind of results we're seeing should be decades down the road. And yet, here they are today. And I have no doubt that what is coming will blow these victories out of the water.

To every single person who has invested in this work and become a part of this community, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Because of you, we get to collectively do something that matters. We get to be a part of changing one of the biggest industries on the planet.

We are making a difference because you have decided to make a difference.

I want to also make sure I give a special thanks to our community members who helped to fund Devil of the Deep and all of our other projects. As every publisher and author can tell you, this industry is incredibly difficult and incredibly expensive. Your investment into Left Unread helps us to produce at a much higher level and a much quicker pace than it would be possible to without you. Eventually, as our backlist grows, we will be able to sustain our publishing efforts without outside help. But it is absolutely because of your investments that we are able to be this successful this early in our efforts.

We are not just publishing books here. We are changing the game. And y'all... it's a game that has been long due for change.

And it's all because of you.

Your dedication. Your support. Your passion for authors in the margins.

Take today to celebrate Falencia and to celebrate yourselves. And celebrate the fact that this is only the beginning. We will continue to fight for Falencia. We will continue to celebrate Devil of the Deep and to put it in front of readers everywhere. And we will continue to invest in stories that are just as worthy, and authors who are just as undeniably talented.

Because that's what we do here. We make change.

If you are not already subscribed to this community, please consider doing so. Our mission is to fight for authors in the margins by challenging publishing standards and by publishing Black and brown authors who are using their voices to push the world toward change. Help us meet our goal of 1,000 paid subscribers so that we have the necessary budget to add a third book to our annual catalogue. You can join our efforts for as little as $5 a month. And if you subscribe at the $12 tier or higher, your name will be listed in every single book we publish as one of our dedicated collaborators. But if that is outside of the budget, please subscribe for free and help us push these books out into the world by engaging with our marketing efforts on social media! We can't do any of this without you. So thank you for showing up over and over again! You're making a difference.