To whom it may concern... meaning you...

As you know, our first Dystopian--Buzzard by Inez Ray--releases in just a few months. Two, in fact. To the day. Which means that, for the next two months, I am very focused on our pre-order campaign. Because, as we have talked about before:

• Pre-Orders count toward a book's first week sales. Meaning a successful pre-order campaign can help propel a book towards early success.

• Strong Pre-Order numbers help to impress

  retailers who we are asking to stock the book.

• Pre-Orders play a huge factor in most books

  reaching best-sellers lists and obtaining early recognition

While best-sellers lists are not our primary objective, Inez's debut book making a massive splash absolutely is. We want to see this book on shelves all around the country. We want to see it being talked about, celebrated and discussed everywhere books are popular. Because all of that is necessary for us to reach our number one objective. Which is for Buzzard to reach as many people as possible.

It's a funny story how I ended up publishing this book. This book was not even on my radar at first. I was reading through a handful of other manuscripts when another publisher at Bindery casually mentioned they had just read a pitch for a dystopian about the last midwife in the country who knew how to perform abortions. And I knew.

Right then and there, I knew that I had to be a part of a story like that. So when I confirmed they weren't planning to make an offer on it, I raced to my submissions and found that it had been submitted for consideration to Left Unread as well. I downloaded the manuscript and spent the rest of that night reading it. It couldn't wait. I was struck with a sense of urgency, knowing just how important a story like this could be. Especially today, where we are watching every day as reproductive rights are stripped away and marginalized people are demonized for every effort they make to fight for themselves.

Now here we are, a year later, and we are only 60 days away from this unbelievable story coming into the world. And frankly, I need your help to make sure that this necessary message reaches as many people as possible. Because, while you and I know the cost of what we are seeing happen in our country right now, a lot of people need the kind of push stories like this offer. Stories like Buzzard confront every day readers with the harsh realities they are fighting like hell to ignore. They force us to consider the world we live in and to face our responsibility to fight for a better one.

So here is what I am asking: Help me to end this pre-order campaign well.

Right now, we are at just under 250 pre-orders. Which is about a quarter of where we would like to be at launch. Which means these next 60 days are crunch time for Left Unread. You are going to see my content get very intensely focused on Buzzard. And my hope is that this community can come together and do two things:

1. Buy copies of the book. There are almost four thousand people in the Left Unread community. So if even a quarter of the people who invest directly into this imprint order your copy early, we are at our goal. But secondly...

2. Help to promote the book by (a) posting it on your own socials, (b) engaging with the content posted by myself, Bindery and Inez & (c) talking about the book with the readers in your every day life.

Word of mouth is still the most effective way to move a book. So, as a community, if we can commit ourselves to keep our mouths running for the next 60 days, we can do a hell of a lot of damage.

Here's what you need to know about the story itself:

Buzzard follows Mae, one of the last midwifes in a fractured version of the United States with the knowledge and expertise to perform abortions. Reproductive rights have been completely dismantled by a puritanical regime that is as focused on upholding its fundamentalist views as it is in protecting the interests of the major corporations and billionaires that actually run the country. Most healthcare workers have either lost their licenses, their freedom, or have fallen in the line with the new standard of healthcare. Mae, however, is not most healthcare workers. She continues to fight for reproductive justice by illegally providing abortions to her community members under the guise of otherwise legal procedures at local medical clinics. But when she is caught, and convicted of infanticide, she is forced to serve as a nurse for an experimental prison for young drone pilots. Where she discovers horrific abuses being endured by the young women in this facility. Leaving Mae with a major decision: Keep her head down and do her time so that she can one day get out of prison and reunite with her sons...or do what she has always done and risk everything to fight for justice.

If you didn't already believe in this book, I hope that you do now. Buzzard is not just a good story. It is the kind of book that you only come across a few times in a generation. I have spent the last few months talking about this book in conversation with classics like Parable of the Sower (Octavia Butler) and The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood). And I am not exaggerating. Mark my words. Buzzard is going to be remembered as an American classic. As a book that made a mark on the 21st century. This book is doing things that are rarely attempted. It doesn't just confront you with how bad the world could become. It forces you to see how bad it already has, and demands that you do not look away.

The world needs this book.

Which is where you all come in.

As I said earlier, there are almost four thousand people subscribed to this community. And each and every one of you are here because you believe in what we are fighting for and because you want to be a part of it. So my ask is, if this book sounds like something you'd enjoy reading, and it is within your budget, please don't wait for launch. Order it now. Pre-sales play a significant role in our plans for this book and I would love it if we set Inez up for the massive success she deserves right from the jump.

Typically, we see a huge spike in community support for a book right after launch. I am begging you... throw that support at Buzzard now. Don't wait for September 22nd. I assure you, fighting for this book now will make a difference in how far this story can go.

I know that many of you have already ordered your copy, but if you haven't, here is a link, please go grab your copy now: https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781967967261

I would also love it if you would join me tomorrow, in a massive push on social media. The book launches on the 22nd of September. That gives us just 8 weeks to take this book and make it everyone's most anticipated book of the year. So I would appreciate it if you would join me in a weekly social media take-over. If even a fraction of this community posts about this book once every Wednesday, we can easily hit our goals and ensure that this book is being talked about by thousands of people before its launch date.

THE ASK:

I am asking that if you have social media of any kind, you post about Buzzard today (July 22nd) and then every Wednesday through September 22nd. I will post here and in our community discord every Tuesday to remind you and to provide you with fresh updates, graphics, sales pitches, blurbs, creative ideas and new sales happening through various retailers:

Here are some short summaries you can use if you don't want to summarize the book yourself:

• Buzzard is a near-future dystopian following the last midwife with the training and expertise to safely perform abortions after she is arrested for using her medical knowledge to fight for the reproductive rights of her community.

• Buzzard follows the last reproductive healthcare worker still fighting for the reproductive rights of Americans after Abortion is criminalized by a far-right fundamentalist regime.

• Buzzard is a near-future dystopian following Mae, a midwife who has been imprisoned for continuing to provide abortions to her community after it has become a federal crime.

• Buzzard follows a midwife who is caught and imprisoned for performing abortions after they are criminalized nationwide. Because of her medical training, she is stationed as a nurse at an experimental prison for young drone pilots, where she discovers young women are being abused. Leaving her with the impossible task of figuring out how to fight for justice while having no power of her own.

SELLING POINTS

• 15% off for all paperback orders through Bookshop.org

• E-book is only $3.99 for a limited time

LINK YOU CAN USE:

• If you have a bookshop affiliate link, please use your link. If you don't, you are welcome to use mine: https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781967967261

  • It is also available everywhere else books are sold. I am primarily using bookshop and various indie bookshops. And my bookshop link also supports @PaperbacksNFrybread, an Indigenous woman owned bookstore in NC.

  • It is also helpful to talk about the book and encourage pre-ordering even if you don't post a link. It is available wherever books are sold. They can find it. lol

AND here are some photos & graphics you can use if you prefer to post photos: