We have exactly twelve days until an important deadline and I want to make sure you have all of the information you need to be a part of it.

12 days and counting

I have been saying since day one that community is the only way we are going to achieve our goals. Your support has meant everything and will be the single biggest reason we are able to successfully champion the authors we represent. Which is why I really like that Bindery has a way for our community members to receive formal acknowledgement if you want it! As you know, our higher tiered subscribers (the $12 and $25 tier) not only receive early copies of all of our published books, but they also have their names listed in the books on a dedicated thank you page.

What you may not know, is that y’all showed out for Cry, Voidbringer. We had so many of you supporting this project that it took multiple pages to list all of your names. And I couldn’t be prouder. The authors we are signing are so lucky to have you and I am so lucky to have you. So thank you so much for showing up time and time again to make sure that the work we are doing is successful. I truly mean it when I say we can’t do this without you and because of who you are, I am confident we are positioned to do this work WELL.

With all of that said, we are quickly approaching the deadline for our collaborators list for Devil of the Deep and I wanted to make sure you were all aware so that anyone who wants to have their name recognized in this book has the opportunity to do so.

Let me tell you a little bit about the book:

Devil of the Deep is a Haitian-inspired fantasy following three primary characters. One of them is a mermaid who has been forced to flee her home after her uncle is arrested by an underwater cult that is searching for a mythical shell that can be used to raise their island and wage war against the surface world. In order to survive, she knows she is going to have to go to the surface world, which means losing her ability to speak due to an ancient curse from the gods. While on the run, with the shell in hand, she ends up connecting with our other primary characters: a notorious pirate and an ambitious navy captain with a complicated and romantic history. Together, the three of them are forced to band together to resist not only the underwater cult chasing them and the above-world navy that is pursuing two of them. This book is filled with incredible conversations about identity and systems of power as our main characters wrestle through their powerlessness and the colonial religion that has kept them from a free and true expression of their culture and history. And in addition to it being the most unbelievable conversation about deconstruction and anti-colonialism that I have ever read in a fantasy, it is also a beautiful exploration of Black and Queer identity.

This is easily one of my favorite books I have ever read, which is why I advocated for the opportunity to republish it through our imprint—Left Unread—and to help make sure it ends up on more shelves and in more homes. I think this could easily be one of the most important books people read next year and I would love it if we could rally together and get this book the support it needs to reach massive success.

I have a lot of plans for how I am going to partner together with this community, Bindery’s marketing team, and the vast network of social media influencers I am connected to in order to push this book further and further. But for now, our immediate goal is to give everyone in our community the opportunity to receive public recognition for your early support of the project if that is something that you want.

If you have not already upgraded to the $12 or $25 tier, I would love for you to do so right now so that you can get the recognition you deserve. There is no pressure to do so. But my hope is that with each project we publish, our list of direct supporters multiplies. I want to signify to the world that the work that we are doing matters and that this message of change is growing.

I will have another official publishing update email for you in the next couple of weeks, with some information (including rough dates) of what is coming next for all of our projects and ways that you can plug in. In the meantime, we have family office hours every Thursday at 7pm CST where all of our paid subscribers (regardless of tier) can get together with me on Zoom and hear any updates and help brainstorm on actions we can take to push all of our projects forward. I would love to see you there. You can grab that link and a ton of in-the-moment information and brainstorming in our subscribers-only chat on the community discord. So please, if you want to be actively involved in this process, hop in the discord and let our moderator team know you are coming from Bindery so that we can get you the access you need.

Thanks for being here, y’all and get ready for another incredible book!

I also want to be clear that being one of our higher paying subscribers is not the only way to meaningfully engage with this community. That is what I am talking about in this blog, but you are all incredible valuable to the work we are doing as a community. I am so grateful for every single one of you and the way that you show up for our authors and our vision every single day. Thank you. You are a blessing to me and I wouldn't trade this community for the world.