Update: The Special Limited Pre-Order for MFA Thesis Novel is over, but you can still order a signed copy and get a free bookmark! See my webstore for updated info.
Last week I posted to this blog about the Special Limited MFA Thesis Novel Signed Pre-Order and sent out a few social media posts. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect: if the pre-order went well, I’d be happy, but if it didn’t, I resolved not to be disappointed or angry. As a way of not building up my hopes too much, I told myself that maybe people wanted to buy the novel somewhere else, or maybe they’d wait until it actually came out.
It’s always a nerve-wracking experience putting a part of yourself out there and risking failure. In my darker moments, I worried no one would be interested, or that people would be willing to Like a post but not actually order the book. Worst of all was the fear that I’d come across as some sort of pestering MLM Ponzi-scheme jerk making money off of the people in his social network, like those people who get sucked into nutrition supplement scams.
As it turns out, I shouldn’t have worried.
Within minutes of my first Facebook post I’d already gotten one order—from my mom. OK, that’s to be expected, I guess, except within minutes after that, another order came in, then another, then two more, then a steady stream throughout the day and the next day, and the day after that. And they’re still coming.
To this, I just want to say a HUGE, sincere thank-you to everyone who’s pre-ordered MFA Thesis Novel so far, Liked and shared my posts, and sent words of encouragement about how excited they are to read this novel I spent an absurd amount of time on. This means a lot, and it’s given me a lot of encouragement that I can take this small-press indie project to some powerful places.
I was especially surprised by some of the orders I’ve gotten so far: high school acquaintances I hadn’t talked to in years came out of the woodwork, as did people I knew in both Bennington and grad school. Some of my extended family reached out to buy a copy and say congrats, as did old coworkers, writers’ group friends, and people who’ve been following this blog and my other writing over the years, which has been amazing.
A lot of people have also ordered the bundle pack that includes my Eikaiwa Bums chapbook and the Erochikan humor zine collection, which I’m also super-thankful for! These are projects that are incredibly important to me and that I love sharing with people, but that have gathered limited attention on their own. I’m really hoping they’ll make a cool bonus for people who want to check out my stuff.
This has been an amazing, amazing week, and I’ve been so glad to get so much support from so many people. I only wish I was able to message a thank-you to everyone individually, but they’ll be more time for that when I prepare the orders ;-)
About the Pre-Order
One of the reasons I wanted to do the signed pre-order was so I could offer the special bookmark and But I Al;so Have a Day Job sticker, but also because I love writing messages in books, specifically for friends (as any of you who’ve gotten a birthday, Christmas, or occasionally a wedding book from me will know). For me, these messages make books special, and they last a long time.
Many of you’ve requested some pretty rad personalized messages: I got one for an improvised cake recipe, one for love lessons (autocorrected from “life lessons”), one for a doodle, and one for something “uncomfortably personal” (!). Challenge accepted.
Another reason for the pre-order is purely practical: by pre-ordering a copy from me, you eliminate the middleman, which means that more of your money goes to me, the author, and makes a small indie project like this one more financially viable.
The financial practicality end goes double for the Special Limited Pre-Order Period: the more people pre-order before March 10th, the bigger an order I can place with the press, and thus get a larger discount for ordering in bulk. Print-on-demand can be a tricky business, as can novels like mine with small print runs and higher production costs, so a bigger print run for this initial batch makes the logistics WAY easier.
Also, for those of you who asked about how the But I Also Have a Day Job webstore works: I use a service called Big Cartel that offers free stores to indie creators who offer less than 5 items. The free version has limited features, but it’s plenty for what I need it for, and instead of a flat fee per month I only pay a smaller percentage fee for credit card and PayPal processing. (You can read more about how the fees work here.)
I like being upfront about this entire process because I want to be honest about how the sausage gets made, how the financing works, and how I as a small, indie creator go about making something like this a reality.
And In Case You Missed It…
The Special Limited Pre-Order period for signed copies ends this Thursday, March 10th, so if you order by then you’ll be guaranteed delivery by the April 19th release date. This is also the last day to get the free 3″ x 2″ You Don’t Pay Me to Care sticker with novel pre-orders, so don’t miss out!
And by the way—you can still order e-copies and non-signed hard copies from the usual places online, and from a few brick and mortar stores come April (!!!!). If you’d like more of your money to go to an independent bookstore (because independent bookstores are awesome!), I’ll be posting more info about how to do this soon, so keep an eye out!