Good morning. I am writing this blog from my hotel room in New York City, and in just ONE DAY, I will be heading to Public Records, where we will be celebrating the launch of Bindery's Fall 2025 books, including our very own Cry, Voidbringer.

For the last year, we have been talking about, editing, formatting and preparing Cry, Voidbringer to enter the world. And now, we have just EIGHTEEN DAYS to make sure that we give it its best chance. And we need your help.

I cannot give you exact numbers, because our access to information is very limited. For those of you who are really plugged into the indie space (which should be all of you), you may be used to authors updating you on pre-order numbers regularly. It is very different on this side of the industry. Because Cry, Voidbringer is being sold at all of the major retailers and in dozens of indie bookstores already, we have no way of tracking a huge chunk of our sales until the book actually launches. The numbers we do have are almost exclusively from places like Bookshop.org and amazon. We are pretty much blind to everything else. But from what we do have, we are at least 50% to our pre-order goal. Which, quite frankly, is IMPRESSIVE. Our goals have been very ambitious from the beginning.

From what I have heard from the many authors I have good relationship with, 50-250 pre-orders is what is reasonable to expect. And we have far exceeded that, even with just partial access to our numbers.

HOWEVER, I don't just want to exceed the norm. I want to exceed the goals we set for ourselves. And we are very far from doing that, with very little time to bridge that gap.

We are not just fighting to make sure these books keep up with traditional publishers. Our goal is to set a new standard for publishing. To demonstrate that the fight for Black and brown authors is not a lost cause or a waste of energy. We want bookstores to look at our work and to realize that they were lied to by an industry that wants them to be convinced that creating space for our voices is a risk.

The goal of Left Unread Books is to disrupt every standard that keeps Black and brown authors from taking up space in an industry that has a large hand in reflecting and shaping our society--and history.

As you know, I believe literature has the power to change the world. And if an entire generation is kept from hearing the voices of its most vulnerable people, it is destined to become a generation that no longer sees the humanity of its most vulnerable people. That is why we are watching this administration do everything within its power to strip us of our history, of our rights, of our voices... because if they can take our voices, they can speak for us, and the people who would have stood beside us in our fight for the future will believe them when they say that we are the monsters.

Books like Cry, Voidbringer play a pivotal role in challenging moments like this. Not because it is a story about fighting for freedom. But because it is a story that refuses to find victims in the most privileged. A huge portion of today's fantasy asks us to look at oppression through the eyes of Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses. And while that is fine, we all know that the real victims of war and oppression are the people at the bottom. The Black and brown women, children, disabled and queer people. In Cry, Voidbringer, Elaine Ho refuses to let you forget that. The voices she highlights are all people at the bottom, approaching their oppression and their fight for freedom differently. Some of them fight within the system. Some seek to just survive. Others eagerly search for opportunities to break it. But each and every one of them sit at the bottom of the colonial food chain, desperate for change.

And that is what it is like to be in a Black or brown body in 2025 for most of the world.

So, like I said, IT IS CRUNCH TIME!

I need every single one of you to talk about this book like it's a part time job for the next 18 days. Post links, share content you see me and others making, tag Elaine and I in your posts so we can share them. And make sure you PRE-ORDER THE BOOK.

If we are going to cause the disruptions we have been working tirelessly to, I need all hands on deck right now. We have something to prove and we can't do it without everyone playing their part. So thank you in advance for all of the shouting I know is on the way!

Here are some easy goals and resources to make this easier for you:

• Pre-Order sooner rather than later. The more impressive our pre-orders are, the more bookstores we get access to, the more organic reach we will get on social media and the more likely it is for this book to have a massive reach. Pre-Orders matter. So don't wait, grab your copy now. And considering the book comes out less than two months before Christmas, think about ordering extra copies to give out as gifts this year! https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781964721521

• I will be posting an ad for Cry, Voidbringer once a day until launch day. Make it your mission to engage with and re-post those videos and posts. Statistically, people have to see something seven times before it influences them. Engagement will help those posts to do what they were designed to do, which is to generate more pre-orders.

• Add a LINK to buy the book to every written post, and throw it in your linktree if you have one. You can generate a link with Bookshop.org that gives you a small commission for every sale. If you don't have an account there, feel free to use this link: https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781964721521

• If you have a platform, please consider posting something about the book a few times a week until launch. Once again, the more this book is talked about, the more excited people will be to learn more and to buy the book. So get in the ring. If you struggle to think of content, here are some brief ideas on the kind of content you can make:

  Last year, I joined a publishing community that is working hard to create more access for Black and brown authors. And our first book is coming out later this month. I could not be more excited to be a part of a community that is fighting for incredible authors like Elaine Ho and it would mean the world to me if you would help our first book be successful by pre-ordering! Here is a link to make that more convenient for you: https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781964721521

  Cry, Voidbringer is an anarchist dark fantasy about a conscripted warrior who was taken from her home as a child and raised to fight a neighboring nation's war against their old oppressor. Think The Unbroken meets Poppy War. Hammer-our central character-comes across a young child with devastating power from the gods and makes it her mission to save her from becoming another weapon in this unjust war. And it asks a lot of questions about the effect colonialism has on its victims and what it looks like to fight for liberation with the most vulnerable in mind. I have already pre-ordered a copy and I would love if you would too! Here is a link: https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781964721521

  Just like every other industry, the publishing industry is built on a white-supremacist foundation. Which makes it harder for Black and brown authors to really take up space. One easy way we can help them succeed, despite those barriers, is to pre-order their books. A successful pre-order campaign directly undermines the racist worldview that keeps publishers and bookstores from investing in authors of color. Which is why it would mean a lot to me if you would help me make sure one of my new favorite authors, Elaine Ho, has a really successful launch of her debut book. You can pre-order her anarchist dark fantasy, Cry, Voidbringer, here: https://bookshop.org/a/87137/9781964721521

Thank you for everything you have already done to support this project and this community and thank you for picking up this call to action and helping us to make sure Elaine's debut is unbelievably successful. If we all work together, I am confident we can take this already successful book and launch it into the spotlight. Let's use our collective influence to make sure this book is BookTok's next obsession!

Thanks! Love you all!