I have always been up front with you. Even when the information I need to share is uncomfortable or even discouraging. That kind of honesty is something you can always expect from me. The things I am working to accomplish are impossible without massive amounts of effort and very focused community. So, when there is something that needs to get done, I am not going to hesitate to bring that to this community and ask for your help.

And that is where we are right now. So, let's talk.

Many of you have very mixed feelings about Barnes & Noble. You know it. I know. Hell, Barnes & Noble knows it. They are monopolizing the book industry, they have fumbled so many of our favorite marginalized authors releases, and quite frankly, many of us struggle with the way they have handled representation and marginalized voices altogether--especially over the last couple of years.

I am not here to tell you to change your mind about any of that. And truthfully, I still see building our own spaces as the most important revolutionary step we can take right now. But I also need us to remember that a part of change looks like refusing to allow any space to exist where our voices are not heard. And that includes places like Barnes & Noble. Last year, when Oathbound came out, you watched as Black readers showed up in force to demand the literary world create space for our joy. That looked like celebrating Black bookstores, midnight release parties at local indies, AND demanding better from the major retailers who were dropping the ball.

At Left Unread, we are in love with Indies. Both indie authors and indie bookstores. But I also want the retailers who service huge chunks of our communities to make these incredibly important books available to the readers who may not have access to a local Black or brown owned indie bookstore. Because let's be honest: having that kind of access is a privilege that many of us do not have the way we did ten years ago. Especially marginalized people, many of whom live in areas where our favorite bookstores have been priced out.

Those people need access to.

The books this community is publishing matter. We are being so intentional about choosing stories that we believe will have a REAL impact on the way people see the world. But for that impact to mean anything, the books have to reach the people they were written for. And that means making sure that in every space where books are celebrated, our author's voices are front and center.

Which brings me to what I need from you.

This community has over three thousand people in it. And I am asking you all to show up right now to help me make sure that our debut book--Cry, Voidbringer by Elaine Ho--gets the shelf space it deserves. I want this community to make it your mission to ensure that every Barnes & Noble in the country is stocking copies for your communities to read.

And I want to be clear. This push is not about prioritizing major retailers. I will continue to fight for indies. This push is about us making sure that the authors we believe in are able to use their voice in every space where readers are looking for answers. Because the alternative is to leave them finding answers that don't speak for us.

What can you do?

I know that you are here because you, like me, want to make a difference. But sometimes it is hard to know exactly what to do that will be helpful. So here are a few actionable steps you can take to make a real difference TODAY:

VISIT (OR CALL) YOUR LOCAL BARNES AND NOBLE

Despite being a major chain, every single Barnes & Noble makes their own purchasing decisions. Which means this is not as easy as us reaching out to their corporate office and asking them to support us. While many of them know who we are and already plan to stock the book, many others don't. And many of them would likely reconsider if they heard from the readers in their community, asking them to.

If you are not familiar enough with how to have those kinds of conversations, here is a basic script you can consider using when you reach out:

Hi, I'm looking to see if you have Cry, Voidbringer by Elaine Ho available for pre-order. I follow Michael LaBorn on TikTok and this is the debut for his independent publishing imprint, Left Unread. It sounds really good to me and I would love to see it available here. If you want some information about the book, I have some I can share.

• If you have the ability to, consider pre-ordering a copy from them if they have it listed or if they agree to list it for you.

• If you do not have a local Barnes and Noble, consider pre-ordering from Barnes & Noble online to help us with this massive push to signal to them that readers want our books on their shelves.

  Here is a tip sheet that you can provide them upon request:

  

INVITE THE READERS IN YOUR LIFE TO HELP

As I have been saying since I started this community, this is about more than selling books for me. I want to create a noticeable disruption in this industry. A disruption that forces change for Black and brown authors and for the readers they represent. And that is going to take massive community action. Which means that a part of our effort has to be pulling in people to do the work beside us. So if you have a community of readers in your life who are not necessarily on BookTok or plugged in to what we are doing, consider inviting them to help you with this very specific goal. Whether they care about what we are collectively doing, you can invite them to show up for you.

Here is an idea on how to have that conversation:

Hey, I am a part of a publishing community that is doing some pretty cool stuff for Black and brown authors and we are currently trying to make sure that our first book gets plenty of shelf space at Barnes & Noble. Would you mind calling and asking them if they have the book available, so they know there is a demand for it? And better yet, if it sounds good to you, would you mind pre-ordering? I can give you some information about the book if you're interested! And I would love to read it together once they arrive next month.

FILM CONTENT

If you are a content creator, or even just share your life with your friends and family online, consider using your platform to let people know you are reaching out to Barnes & Noble to create space for Cry, Voidbringer and to specifically ask them to help validate your request with their money.

Basic idea of what you could say:

I went to my local Barnes & Noble today and asked them to stock Cry, Voidbringer by Elaine Ho, which is a book I am very excited about. I think it is going to have a massive impact on the way people think about colonialism, oppression and the fight for liberation and it's important to me that it is available everywhere so that more people read it and have their worldview challenged. I encouraged them to stock copies and told them that I believe firmly that the demand is there. If you have twenty dollars and you care about encouraging major retailers to use their money to fight for marginalized voices, would you do me a huge favor and go order a copy right now so that they can see just how passionate we are about this? I want to make sure that they know that we mean it when we say we want diversity on our bookshelves.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: ADVERTISE THIS SALE

One of the reasons we chose right now to make this huge ask is because there is currently a very large pre-order sale happening at Barnes & Noble. For the next three days (until Friday, September 5th), readers can pre-order Cry, Voidbringer and Devil of the Deep at Barnes & Noble for 25% off. Yeah... that's a huge discount. So it is a great time to push this book to the readers in your life who are interested in giving the story a chance, but aren't already passionately invested. Everyone likes a cheap book. So let's use this opportunity to make sure that we push this book as far as it can possibly go.

Goals

Our initial goal for pre-orders was 1,000 books. We are a little under two months away from publication, and while our pre-orders are looking great, we still have quite a bit of distance to travel in order to hit that goal. And I know, 1,000 feels like such a huge number. But I don't have a single doubt that we can not only make that happen, but that we can go far beyond it. There are over three times that many people in this community alone. And if we work together to use our voices to fight for our authors the way that we built this community to do, there is no reason we can't propel this incredible author onto every best seller list in the country.

So let's do the thing we came here to do. Let's make our authors famous. Let's work together to give them a global platform so that they can use their voices and their pens to change the world.

Sound good to you?

GREAT! Let's go!

And please, feel free to drop a comment and let me know what stores are stocking the book. I would love to send some of them thank you letters. And make sure to tag me in any content that you make so I can amplify it and use my platform to make sure it is seen by even more people.

Change takes us all. And I am so grateful to be in a community where I don't have to even wonder if you'll show up. I already know that you will. And I am so grateful. So let's do this!

As always, I am so incredibly grateful that you are here. And if you are not already subscribed, please take thirty seconds to do that right now. Every single person who joins this community is actively helping us to fight for change more successfully. And if you have the means to do so comfortably, please consider subscribing at the $5, $12 or even the $25 tier to help us fund our publishing projects directly. Thank you so much! Love you all! - Michael