An Expanding Team (With Nary a Seggsy Fireman in Sight🔥👨‍🚒😫)

Happy Monday!

As many of you know, I’ve been going hard for the 2 years. In addition to writing a complete series in the span of 11 months, I also spearheaded a collaborative anthology, finished the Bone Whisperers duology, produced two special edition books, wrote a brand-new manuscript, secured an agent, and went on wide submission with major publishers.

What you might not know is that in addition to all of that, I also handle all accounting, marketing, graphics design, interior book formatting, outsourcing contract work, website design and upkeep, packing, shipping, inventory tracking, warehouse maintenance, customer queries, publishing, updating book back matter, convention appearances, book signings, reader messages, creating social media content and managing five accounts, monitoring sales and royalties, convention applications, newsletter writing, merchandise ordering, spreadsheet tracking, troubleshooting, tax preparation, office supply orders, financial auditing, and parrot-wrangling.

To simply say I am exhausted would be an understatement. But finding an assistant who ticks all the right boxes is a tremendously daunting task, so I’ve been putting it off (much to the continued detriment of my own mental health and well-being)...at least until now.

*cue angels playing horns* Dun dun dun dunnnn!👼📯

Last weekend, something wonderful happened: I was given less than 3 hours to sign books for hundreds of people, which turned into a hellish nightmare that resulted in the hotel deeming me a literal fire hazard 🔥👨‍🚒 (and yet not a sәxy fireman in sight $@#&! 😫). This, obviously, was not the wonderful part. What WAS wonderful was a convention volunteer named Britt who just happened to be standing right next to my table. Without ever being asked, Britt turned that unruly mob (said with love) into an organized, ticketed-and-numbered line. She then spent the next few hours passing out my business cards, telling potential readers about my series, and leading them to my website for orders once we sold out of books. In other words, the only fire in the hotel was the one beneath her feet! (And yet, still no sәxy firemen.)

After the convention was over, Britt and I continued talking. In addition to being supremely organized, bright as a bulb, and quick as a whip, she also lives relatively close to me, has a ton of relevant work experience, and loves all things books.

Anyway, long story short, I’d like you all to meet to my official “Queen Helper Bee,” Britt. She’ll be CC’d on website-related emails and will eventually be your general point of contact for all invoices and orders. You might also get to meet her face-to-face as she’ll be traveling to several conventions with me this summer!

Britt will be reply to all incoming mail at support@rachelrener.com.

Lastly, she’ll also be helping out on social media, but rest assured I’ll still be present just as much as before, and she’ll always sign off as “Britt” in the comments so you won’t have to wonder which of us you’re talking to 😊 My readers are my absolute favorite part of my job, and I will never stop being here for you no matter how busy things get!

All that said, please help me give Britt the warmest welcome possible! Not only will you quickly find that she’s a delight to talk to, but her presence will allow me to get back to the one thing we all want me to do more of: WRITE!

With that, I’m off to work on the sequel to Amethysts & Alchemy – Emeralds and Elixirs!

(Not the official graphic, this picture just makes me happy!)

Huzzah!❤️

The Hellish Nightmarescape That Was My Weekend 💀

Good morning! 

Last night, a certain prominent (and classy-AF) fantasy author posted about her hellish experience at Readers Take Denver, the convention we attended together over the weekend. I wasn't going to add anything to it, but I've been asked by several readers if I'm okay and so I wanted to address some of the chaos from the weekend.

I don't have much to add to Rebecca's account of the convention. It was an unfortunate and stressful experience all-around, and my heart goes out to all of the readers and authors who were caught in the crossfire.

As for me, I was relegated to the Rising Stars signing, which is meant for new and upcoming authors. (BTW, who TF had the awful idea of splitting the authors into two groups, based on some imaginary and probably favorites-based line delineating varying levels of success? How demeaning!)  It was only 3 hours and yet cost me something like $500 for a table. When I informed senior event staff early on that I am an established author who tends to move a lot of books at signings, and was concerned about time and space constraints, I received a rather patronizing response.

As it turns out, on the day of the signing, I had a line that wrapped around the entire ballroom, and poor RTD  volunteers were scrambling to implement a ticketing system for crowd control. Suffice it to say, I felt TERRIBLE for the chaos I'd caused, but was so incredibly grateful to one volunteer in particular, Britt, who stayed by my side for the entire signing and helped ensure that almost everyone who wanted to see me, could.

BTW, to everyone I met amidst the chaos, who asked for selfies and autographs and even brought me presents (?! 😭💜), I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to meet you, and I'm so sorry we didn't have more time to chat. I pray there will be another, better-managed signing where we can do just that.

Some of the amazing gifts I received, which made a stressful day that much better!

Now here comes the part where I have to apologize for my own self-induced chaos, trying to keep the explanation and details as short and succinct as possible (because dealing with this has been one of the most grueling and arduous agonies of my career).

As some of you remember, we ran a successful Kickstarter campaign last October. At the time of funding, I mentioned Readers Take Denver and asked if it would be okay if I make a preorder. I was informed that April 18th was 7 months away and gave us more than ample time to have the books in-hand. So I did, and got around 100 preorders.

Well, February rolled around, and the books still hadn't been printed or shipped yet. My project manager informed me that my only option was to air-freight 100 books to ensure they got here in time. The cost? Over $3000. But I sucked it up and paid the exorbitant shipping fee, determined to keep my promise.

Well, guess what? The books didn't even ship until April 17th, got stuck overseas due to bad weather, and then landed in ALASKA, before flying right over my head and landing in Kentucky, where they chilled for 36 hours before eventually showing up at my doorstep yesterday afternoon, the day after the convention had ended. Which meant I then had to ship 100 books, on my own dime, to everyone who had preordered it for RTD.

The way I SCRAMBLED to unwrap, repack, and ship 425 pounds of books by myself 😅 BUT, I somehow managed! This picture represents about a third of the books.

THEN, after all that, it turns out the gold omnibuses weren't even shipped with the rainbow ones. Can you tell how frazzled I was by the time I wrote this email? 😅



Anyway, all of this is to say I caused some major chaos of my own, and for that I am so sorry.

But what I am most sorry about is the fact that some people will be receiving their books before those who backed the original Kickstarter, and that's so f*cked up and not okay and I'll never be able to adequately tell you how sorry I am for that. While I'm incredibly grateful I was able to keep my promise to those who preordered the omnibus for the convention, early supporters of the Kickstarter should have been the FIRST ones to get omnibuses and I'm crushed that didn't happen. Please accept my sincere for the way things turned out, and if there is anything at all I can do to help make up for it, I am open to suggestions.

In the meantime, the rest of the original shipment of books are well on their way via ocean freight and are expected to arrive at Andrew's warehouse by mid-May. He's on standby to start shipping them out to you as soon as they arrive. Rest assured, EVERYONE who backed the Kickstarter will be getting their books from that first batch. The next shipment of 2000 books are shipping on May 20th, and are expected to get here by July 1st. I'll be personally shipping those out to you, and am already amassing a team to help get them out at lightning speed!

Not that you need to whet your whistle any further, but I want you to know that the books look INCREDIBLE. Even better than I imagined. So while the wait sucks and the logistics were stressful AF, please know that the wait WILL be worth it.

(If you can't see the below video, here are the Tik Tok and Facebook links.

Also, the slipcover is 🔥🔥🔥!

Anyway, once again, I'm sorry, I love you, I appreciate you, and I'm so grateful to have you. Thanks for sticking with me even when things get dicey.

Much love❤️



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📚Gorgeous KS Alert - FINAL days! 📚

My good friend, Megan Haskell, is in the final hours of her Kickstarter and I would LOVE to see this gorgeous book become a reality! She even hired Uwe Jarling, the same artist who did the interior illustrations for the Gilded Blood omnibus, to redesign the cover. Isn't it stunning?! 😍

Attacked by assassins and framed for treason, Rie finds herself mired in an ancient battle between the elven realms. Forced to flee behind enemy lines to prove her innocence, her only allies are the fierce carnivorous pixies who travel by her side. Can she uncover the truth of her past before the high elf king takes her head?

Back the Kickstarter here! (Only 2 days left!!)

✨Coming this Summer - A Brand-New, Jaw-dropping Special Edition!✨

Hello and Happy Friday Eve to all!

Even though I just got back from Europe and am still super jet-lagged, sleep-deprived, and hastily preparing for Readers Take Denver (!!!), I had to take a moment tell you about some incredibly exciting news: a brand-new special edition hardcover book, coming this summer!

(And speaking of gorgeous books, be sure to scroll to the bottom of this email

for an exciting update on the Gilded Blood Special Edition Omnibus!)

Many of you have recently discovered me because of the Gilded Blood Series, my newest and most commercially-popular series. And many more of you have been around since my debut series, The Lightning Conjurer, came out in 2018. But, like so many middle children, it's my in-between duology, The Bone Whisperer Chronicles, that's gotten the least attention even though it's probably my most unique, complex, and well-reviewed set of books to date. In fact, the sequel/prequel, The Boy Who Lurks in Shadows, is the book I'm most proud of in my entire writing career!

"Imagine The Ghost Whisperer starring Nancy Drew with a dash of A Wrinkle in Time and a pinch of Dr. Who - it's one of the most ingenious books I have ever read!"

-⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Magic Book Corner

So, if the series is so unique and special, why hasn't it sold as well? In hindsight, I think it comes down to three things:

• Genre: It's much easier to market a book that falls squarely in a single category. But The Girl Who Talks to Ashes and its sequel/prequel, The Boy Who Lurks in Shadows, can be categorized under Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Mystery, Time Travel, and even Horror (sort of). And that kind of genre-bending speculative fiction is really hard to sell to a wider commercial market.
  

• Speaking of "Horror," this duology is NOT particularly scary. (I'm a massive baby and can't even handle reading horror stories, let alone writing them!) But there are some darker themes in the books that might initially scare off self-described wimps like me, while simultaneously being WAY too tame for typical horror buffs. In the end, most readers have said that there was just enough darkness to balance out the sweetness - kind of like a chocolate bar with 57% cacao instead of pure, sugary-sweet milk chocolate ;)
  

• The "Young Adult" tag: this duology centers around Lilah Quinn, a sixteen year old girl with a strange form of epilepsy that affects the age of everything - and everyone - around her. And while it's perfectly suitable for high school-aged readers, there are also much deeper themes around parenthood, life, loss, grief, and death. There's also plenty of light, hope, and humor to balance it all out and make it applicable for folks across all stages of life.
  

Anyway, failed attempts at marketing aside😂, if you're interested in discovering a story unlike anything you've ever read before, allow me to present the newly-designed, gold-foiled, signed, limited edition BONE WHISPERER duology, coming this summer and available now to preorder!

"Creepy, suspenseful, genuine, goosebump-inducing, sweet, charming, raw - it is all of these things and more. This is going on my list of absolute favorite books of all time!" -⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Goodreads review

Willow, a young and reluctant new mother, is terrified of her infant, Lilah – namely, her peculiar form of epilepsy. Every time Lilah's eyes glaze over, terrible things happen: flowers shrivel, food goes to rot, and even Willow's long, auburn hair turns stark white. Soon, it all becomes too much to bear. In the middle of the night, Willow and her mother dump the baby at the fire station two towns over and are never heard from again.

The next morning, Chief Stanley Quinn takes Lilah home and cares for the toddler as best as he can. With medication, her epilepsy remains under control... For the most part.

But as a teenager, Lilah isn't always keen on taking her pills. When she sneaks away to a rock concert with the cutest boy in school, a breakthrough seizure triggers an accident, landing both of them in the hospital. After Stanley breaks down and confesses everything to his adopted daughter, she decides to track down the young girl who gave her up sixteen years ago – the young girl who is now presumed to be dead. As Lilah's commitment to finding her birth mother becomes a quest to solve a long-forgotten cold case, she must learn how to control her peculiar ‘gift’ before she kills someone...

Again.

"Creepy, suspenseful, genuine, goosebump-inducing, sweet, charming, raw - it is all of these things and more. This is going on my list of absolute favorite books of all time!" -⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Goodreads review

Preorder the limited edition BONE WHISPERER duology today!

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Speaking of gorgeous special editions, 1,500 gleaming, shiny, magenta-pink Gilded Blood Special Edition Omnibuses and slipcases have been loaded onto a cargo ship and are headed our way!! As much as I'd love to monitor every step of their shipping journey, this is what Andrew says about overseas cargo shipping:

"The documentation I'll have will basically be a vessel name, and it could be coming here or to Long Beach or somewhere else on the west coast. Once it arrives, we lose visibility as it's moving through customs, warehouses, trucks, more warehouses, more trucks. Eventually it gets to a warehouse here and they'll call asking about delivery hours. We get an ETA, but it's a loose one, and there's a long period where we don't have any information about where things are. And we can't call to find out, because it's different parties contacting different companies along the way. We won't know who's bringing them until they call us. It's a crazy system, but it does work."

(Ah yes, just what an author with anxiety and control issues loves to hear...😂😅)

Remember, if you supported the Kickstarter and/or preordered the omnibus before April 2nd, your book will be shipped next month! If you pre-ordered after April 2nd, your book will be included in the second wave of books and should be delivered in June/July. If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to message me or Andrew (andrew@merrick-books.com)!

Thank you so much for being here, reading 'til the end, and - most importantly - helping me bring all of these stories to life! I quite literally could not be doing any of this without you!

Cheers!❤️



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