We are finally at the release day for THE LEGIONNAIRE and I couldn't be more excited for this book to be out in the world. To be honest, it was starting to feel like we were never going to get to this point, so being able to post this is a huge relief.
The road to publication day has certainly not been smooth, but it has been a learning experience, and while I can't say I'm glad to have gone through all those hiccups, I am proud of this book.
I queried Inimitable Books in August of 2022, and was ecstatic to find out that Zara was interested in publishing my debut novel. I loved the idea of working with a new publishing company dedicated to mending some of the difficulties that have been created by traditional publishing houses. I knew that Inimitable was new, but I was ready to take this journey.
The beginning of being a signed author is so exciting. If you are a querying writer right now, I know your day is coming too, and I can't wait for you to experience it. Zara and I jumped straight into all different kinds of publishing tasks, from edits to cover to interior design choices. I got to work with Grayson on my map, and Keylin started drafting what would be the first version of THE LEGIONNAIRE cover.
We launched the cover on January 2nd 2023, and I had my first ever author interview with Barrett Laurie, who despite my voice being on the fritz made the experience so comfortable and fun. I was in love with this cover, and I got to hold a book in my hands that finally had my name on the front cover. There is nothing like that feeling (though I'm sure people with kids might disagree?).
The first setback for THE LEGIONNAIRE's publication happened a few weeks before its original publication date on June 6th 2023. Inimitable books was joining with Ulysses press, which in the long run was going to give THE LEGIONNAIRE and the other Inimitable Books better chances, but was a hard change since it meant I'd have to wait months to see my book hit shelves. But I focused on silver linings and jumped into other projects, and waited for the new release date (first September 5th, then October 3rd).
During this time, we changed the cover to better fit our new market, since we were adjusting our strategy to market towards an adult market, since traditional publishing doesn't currently market toward NA. You can read more about the struggles of cover design in my blog post Cover Reveal Vol. 2. I'm not going to go over that again here, but I am so thrilled with the artwork and beautiful cover that is on the new version.
We hit another bump a few weeks before the October 3rd release date, when I had set up a marketing meeting with Zara to prep for the lead up to release, and found out that the book was no longer coming out October 3rd. Try as fae might, and Zara definitely fought, the printer was not going to have the books done and printed by the original print date, so the release was going to have to be pushed (again).
I don't want to sound ungrateful here, because I know how many people dream of being in my place, hiccups and all, but to constantly get excited for release dates only to keep seeing them pushed farther and farther away was disheartening. And every time someone asked why the date was changing, I was forced to face it again.
So now that the book is in the world, and no publishing delays should be able to stop it (I'm not trying to jinx anything) I hope you enjoy reading it, and living in the world I've loved for years now, if only for a few hours.
Thank you readers, for giving THE LEGIONNAIRE a chance, I hope you find peace and recognition within its pages, because that's what this story has done for me. Until next time, happy reading!