But it will be money well spent, I promise.

I have two friends with book releases this week, and I’d like all y’all to go out today (or this week) and buy their books. I’m going to go a little deeper than some of you will like about the publishing business, but that’ll come later in the post. For the first little bit, I’m just going to talk about the books and why you should get your happy ass down to YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE and buy them this week.

Yeah, I make a lot of money off Amazon, but if you’re going to buy print books, go to a bookstore and support a locally owned business. That shit’s important. I’ll be heading out to Park Road Books tomorrow afternoon to pick up a couple of these titles myself.

First off we have Kalayna Price’s Grave Memory. This is the third in the Alex Craft series, and to say I enjoy these books is a huge understatement. This is one of my top 5 urban fantasy series of the last few years. There are some must-buys in my reading life, and Kalayna’s books are definitely among them. They’re witty, with awesome characters that are totally relatable, believable magic systems and world-building, and awesome plots. I don’t have enough good things to say about them, except to say get your ass out there and buy the books!

And if you want to buy them direct from the author, come to Columbia, SC this Saturday and join Kalayna, me, James R. Tuck, Rachel Aaron, Delilah Dawson and A.J. Hartley for the second annual Fantastical Mystery Tour. DB won’t be with us, but he’ll be rolling through the Carolinas in two weeks, so you can get your books signed then. Once again, I am the smallest fish on the lineup, and am so flattered to be with these awesome writers.

DB Jackson’s new book is called Thieftaker and is the first book in its series. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m looking very much forward to it, because DB is also awesome fantasy author David B. Coe, whose work I really enjoy. This is a new venture for him, branching out into Historical Urban Fantasy and giving his advanced degree in history a workout. You can hear more about this in the video below.

Now that you’ve had a giggle, here’s why it’s important to buy these books THIS WEEK. For mid list authors, which is the vast majority of the writers you read about here, and most of my friends, there’s pretty much a two-week window to make a list. And by “make a list” I mean get a book onto the New York Times or USA Today bestseller list. And this means a lot to a writer. Not just because it feels great (I assume, since I have never made a list) to see your name up there in print where you grew up reading the names of your writerly heroes, but because there are some serious economic things behind making a list.

You make a list, you get a little better promotion from your publisher. You make a list consistently, you can negotiate a little better contract next time around. You make a list, your next two or three books will get picked up by that publisher. You make a list, and it becomes easier to make a living as a traditionally published author. It never becomes easy, but making a list helps. And in the way books are sold and marketed in today’s world, the vast majority of lists are hit in the first or second week of release. And if a book doesn’t hit when it first releases, it never will.

So this post is asking you to go out and spend about $35. DB’s book is a hardcover, and lists for $24.99. Maybe your bookstore discounts, maybe it doesn’t. But buy local. And Kalayna’s book is a mass market paperback, an absolute steal at $7.99. It’ll be the best $35 you spend this week. These are incredible writers, and they deserve your support. And if you want to buy for the Kindle, that’s cool, too.

Here’s the Kindle link for Thieftaker.

Here’s the Kindle link for Grave Memory. 

And if you want to buy some of my shit while you’re buying, that’s cool, too. But these books come with my 100% stamp of approval. Check them out, and let me know if you love them.

If you enjoy this post, or just want to make sure you don\'t miss a new release, please take a second to support me on Patreon!