Unsolicited Press Fall 2021 Newsletter

Has the last 18 months been a whirlwind of emotion or what? The team at Unsolicited Press has managed to keep the press moving forward all while keeping our own lives as afloat as humanly possible. To be frank, it hasn’t been easy — delayed shipping due to transportation shortages, skyrocketing industry prices as a result of material costs and third-party companies raising rates to make up for lost revenue, loss of in-person author marketing, and a million other little things that make it one big mess.

But you know what? Books and the people behind them (authors, marketers, publishers, artists) are resilient. Did we have to dip into the budget for future publishing years to guarantee that current books would see the light of publication? Yes. Failure is not an option. We knew sales would pick back up eventually — they are starting to. Did we have to figure out new ways to get books in front of readers? Yes. We learned that virtual readings and book tours increase a book’s readership. In-person events are important, but we learned that they are not the end-all-be-all of a book. Far from it. Did we have rely on each other to have faith that we would get to the other side of this? Absolutely.

The pandemic has been and still is difficult and traumatic. To counteract the stress of the pandemic, we took the summer off. Thank you for understanding our need for this and exercising patience. 

​Now that the fall air is breezing in day by day, our team is back at it and geared up for a smashing autumn book lineup. We hope you’re ready to book your evenings in your most comfy of reading spots.

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FALL BOOK LINEUP

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AUDIOBOOKS
In addition to the above releases, we are happy to announce that audiobooks are slowly and meticulously being produced. This fall you will start to see notifications about our audiobooks on Twitter. You can also head straight to Amazon to see what we have available.

EBOOKS
Our ebooks are available through most online retailers as well as libraries (if you want your library to carry the ebook or print edition ask them). To give everyone a chance to sample an ebook, you can use the code JH64F on Smashwords to download an ebook for 50% off.

HUMBLE REQUEST FOR DONATIONS
This is the moment when are team humbly asks for your continued support of the press. Unsolicited Press operates on funding provided by donors, grants, and any leftover profit from the sale of books. Our editors, readers, marketers, sales reps, and staff are all volunteers who work their butts off to keep the literary mission alive. To keep the press funded, we ask those who can to make a donation to Unsolicited Press. Your donation goes directly toward the operations of the press. Thank you.

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What’s Coming in 2022
​JANUARY 11, 2022: Protectress is a hybrid poetry-prose novella offering a risky take on the legend of Medusa. With stunning economy of words and a delicate hand, Protectress provokes us to think about the feminist identity and the power of compassion. Readers who fell deeply for Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey, Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad, Madeleine Miller’s Circe, Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven, Maria Dahvana Headley’s translation of Beowulf, and Toby Barlow’s Sharp Teeth will find themselves enamoured with Protectress.

JANUARY 31, 2022: On Jan 4, 1973, a child was given up for adoption by a teenage girl; quietly, secretly, alone. Decades later, married with children and grandchildren, a stranger reaches out and upends the truths of her carefully built world. Love & Genetics follows the events of a tumultuous year in an astonishing story of love, loss, and the meaning of family.

MARCH 8, 2022: Carrie Close’s What Have I Done? sings a feminist tune using sharply written prose and verse. Close writes of motherhood, sexuality, friendship & relationships with a messy honesty that’s hard to deny.

MARCH 29, 2022: Living of Natural Causes is a later-in-life coming-of-age narrative. A late bloomer’s from-girl-to-woman trek; that is, a woman who has generally declined to play the game. These irreverent personal essays unite around the idea of pinpointing, coming to terms with, and ultimately celebrating your authenticity (the good, the bad, and the underrated) while owning its consequences — without a New Age-y shtick. I see this as a cross between Sloane Crosley (I Was Told There’d Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number) and Samantha Irby (Meaty and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life).