Open me for updates about an action-packed release week, tips for commissioning your OWN bookish art, and a chance to get books in your budget! ✨

Greetings Gentle Reader from the Land of Whimsical!

Summer is almost upon us! Where this newsletter is being written, it’s already sunny pool weather (apologies to everyone who’s still getting snow in May. Sending you some sunshine)! ☀️ Right now is probably the best time to stock up on some new reads. We’ve got good news: We have some FANTASTIC upcoming releases (including one this week!) and opportunities to get some backlist titles for a steal!

Keep on reading for some fun bonuses, like a live chat announcement (Spoilers!!  Featuring our Editor-In-Chief, Micheline Ryckman, interviewing!!) and an article with tips and tricks on commissioning your own bookish art!

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HAPPY RELEASE WEEK TO FANGS, FATE, & MONDAYS!

This week is THE week!! Hayley Reese Chow’s latest Whimsical release will be in your hands on May 26th and all of our release week fun starts May 21st! That means it’s your last chance to preorder the book with all of the extra special goodies! Sprayed edges, printed end pages, interior and exterior dust jacket illustrations, embossed hardcover and printed hardcover, preorder incentives and more!

 

Not only that but the whole release week (May 21st – 27th) is full of exciting events:

• May 21st: Launch week post refreshing you on all of the below!
• May 22nd: Fangs chapter 1 releases in our newsletter for YOU to read!
• May 23rd-May 24th: Some social media love for all things Fangs!

• May 25th: Hayley Reese Chow live chats with Micheline Ryckman (our founder and Editor-In-Chief!)
• May 26th: FANGS RELEASE DAY!! 🎊
• May 27th: Giveaway of a copy of the special exclusive edition of Fangs, Fate, and Mondays!!

All preorders of the exclusive edition of this beautifully fantastic book is going to have:

• Exterior dust jacket art
• Interior dust jacket art
• Shiny foiling on the interior and exterior
• Glistening sprayed edges
• Hardcase art
• Printed end pages with character art
• Interior illustrations
• A bonus chapter

Excited!? Us too!

More Excitement: “Fangs” is also Digital!

Yep, you read that right!

You can get this in e-book format right from Amazon, or read for FREE on Kindle Unlimited: Pre-order the e-book here!

This book will ALSO be in audiobook format! 🎉 For those of you who prefer to listen, Fangs, Fate, and Mondays is currently in production to become a full audiobook, available on Audible later on this summer. 😎 Read to you by Chance Carrasco, this book will be just over 9 hours long, and available for purchase or for free with one of your Audible credits.

Release day announcement for the audiobook coming soon!

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CANADIAN READERS!! Come meet us in person! (Everyone else, check out our May Bookish Sale!)

Thank you to all our readers we met in April at CalgaryExpo! It was such a pleasure to meet all of you and we’re constantly blown away by all the love y’all give us and our authors! We’re excited to remind our Canadian readers that this is just the beginning of our events!

Here are some other places to catch us:

• May 23rd: Saturday farmers’ market in Nelson BC
• June 2nd – 4th: Junction Public Market in Vancouver BC
• July 24th – 25th: Friday and Saturday farmers’ market in Nelson BC

Not able to make our event (or even if you are)? We’ve got a special treat for ALL of our readers! We’re having a bookish sale on our entire site (excluding preorders) from May 30 – June 1st! 30% of our entire shop with the code MAYBOOKS30 ! Whether the summer sun has arrived or you’re still dealing with snow, this is your chance to get a new read!

 We hope to see you in person or in our inbox! Come take a selfie with our table, or our books, and share it and tag Whimsical Publishing on Instagram so we can see it! ♥️

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Commissioning Your Own Bookish Art: A How To From Artists

Something really special about our publishing house is that we’re founded by artist, Micheline Ryckman (and most of our staff is artists too!). Back in the day, the Whimsical Publishing website actually hosted guidelines for Micheline’s commissions! And now it’s full of books (some of which she’s even done the covers for. How full circle!) and no longer hosts individual commissions.

Now that Whimsical has transformed into a publisher, we work non-stop with our in-house artists and contracted artists year-round. Every so often, we’ll stumble upon a question from someone asking about commissions and how they work. This question always brings us SO MUCH joy! Thank you for hiring human artists in an age where generative AI is running rampant. Artists and writers go hand in hand and it’s important to support one another. Artists are vital in this industry to make the stories look pretty and lure a reader into taking it off the shelf. (Sorry writers, words alone probably won’t do the trick)! And while we don’t host individual commissions, we do have a tip or two for those wanting to get art of their own characters or some of their favorites:

1. Check Social Media!
   Want to find an artist with open commissions? Check your favorite art pieces online! Oftentimes artists will have their commissions posted in their bio, pinned to their profile, or in their LinkTree. It only takes a few seconds to check!
   We love to scroll through fanart and check and save profiles as we go if we like the style!
2. Inquire Politely (And Humanly!)
   Try your hardest not to be a bot! Artists get scammers filling their inbox ALL the time. A trick we love to use is to compliment the art that drew us to them. Do we have a fandom in common? Do we love the painterly style and think it fits our project well? Tell them! This helps weed out the bots and may break up any initial awkwardness when asking for a commission.
3. Use References!!
   The artist you are commissioning will THANK YOU for using references! We usually create a PDF of our description and include a detailed written description with images. Did you find a pose you liked? Add it! Do you have photos that remind you of your character? Add those too! Also letting an artist know colors of eye color, skin tone, and hair color can be SUPER helpful and make things go extra smoothly.

 We hoped this helped! Go out there and support some human artists! 💗

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Upcoming Release Central: What’s on the Horizon

SUPER EXCITING NEWS ABOUT OUR A BRAND. NEW. WHIMSICAL BOOK! Mark your calendars for June 2nd for a title reveal! 🎉

Excited about our nerdy contemporary romance, The Crafting Con? You could read it for free ahead of its September release by applying on NetGalley on June 9th! Or, apply even earlier through Whimsical Publishing here: ARC Requests!

Make sure you swing by and catch our live author chat with E.P. Stavs on June 9th as well to chat all things The Crafting Con! 🩷✂️

Also, would you look at that incredibly adorable cover by our very own Micheline Ryckman and Megan McCullough! We’re absolutely obsessed with all the details! (Do you see those lil tools in the background??) If you need a refresher on what this delightful, geeky, contemporary romance novel is about, here’s the blurb:

Ava Aimes idolizes her nerdtastic father, but when he ditches her mom for his soulmate—a move that turns her mother into the walking dead—she vows to give up the geek life forever. She won’t let anything remind them of what they’ve lost, even if it means saying goodbye to her best friend, Declan. Their memories are tied too closely to her traitor dad. 

Five years later, that vow begins to chafe as Ava moves toward the end of junior year. Pep club? Check. Potential Greek god prom date? Reluctant check. Gaze fixed firmly away from where her ex-bestie sits on the other side of the room? Not-so-check. The urge to be at his side is strong, but is it worth risking her mom’s newfound happiness for a chance at her own?  

Declan Greene is so over his childhood crush. He barely even registers Ava’s existence tucked in the center of the popular crowd. His sole focus is on the workshop he’s running at the upcoming anime convention. If all goes well, it could lead to a high-profile collab with the area’s leading prop-maker, an opportunity he’ll do anything to secure.

But when his crafting partner backs out three weeks before the con, and Ava shows up as his replacement, Declan will either have to accept her help or chance losing the workshop altogether. He needs it to succeed, but will spending time together rekindle the feelings he’s spent years putting to rest?
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Enticed by the plot? Excellent!

Now, can we also include that there are going to be multiple preorder incentives? 👀
Including:

• Double sided bookmark
• Art postcard
• A sticker, and
• A signed bookplate from the author

But don’t forget! These incredible details and preorder incentives are only available for the preorder period, until September 22nd, 2026!

Preorders galore…

Don’t forget, there’s also still time to pre-order Kaitlyn Carter Brown’s Trickster in the Palace & Other Tales!

June 14th-18th is release week for Kaitlyn Carter Brown’s addition to the amazing Instanolde Chronicles, and not only that but you can apply to read an early copy of this fantastic novella on NetGalley now, or apply to read it early through Whimsical Publishing on our ARC Requests page! 😎

This sweet novella preorder will include:

• Interior illustrations
• A signed bookplate from the author
• An art postcard
• An art bookmark

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EXTRA TIME TO PREORDER ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Were you sweating about getting the exclusive preorder edition of Whimsical’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland? If you want to escape to Wonderland, you now have till August 11th to pre-order. After that, the sprayed edges will be gone FOREVER. Don’t miss your chance!  You won’t regret it. These books are SO PRETTY (We’re only slightly biased). They’re great gifts, look gorgeous on a shelf, and are an absolute delight to flip through all the illustrations.

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Remember to snag all these beautifully fancy editions and pre-order goodies before they’re gone!

Make sure to mark your calendar for these upcoming Whimsical dates! We have a lot more in store for you all this year. 

• Fangs, Fate and Mondays launch week: May 21st – 27th
• Whimsical at the Farmers’ Market in Nelson: May 23rd (9:00 AM – 2:00 PM PST)
• May Bookish Sale: May 30th – June 1st
• New Whimsical Title Reveal: June 2nd
• Whimsical at the Junction Public Market in Vancouver: June 2nd – 4th

If you’ve read all the way to the end, you deserve a cup of lemonade.

As always, thank you all so much for supporting our journey thus far. We’re a small team and we appreciate and see all your comments, messages, and orders. As a family run press, it means the world! 

Until next time,
Whimsical Publishing 🩷🦩