Over A Decade In The Making, Whimsical Is Charting New Stars 🌠🌌

Open me for a TITLE REVEAL YOU DO NOT* WANT TO MISS, reminders about all of our exciting releases and preorder campaigns, and the number one mistake we see writers make! ✨*

Greetings Gentle Reader from the Land of Whimsical!

Whoo! It’s officially June! Our marketing assistant declared this might be the best month (though we have our suspicions she’s biased considering it’s her birthday month). We are more than ready for warmer weather. Whether or not this season is a time of slowing down or speeding up for you and your family, we’re here to bring you a little spark of bookish joy in your inbox.

Keep scrolling to find:

Our anticipated summer release, Trickers In The Palace, releases soon! Last chance to preorder with goodies (including 2 surprise bonus gifts for each preorder 👀)!
Whimsical title reveal TODAY!
Come meet Whimsical in Vancouver!! At the Junction Public Market from June 2nd – 4th
The Crafting Con goes live on NetGalley June 9th and is open for ARC applications NOW on Whimsical (go sign up!!!)
Author live chat with E.P. Stavs on June 9th – come talk all things The Crafting Con
Come meet Whimsical in Nelson!! At the Nelson Farmers’ markets from July 24th – 25th

And The Title Is….

*record scratch*

One moment before that! We want to remind everyone what this book is! Our owner, Micheline Ryckman, started the idea of her debut novel, Charting Stars, many years ago. It’s gone through many iterations (and even had a graphic novel version). Charting Stars was her first book and the first book that solidified the Whimsical Publishing brand. Two of the animal sidekicks from this book used to be in our logo for YEARS.

Due to chronic illness and managing the publishing company, despite Micheline’s expansive plan for the characters in the world, the idea for the sequel was severely delayed. Micheline stepped down as the owner of Whimsical at the beginning of this year, transferring the publishing house to her lovely daughter, Hannah. Despite all the trials, Micheline finally was able to move onto the next phase of the sequel. It’s been a hard fought journey and we are SO EXCITED for her. It’s such a full circle moment to see the book that started it all get it’s continuation!

Without further ado, the title is…

🌠🌌 SHOOTING STARS!! 🌠🌌

Keep an eye on the Whimsical IG space as YOU will have the chance to read Shooting Stars with the ARCs and preorder campaign (debuting in July of this year)!

Meet us in Vancouver TODAY!

As we’re sending you this email, we’re in Vancouver at the Junction Public Market! We’ll be here from June 2nd to 4th, daily from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM PDT! We would love to meet you! Getting to meet our community and readers in person really reminds us why we set out to complete this mission in the first place. We hope you’ll stop by!

Come meet the owner Hannah Greentree, and shop manager Ethan Greentree, and grab copies of your new faves – save on shipping, get exclusive in-person event only deals (between 10-50% off!) and save on shipping! They can’t wait to meet you and rant about all your favorite reads!

Can’t make it? No stress! We have two more markets planned in Nelson, BC on July 24th and 25th at the Nelson Farmers’ Market!

We hope to have more announcement about our in-person stops in the near future, including events in August and September!

Clear Your Shelves For These Two New Whimsical Originals…

Our summer release is fast approaching! Hurry while you still have time to hop on the ongoing preorder campaign, Trickster In The Palace by Kaitlyn Carter Brown. This collection is expanding upon her already established (and absolutely gorgeous) world of the Instanolde Chronicles. This cover is absolutely enthralling and (ahhhhhh!!!) WE ARE OBSESSED WITH THE PREORDER ART! I mean, just look at the art of Raz and El from @suzelfruz.draws, @theogwhimsicalartist and @icandrawiswear!

Also, as a new fun bonus we will be including 2 little surprise extra gifts with each preorder, but only for the preorder period until June 16th! Trickster’s release week is June 14th-18th and includes a ton of fun such as:

June 14th: Kaitlyn Carter Brown’s birthday!! We’ll also be launching the release week newsletter with a sneak peek from the first of the 3 short stories in our newsletter!
June 15th: Author live chat with Kaitlyn Carter Brown over on Whimsical’s IG
June 16th: Trickster release day!
June 17th: Social media fun for Trickster!
June 18th: Novella giveaway!

Not only that, but Trickster in the Palace, & Other Tales is going digital! You can preorder the e-book from Amazon, and the audiobook will be available on Audible (release date to be announced soon), read to you by Erik Homme!

While we still have to wait till fall (sobs) for this one, we also want to remind you that E.P. Stav’s The Crafting Con is also available for preorder. This book is unlike anything Whimsical has ever put out before! It’s our first contemporary romance and it takes a take on nerd culture that is so much fun for anyone who loves anything books, cosplay, and cons. (I mean, it is called the Crafting Con for a reason? *wink, wink*)

The Crafting Con will be on NetGalley on June 9th, as well as an author chat with E.P. Stavs herself on the same day! We look forward to see you there!

This is the NUMBER ONE Mistake We See New Writers Make

If you’re here, you might know that we’re a small publisher with a couple dozen books under our belts. Part of the reason we love being at this small publisher stage is the fact that we still have the bandwidth to be so hands-on with our reader base. We answer 99% of our comments (a few always sneak past us) and regularly keep up in our DMs. It’s inevitable that a publisher is going to get asked countless questions from aspiring authors looking for answers. That’s part of the reason we started doing these articles in the first place!

Often times when you’re a reader engrossed in the world of books, it’s only natural you want to attempt to write your own. The world of stories is endless! You’ve seen the signing lines, you’ve watched countless Instagram lives of your favorite authors, and you’ve thought to yourself on more than one occasion, “I could do that”.

Then you sit down in your most comfortable chair and start typing on a Google Doc. Congratulations! If you’re at this stage, you’re already doing more than 90% of the people that say they’re going to write a book! However, this is usually the part where most aspiring writers quit. It’s where you start re-writing your first chapter furiously. Get stuck on where you want to go next on page fifteen and then log onto Threads and watch everyone talk about how the genre you’re writing doesn’t even sell anymore. No publishers! No agents! No readers!!! AHHH! *Cue crash out*

As a publisher and authors ourselves, we hear about this so often. There are so many people who, upon hearing I (the marketing assistant) work for a publisher, begin to ask panicked questions about how to properly position their book in the market. My answer always depends on what book they’re at. If they’re writing their first novel, the response is always have the same “have fun!”.

That sounds like surface level advice, but it does much deeper. Being a reader, you’ve only ever read hundreds of finished books. Those books have been through dozens upon dozens of rounds of edits. This might by the author’s 40th book! It’s fruitless to compare. Writing takes a long time and the market is going to move without you, whether you want it to or not.

But if you stress out and quit, you’re never going to get anywhere.

Most people don’t finish their first books. In fact, it’s okay if you never publish it. What’s important is for you to remember why you started this journey in the first place and fall in love with storytelling. The learning will come later! The most essential part of the process is to give yourself a reason to keep going and to fall in love with the craft. The rest will follow!

Attention Canadian Readers, Come Meet Us In Person!

Alright, all that being said, here’s the summary of dates… don’t forget!

Whimsical at the Junction Public Market in Vancouver: June 2nd, 3rd & 4th (11:00 AM – 6:00 PM PDT daily)
The Crafting Con goes up on NetGalley: June 9th
Author Live Chat with E.P. Stavs on Whimsical’s Instagram: June 9th (10:00 AM PST)
June 14th – 18th: Trickster in The Palace & Other Tales’ release week

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 🩷🦩