Planet of Eden is on the shelf again! Special thanks go to Honey Rock Books and Café in my hometown of Gallatin, Tennessee for supporting local and independent authors. If you happen to be in Middle Tennessee, drop in and pay a visit to my new friend Emily and owners, the Lezcano’s, who just opened the store this month. I can personally vouch for their awesome coffee, tasty treats, and growing collection of books for sale.
We all like to shop online nowadays, but there is still something special about the “bookstore experience.” Years ago, when online retail was just beginning to take off, many book store owners wondered how they could compete. Large national chains had already grabbed up the major market share. Then, the addition of online retail outlets really threatened the smaller, family-owned shops. As I watched all of this unfold, the marketing expert in me kept saying that for the smaller stores to compete, they would have to focus on the book buying experience.
Book lovers know what I am talking about. There is something soothing—almost romantic—about a carefree perusal through a cozy bookstore. So, kudos to shops like Honey Rock for keeping that experience alive.
Of course, I am also grateful to my friends at Half Price Books in Nashville for being the first brick-and-mortar store to carry Planet of Eden on the shelf. During the next few months, I will be actively adding more local stores to this list as well as lining up book-signing events.
To nerd out just a little, I am in awe at seeing Planet of Eden sitting on the same shelf with Brandon Sanderson’s books. I have been a fan of Sanderson’s for a long time, and I seek to emulate his success as a writer. So, it warms my heart to be on the same shelf with him and with other top authors. What an experience, dear Edenites! I have certainly come a long way.
WHAT’S ON YOUR SHELF?
The idea of being on a shelf symbolizes something being stored away for a future time. When a book is placed on a shelf, it is visible but waiting for someone to pick it up. The shelf is a proper storage place, but the implication is that the book will eventually be used.
Have you ever felt like a part of your life has been placed on a shelf? What dream, what plans, what piece of you feels like it is sitting there just waiting to be used? Have you put it on the shelf, or have circumstances caused it to be there? Either way, I want to end this post by encouraging you to take it off the shelf.
Dear reader…friend, life on this planet is too short for shelving the best parts of you. This is something deeply personal to me. You need only look back through my blog over the past few years to see what I have come through. For a while, my dreams were put on a shelf, so I know exactly what it is like. Yet something inside of me refused to let those dreams sit around getting dusty. And I thank God every day that He did not let me or my dreams and aspirations remain in a dark place. With His strength behind me, I pulled through, and now I am a published author with my dream book sitting on a shelf right next to famous authors.
I hope this can be an inspiration for you; if I can do it, so can you. But you must start by believing in yourself again enough to take the first little step. Often, that step is a step of faith…and that is usually the best place to begin.
Please do it. We need you and your dreams in this world…not on the shelf.
PLANET OF PERDITION UPDATE
As promised in my last post, I have an update on the next book in the Planet trilogy, Planet of Perdition. I am now 6 chapters into writing, and already I am getting excited about where this story is going next! I won’t give you any spoilers, but I will give you, my loyal fans, a sample chapter soon. In the meantime, know that while I am busily marketing Eden, I am also forging ahead with Perdition. How soon will you see it published? That is hard to say at this point, but if all goes well over the next few months, I certainly would love to see a May 7, 2026 launch date for Perdition. That might be a little over-ambitious, but it is not an unrealistic goal. Let’s see where the next few months lead.
So, here’s to taking things off the shelf! Be an awesome you, dear friend. Because you are.
