Tag: bookstores

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A Dream Coming True in a Local Bookstore

If you have a dream, don’t ever give up on it, like me with my books!

By John Irvin

If you’ve been following my YouTube or any of my social networks, then you would have seen last week—a week exactly from today—a dream came true for me. Three of my thirty published works have made it into a bookstore here in Pensacola, Florida.

Here is the announcement video on my YouTube channel—it’s not too long, just a couple minutes.

Yes, it was a surreal moment in my life that I’ll never forget. Bodacious Bookstore and Café are already my favourite bookstore in town right now. The people who work there are amazing also and understanding too. They seemed to be as excited as I was while we discussed the deal then the manager, Alina, opened a space on top of the bookcase for me.

She’s awesome.

Then, while she stepped away, I got the film for the announcement and went on my way so I wouldn’t scare any customers away.

From what I know right now, we’ve already sold one copy. There are only six copies there for this first quarter. We’re using them to see which books sell so we’ll know for next quarter.

If you are visiting Pensacola or live in Pensacola, I recommend heading down to Bodacious Bookstore and Café, checking out their menu—they’ve got everything from paninis to coffee to soup!

And, of course, they now have three of my books.

Three of my books are in a bookstore!

Alina did ask if any of them were stand-alones or part of a series.

The three books on display are Shattered, the Complete Collection, Longevity, Book 1: Revelation, and StarQuest: A Novel—which itself is part of an Anthology which will be growing next year.

So yes, each one is part of its own world.

Speaking of Longevity, have I announced Book 3: Wandering is out in print today? I’ll have to share the link next week.

Right now, while you’re reading this blog, I’m packing for a trip to Kentucky!

Family trip.

Well, I hope you have an amazing rest of your week and enjoy this share I just brought to the table. Believe me, this is proof that dreams do come true. It can only get better from here too!

Keep chasing your dreams, my friend!

Also, while you’re at it, hop on over to my team’s GoFundMe Fundraiser page and join our supporters so, next year when all this mess is cleared up, we’ll have our total goal raised and I can go on my first Book Tour—which, by the way, will be starting at Bodacious Bookstore and Café since they’re the first brick-and-mortar to take on my books!

Here’s the link: gf.me/u/xp24cf

If you enjoyed this post, you should sign up for my newsletter! I don’t spam and you can unsuscribe at any time. I only send out emails on Fridays. Sign up here: SIGN UP!

I’m also a Patreon artist–the cool thing about Patreon is it allows people to support artists by monthly pledges which allow the artists to have more time to work on their own passions. Here is my account: PATREON.COM. If you’d like to support me, I would be eternally grateful!

I’ve now been hosting a YouTube channel called John Irvin, Author Journey Series. Check it out at YOUTUBE.COM/AUTHORJOURNEY

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Or email me at john@johnirvinauthor.com

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Life Gives and Life Takes Away.

The longer I go through life, the more I see everything comes in waves, you learn to surf those waves or get pulled under.

By John Irvin

            Speaking of waves, this past week has been one sucker punch and one Christmas present back and forth with me.

            Okay, some of you who’ve been following me, know that my other job is freelance proofreading. It helps paying the bills while the book royalties can’t for the present.

            I also enjoy reading and I’ve always been a secret grammar police. Here lately, it’s been less than secret.

            Well, I started the freelance proofreading business back when I left my pizza delivery job in February. The official start date was New Year’s Day of 2020.

            Thing is, I use an iPad for that work and basically the whole proofreading persona in order to keep it separate from my author persona. Having the iPad has been a blessing and a half and made life so much easier.

            By the way, if you’re a writer and need an extra pair of eyes from someone who cares about words, you can check out my website at IrvinProofreading.com or go to my Fiverr profile for some steep discounts: www.fiverr.com/irvinproofreade

            That being shared, because of Covid and a slew of financial setbacks, I’m having to return the iPad for now. It hurts, y’all! I’ve had the thing since December 2019, so yeah, tough setback there. But, you roll with the punches.

            Then there’s the positive. Saturday morning I got the confirmation from Bodacious Bookstore and Café here in Pensacola, Florida that I can come in on 27 August and hand in the consignment paperwork along with copies of three of my printed books! That was amazing. I felt things were finally happening.

            Honestly, having my books in actual brick-and-mortar bookstores has been on my wishlist for years! Now it’s about to come true. If they sale great, then the consignment will renew with better conditions and also, perhaps I can take this new ammo to the other bookstores in town who’ve rejected previously!

            Things are looking up in that direction.

            I’m also hoping, with those facts, people will see that I’m actually serious about this whole thing and actually start donating to the Book Tour fundraiser over on GoFundMe! We have almost $9,000 to go. You could really help out with that part of the dream by sending us a gift.

Click through to join our Supporters and Donate to the Book Tour Fundraiser!

            So, basically, life comes in waves. There’s the ebb and the flow and the mountains and valleys. You learn to roll with them. Be willing to let some things go while better things come in.

            You trip, you fall, you get beat up, but what you do is: never give up.

          Until next week, y’all have a great life.

If you enjoyed this post, you should sign up for my newsletter! I don’t spam and you can unsuscribe at any time. I only send out emails on Fridays. Sign up here: SIGN UP!

I’m also a Patreon artist–the cool thing about Patreon is it allows people to support artists by monthly pledges which allow the artists to have more time to work on their own passions. Here is my account: PATREON.COM. If you’d like to support me, I would be eternally grateful!

I’ve now been hosting a YouTube channel called John Irvin, Author Journey Series. Check it out at YOUTUBE.COM/AUTHORJOURNEY

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Or email me at john@johnirvinauthor.com