Hello Everyone!
Owl's Nest is experiencing a season of everything-ness. Everything is happening! And that also means that some things that should be happening (like keeping up with this blog) aren't happening with as much regularity as they should. I do apologize! It is high time to bring you back up to speed on all the "everythings" going on at Owl's Nest...
New staff members!
Owl's Nest is bursting with new faces. Three of our four summer interns opted to come on as staff this fall, so we now have a Marketing Director (Beth Anne), an Operations Manager (Lindsey), and a Development Lead (Ally).
We have also welcomed Timarie Friesen as a new member of our editorial department. Timarie is an experienced writing instructor who has been helping us this summer as a reader. She is transitioning first into proofreading and will also be shadowing me and Katie as we complete substantive and copy edits in the coming year—alongside completing a certificate in fiction editing.
We also welcomed Amanda McIndoo to our Nest as a Marketing and PR Associate. Amanda is a longtime book reviewer/marketer on her own Instagram and YouTube accounts, so we are thrilled she is coming over to Owl's Nest to help us expand our reach.
You can read all about our new staff members on our (newly redesigned!) "About Us" website page.
New authors!
We have recently signed two new authors to Owl's Nest, totaling three new book contracts (and we're officially signing into 2024!).
Emma C. Fox spent much of her childhood climbing trees, writing adventure stories, and plotting expeditions to Middle Earth. She eventually found her own corner of the Shire on the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama, where she tutors young writers and tends to her garden, children, and book-loving husband. Emma is a contributor to The Lost Tales of Sir Galahad (Rabbit Room Press, 2022), and author of The Arrow and the Crown (KDP, 2019), an award-winning fantasy with echoes of Beauty and the Beast.
Her debut with Owl’s Nest, a Teen historical fantasy based on Siberian folklore, releases late summer 2023.
Devin Brown fell in love with reading during a family camping trip in middle school—the kind where you drive 50 miles to a state park in Northern Indiana and sleep in a pop-up trailer. Before leaving, he checked out four really big books from their public library in case of rain. While his two brothers were hiking and swimming, for most of the trip he ended up staying behind at their campsite so he could finish reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Today Devin is an English professor at Asbury University where he shares his love of reading through his classes in adolescent literature, creative writing, and the works of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. He has published over a dozen books. Devin and his wife, Sharon, live in Lexington, Kentucky.
Devin's debut book with Owl's Nest Publishers, A CHRISTMAS CAROL: ANNOTATED FOR TEEN AND MIDDLE GRADE READERS, is releasing in November of 2023, just in time for Christmas!
His follow up with Owl’s Nest is a MG novel called NOT EXACTLY LOVE dedicated “To Anyone Who Ever Had a Friend They Wished Was More.” (Coming February 2024)
New books!
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES: ANNOTATED FOR TEEN AND MIDDLE GRADE READERS just released not even a month ago (Buy it on Amazon or in our web store). ORION AND THE STARBORN is coming November 15 and is available for preorder now (on Amazon Kindle or in our web store in paperback or hardcover formats). And MUSES FROM THE MOON will be available for preorder this coming week. There is so much to look forward to at Owl's Nest!
New collaborations!
We are working hard to build new vendor and artisan collaborations to expand our merchandise base, offer new exciting items in book boxes, and much more. Stay tuned to find out what we will soon be able to offer.
New merchandise!
We are adding new merchandise to our store, Shop the Nest, almost monthly. Right now, we have some new, adorable (and exclusive) ANNE OF GREEN GABLES t-shirts, mugs, and tote bags. These items feature hand-drawn artwork by our creative designer Ash Schlax; they are literally one-of-a-kind! Our fall book box—themed to ORION AND THE STARBORN—is also available now for purchase. Get yours before orders close on October 31!
New projects!
Now that we have more staff in the Nest, we are moving forward on some of the (many) projects that have been lying around, gathering dust. Such as the Owl's Nest Podcast and launching our YouTube channel. We live in an audiovisual world, and so far, we have no audiovisual content—to speak of. Getting the podcast and YouTube channel off the ground is a top priority for us.
We also have a yearly catalogue in development, audiobooks to produce, book festivals to start attending, and much more.
In short, Owl's Nest is gaining speed and operating as we should. It's hard to believe that just a year ago, Katie and I were sitting on my patio, going over things like logo design and choosing our company fonts and color palette. Little decisions seemed like such big decisions back then—and they were! But now, we have so very many more of them.
What are our needs?
Publishing is a slow-moving industry. It takes a long time for a book or two (or three) to start generating meaningful profit. We knew this, going in, and we are doing what we can to diversify the ways in which we can bring in funds.
If you are looking for focused ways to support us in all of this work that needs doing, please know that every little donation you give here on Buy Me a Coffee really does help. If you are very passionate about our mission to produce stories that capture the imagination of teen and middle grade readers and you want to go above and beyond in your support of us, please reach out to Ally, our Development Lead at [email protected], and we'll be happy to talk to you more in-depth about areas of need and investment opportunities with Owl's Nest.
Thank you again, to all of you!
Until Nest Time,
~ Karin