Bratwurst Haven available for preorder!
Plus the Amazon union and goodbye for now
Hi all,
I wanted to let you all know that Bratwurst Haven, my linked collection of stories, is now available for preorder. This book is about the vocational and emotional bargains made by workers at a Colorado factory. It’s also about joy, exile, intimacy, aloneness, hard work, and kindness—stories truly “distilled out of all that I have carried” as Alexander Chee says in his essay “On Becoming an American Writer.”
Please consider preordering the collection from West Virginia University Press, an online retailer like Amazon, or directly from your local bookstore. You could also request it at your local library. Preorders are important: they influence my publisher’s initial print run and also show them that they should continue to invest in marketing/publicity for me. Success begets success, and all that. Thank you for considering buying.
Next, per my last post about the labor movement in publishing, just last week an Amazon warehouse formed an independent union led by former Amazon assistant manager Chris Smalls who was fired for protesting workers’ treatment at the start of the pandemic. Amazon is a huge part of publishing, and it’s great that these 8,000+ workers will have representation. You can find specifics about the campaign/win here.
Lastly, I wanted to say thank you for going on this Substack journey with me. It’s been a stretch for me in many ways, as I prefer to write fiction and poetry, not informal nonfiction posts. I’m going to step away from it and work on my Red Heads novel for now, but might return if/when I start a publishing company—or before, who knows. In case you missed some of my earlier posts and/or want to share them, I archived them below.
Happy Spring!
Sincerely,
Rachel
You can find info on me starting out in publishing here; freelance editing here; working at Perseus here, Ruminate here, and the Infusion Nurses Society here.
Read here how working in publishing has overlapped with my fiction writing/publishing, here for my idea for a publishing company, and here for some thoughts on publishing and labor rights.
You can find info on my journey submitting stories here, and on querying agents here and here.
I included two interviews with other writers who earn their living in publishing: you can find Patrick Ryan here and Pat Matsueda here.
You can find info on my foray into marketing and publicity here and here.
I posted four short stories: “Understanding,” “Up a Tree,” “The Red Heads,” and “A Friendship.”
I posted one formal piece of nonfiction, Westerners.
I posted poems here, here, and here.
Thank you again!
Rachel