Time is running away
The three month countdown to the book launch officially began two days ago and I wish I had more in the hours in the day to do the novel justice in my marketing efforts. Still it is what it is and Alhamdulillah there is so much that I was able to do in this month.
I attended a festival
Starting with one of the freshest in my memory. I was blessed enough to attend the Muslim Literary Festival again this year. Meeting some amazing people last year has done more for me in my marketing for launching the book than almost anything else. I've learned that finding a community that can help me get the word out is one of the most important acts I could have taken and that I've been able to find one for "Under The Full and Crescent Moon" honestly means the world to me.
One thing that really took my time but I was able to do was create a card to advertise the book and get my name out there. It was a lot of work and you can see the results below. Getting an idea like this and figuring out how to get it done is something I really enjoy, I just wish I had more time to do these kinds of projects so the stress factor would go down and the enjoyment would go up!
And for anyone reading this, I'll humbly ask you to help with these actions as well!
I got blurbs in
As you can see there's some incredibly kind words from a wonderful author on the card. That's the result of reaching out to a lot of people to ask them to read my novel and write a 'blurb' for it. Asking for this favour, and knowing who to even ask, was such a hard thing to do and such a learning experience. Meeting some wonderful people last year and keeping in touch with them is what really helped with the process. It's humbling and makes it feel like it's worth it. Here are some of the other blurbs I got. Some of these are from academic people and not authors which is probably an unusual choice, but reflects the amount of research I did for the book!
"A resonant reimagining of Islamic history crafted with fierce intelligence and masterly worldbuilding." - Sumaiya Matin, Author of The Shaytan Bride
"I was thrilled to "get to know" wise, powerful women and sensitive, emotionally intelligent men. How the young protagonist defends her city will definitely surprise you!" - Sofia Tsourlaki, PhD researcher, supervisor of postgraduate dissertations, lecturer in Islamic Studies
“By telling a tale of an Islamic matriarchy, Aamir Hussain throws down the gauntlet—and Muslim fiction is better for it.” - Saad T. Farooqi - Author of White World
"Beautifully written, with an ear for dialogue that brings his characters vividly and convincingly to life, and a plot-line that carries the reader forward with eagerness to a satisfying conclusion." - Catherine Rubincam Retired Associate Professor Emeritus, Historical Studies
Updated the site
The card refers to the site, and so I had to update the site to have all the details of what I'm asking people to do. This always takes more time than expected especially as I really wanted to get the site to look like the flyer with the fancy 'Lancelot' font I used for the blurbs. Because of the technology I'm using that honestly took me days to figure out. I wish I wasn't joking. The stars still took longer. Direct link here. Please let me know what you think. I'm trying to achieve both form and functionality.
Working with a publicist.
The publicists I hired at River Street Writing, continue to be awesome. I'm really hoping the fruits of their effort will start showing very soon! Hollay has been nothing but awesome!
The World continues to spiral
Being busy with family, work, the novel project... these are all things that I am blessed to have. But there have been many moments that I have felt the joy drain out as atrocity after atrocity keeps on piling up. And to have my country participate in covering up the aggressor and make the victim into the victimizer is a recipe for despair.
There is a deep horror in knowing how vilified me, my family, and my people are as Muslims and how justified any violence is against us. And a further depth of terror to the realization on how long a slog it will be to fix this as it was through words that we were first demonized and it is only by words that we will force our way out of this libel. And so as we fight to protect ourselves and to silence the ugly drumbeat of war, millions more of us will die, or be injured, or suffer shattered families.
My work is to be able to rest, recover, and fight on. It is hard, but it is the test that it seems like God has chosen for all of us.
Free Palestine. And please preorder my book, get a review copy, and tell your friends about it!