Latest / Beyond Fulfillment Podcast / BookCon 2026: The Authors Doing It Their Own Way

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BookCon 2026: The Authors Doing It Their Own Way · Beyond Fulfillment Podcast

• 0:00
  We were recently pressed credentials at bookcon in New York City.
• 0:04
  And if you haven't heard of it, bookcon draws tens of thousands of book lovers, authors and publishers.
• 0:12
  Walking that floor was a genuine eye opener.
• 0:15
  The independent publishing space is thriving in ways I didn't fully appreciate before going in.
• 0:21
  Today.
• 0:21
  You're going to hear directly from authors and publishers who are doing it their own way.
• 0:26
  Foreign.
• 0:30
  Dave Gulas back at bookcon and I'm here with Libby.
• 0:33
  Yvonne.
• 0:34
  Hey, lady.
• 0:35
  Hi.
• 0:35
  This is my book to die for.
• 0:37
  It's a gothic thriller in dark romance theme, haunting outline meets Eddie Roll and flow dashed in blood.
• 0:43
  It has all the thriller vibes and a very haunting ending that will just chill you to the bone.
• 0:49
  Okay, now you.
• 0:51
  This book came out to.
• 0:53
  Yes.
• 0:53
  And it's independently published.
• 0:55
  Okay, we'll get into that in just a second.
• 0:58
  What inspired you to write this?
• 1:00
  So I'm like a huge serial killer in True Crime Club and I took that idea and ran with it.
• 1:06
  I love Ed Roll and go, so I really wanted to bring that into this as well.
• 1:10
  So it's very like lyrically and poetically written.
• 1:13
  The imagery is doing it.
• 1:16
  What was this is your first.
• 1:17
  This.
• 1:18
  Your debut novel?
• 1:20
  What was the process like, you know, taking this idea that you had and actually making it into a tangible.
• 1:28
  So for me, I.
• 1:30
  Right.
• 1:31
  I've always been that way.
• 1:32
  I don't think outlines.
• 1:33
  So I just had my initial idea and I ran with it.
• 1:37
  And from that, this huge thing blossomed and I was like, oh, this would be great if I added this in and this in.
• 1:42
  And so there's a lot of funky snakes that come out at the end.
• 1:46
  And how long did the process take you from start to finish?
• 1:49
  So it took me about six months to write this.
• 1:53
  And then it went for a double round of professional editing and that.
• 1:57
  That published.
• 1:58
  It took four months.
• 1:59
  Okay.
• 2:00
  All right.
• 2:00
  And then why did you make the decision to independently publish rather than going with like a major wavelength?
• 2:06
  So I tried.
• 2:07
  I was rejected 27 times and was like, okay, well then I'm going to.
• 2:12
  Go into this life myself.
• 2:13
  I did so much research.
• 2:15
  I designed to the COVID myself.
• 2:17
  It took months because I am not.
• 2:18
  A graphic designer, but yes.
• 2:20
  And then.
• 2:21
  And then editing was professionally done because that's.
• 2:25
  I did try traditional publishing, but unfortunately it's just very competitive.
• 2:29
  So.
• 2:29
  Okay.
• 2:30
  All right.
• 2:30
  And going through that whole process and not giving up because I mean, 27.
• 2:34
  Times to be rejected from something that.
• 2:35
  Really passionate about, you put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into.
• 2:40
  Right.
• 2:40
  You didn't give up.
• 2:40
  And then you went the independent route.
• 2:43
  What have you learned through that process?
• 2:45
  So believing in yourself is the most.
• 2:47
  Important thing because it hurts to be retentive in any aspect.
• 2:51
  But I just learned to not take it personally.
• 2:55
  I believed in my book and I thought it was a hand, so I, I pushed through and I did it.
• 3:03
  Love that.
• 3:03
  Okay, and what's been the response?
• 3:06
  I actually have gotten a lot of really positive feedback.
• 3:09
  The biggest thing that people compliment my book on is the imagery.
• 3:13
  So when you read it, you feel.
• 3:14
  Like you're in the humble room that takes place in like, you can see.
• 3:17
  The wallpaper, you can smell the smells.
• 3:20
  So that's like the biggest compliment is how well it's written.
• 3:24
  Okay.
• 3:24
  And we're here at Bookcon 2026.
• 3:26
  First time it's been back here in New York in seven years.
• 3:29
  I understand.
• 3:30
  What's been the vibe like since you've been here?
• 3:33
  Really energetic, really happy.
• 3:35
  Everyone here just loves to read.
• 3:37
  Everyone loves books and so everyone should spend nights.
• 3:42
  People that I've met, other vendors I've met, like, it's just been really fun.
• 3:46
  Okay.
• 3:46
  All right.
• 3:47
  And if people want to learn more about, you know, you, your book, what's the best way people can find you online?
• 3:52
  So, Libby, Yvonne, my name, if you know me, all my social medias come up.
• 3:57
  I'm on every social media.
• 3:59
  I have an author website.
• 4:00
  My book is available also on Amazon.
• 4:04
  And the Audible is.
• 4:06
  All right, thanks very much.
• 4:09
  All right, Dave Gulas back here at bootcon and I'm with Carmen Rosales.
• 4:13
  Hey, Carmen.
• 4:14
  Hi.
• 4:15
  So Carmen, you are a full time author.
• 4:18
  You're the author of the Prey series, which is what you're most known for, as well as many other, many other titles.
• 4:25
  You've written 44 books.
• 4:27
  Yeah.
• 4:27
  So, and we were talking, you told me you make your living as a full time author.
• 4:32
  Yes.
• 4:32
  Tell us how that happened.
• 4:34
  Well, I'm finishing my doctorate degree and I wanted to do something creative.
• 4:38
  And we're in Covid in 2020 and at time I just wanted to open my own business and do something, but at the same time follow my heart.
• 4:46
  And it was writing.
• 4:47
  And I just went into business side of publishing and I opened my own publishing company and I started publishing, publishing my book through there and it took off and that's how I became a full time author.
• 4:57
  Okay.
• 4:58
  All right.
• 4:58
  And so as we're talking, in the last six years, you've published 44 books.
• 5:03
  Yes.
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  You've written and published 44 books.
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  How do you keep up that type of pace.
• 5:07
  I write six chapters a day.
• 5:09
  It's basically, I like to say, ass in chair.
• 5:14
  Put your ass in chair and write.
• 5:15
  And you just put it out there.
• 5:16
  Don't think hard about it after that.
• 5:19
  Put me by the editing.
• 5:20
  Send it to an editor.
• 5:21
  We edit it, and you'll have a finished product.
• 5:24
  You just have to work at it.
• 5:25
  Okay, so you're certainly disciplined to put in the work.
• 5:29
  Talk about the actual business of publishing and making a living as an author in today's world.
• 5:36
  What's that been like for you?
• 5:37
  That has been challenging.
• 5:38
  You have to find the market.
• 5:39
  You have to find what you like, what you write.
• 5:42
  I like to always say, follow your heart.
• 5:45
  Don't just write something just because you want to make money out of it.
• 5:48
  This is.
• 5:49
  I don't feel, in my personal opinion that that's like, the right way to go about it.
• 5:53
  I think you should find your heart and just find what speaks to you.
• 5:56
  If you like to read it, try writing it.
• 5:58
  That's how I like to say.
• 5:59
  Okay.
• 6:00
  All right.
• 6:00
  And so what are your books about?
• 6:02
  My books are dark romance.
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  I go from Mafia.
• 6:05
  It could be dark college.
• 6:06
  It could be like, for example, my Prey series is based on the seven deadly sins.
• 6:12
  So I just like to play around with different, you know, different stories, different characters, and I like to build my character, and then I go from there.
• 6:20
  Okay, and why did you decide to self publish and stay independent this whole time?
• 6:25
  Creative control.
• 6:26
  I like to control my creativity.
• 6:28
  I tried to first let, like, a publisher do an ebook, and I didn't like the COVID They wanted to change the COVID and I didn't.
• 6:37
  I didn't agree with it.
• 6:38
  I let it, you know, go for at that time, and then I had to recover the, you know, we do the book covers and how I wanted it just didn't match what my vision was.
• 6:47
  Okay, so you stay true to your vision.
• 6:49
  And what's it been like connecting with your community and keeping them engaged as you've grown, this whole catalog.
• 6:56
  Be personal, be real, engage with them.
• 6:59
  Offer, you know, I offer them, you know, listen to them, what they'd like, what they didn't like.
• 7:04
  And I just like, like to listen to what they want and give them, you know, give them the product that they're looking for.
• 7:10
  They want Morley Gray.
• 7:11
  Give them Morley Gray.
• 7:12
  If they like, oh, I like this, or Carmen and write more of this, or I want another book.
• 7:16
  I'll give them another book.
• 7:17
  Okay.
• 7:18
  And so we're here at bookcon.
• 7:19
  What's been Your impression thus far of.
• 7:21
  Bookcon Bookon is amazing.
• 7:23
  You get to engage with a lot of readers, a lot of other authors I've met, you know, plenty of other readers on different genres.
• 7:32
  I mean, everything you want to find in bookcon on it's here.
• 7:35
  Okay.
• 7:35
  And Carmen, if people want to find out more about your work, where can they find you?
• 7:39
  Online?
• 7:40
  I'm on Instagram and Tick Tock and Carmen was always awesome.
• 7:43
  Okay, Carmen, thanks so much.
• 7:44
  No problem.
• 7:45
  Thank you.
• 7:46
  All right, Dave Goulas back here at bookcon and I'm with Natasha Charisse.
• 7:51
  Hey, Natasha.
• 7:52
  Hi.
• 7:52
  How are you?
• 7:53
  Fantastic.
• 7:54
  All right, so I came across your booth and it caught my eye.
• 7:57
  And so you were telling me that you wrote four books in under a year.
• 8:01
  Yes.
• 8:01
  Which sounds incredible.
• 8:02
  Ted, tell us about your books and what you're doing.
• 8:05
  So three of them are the Sylvia's Language series, Ladies Edition, Men's Edition, and Teen Edition.
• 8:11
  I wanted to make sure I covered most of the family because everybody's been through some type of trauma and abuse.
• 8:17
  And so it's a self guided journal where people are allowed to not just read the book, but turn active in your healing process.
• 8:25
  And then the last book is called Naroni Myself Weekly.
• 8:27
  It's about my five and a half year experience with domestic violence and how I overcame.
• 8:32
  Okay, wow.
• 8:33
  And you just launched this recently in the past year, is that right?
• 8:37
  So the three books came out between last August and last October and then the last book came out.
• 8:44
  Okay, so very recent.
• 8:46
  So what, what made you write these books and launch this, this new business after going through that long journey of abuse?
• 8:59
  The more other people shared their experience,.
• 9:01
  But they didn't know how to start the healing process.
• 9:04
  And so everybody doesn't necessarily do the therapy like they're from being in the.
• 9:10
  Comfort of your own home.
• 9:12
  Okay.
• 9:13
  So you provide resources where people can do the work without necessarily having to feel uncomfortable and they can do it in their own.
• 9:20
  I still encourage therapy.
• 9:22
  Okay.
• 9:22
  Still encourage therapy.
• 9:23
  And then what's been, what's been the best part of launching this, this product and writing these books for you?
• 9:31
  Just, I just think that if everybody here the world would be a lot.
• 9:43
  And you're here in New York, so clearly.
• 9:45
  Right.
• 9:46
  Every kind of piece of healing possible.
• 9:49
  Okay.
• 9:51
  And you're, you're a seasoned entrepreneur as well.
• 9:53
  You're telling me you have a couple other businesses you want to tell us about that?
• 9:56
  Yes.
• 9:57
  So my first business is my non profit organization that actually deal with domestic violence in the church.
• 10:03
  This October makes 10 years that I've had that.
• 10:06
  And then my other business, Naturally Classy, where I make skin and hair care products after month for six years.
• 10:12
  And then my third business, Natural Classic Consulting, I've been working four years where I help people get their llc, their non profit paperwork, everything you need to help start your business.
• 10:24
  Okay.
• 10:24
  Love it.
• 10:25
  And Natasha, if people want to find you online and learn more about everything you do and what's the best way they can reach out to you?
• 10:30
  Natasha.com.
• 10:32
  Okay, Natasha, thanks so much.
• 10:35
  All right, Dave Gulas back here at bookcon and I'm with Teisha.
• 10:39
  Yes.
• 10:41
  Wow.
• 10:41
  So Takisha, we were just talking off camera.
• 10:44
  You are just oozing with passion about this book you've written.
• 10:48
  Publishing company.
• 10:49
  Yes.
• 10:50
  And this character, Dawer, who tell us.
• 10:54
  Dower, is a representation of love and light.
• 10:57
  And the reason why I'm so passionate about it is because it's about unity and how we're all connected at the end of the day.
• 11:07
  And I really wanted to put a feel good story out, but that also had deeper themes and messages about environmentalism and land protection and intergenerational healing and love and spirit.
• 11:21
  And so Dawer is like everything and I hope readers will find it and you know, just listen to the messages that it gives.
• 11:32
  Okay.
• 11:33
  And Dauer, the name is part flower,.
• 11:36
  Part dog, is the character.
• 11:38
  And he's representative of our character Cassidy, who's Japanese and black.
• 11:43
  And we have other representations of other cultures in the book as well.
• 11:48
  And we also.
• 11:49
  Dauer is powered by the sun.
• 11:52
  So we created Dauer power batteries.
• 11:55
  We have double A batteries.
• 11:57
  We have Dower power doggy treats.
• 12:01
  Oh boy, I gotta get some of those doggy treats for my dog.
• 12:04
  Yes, you do.
• 12:07
  Okay.
• 12:07
  And so you were telling me you wrote the original story back in high school.
• 12:12
  Yes.
• 12:13
  That would ultimately become this novel.
• 12:15
  Yes.
• 12:15
  So after all these years, what inspired you to write the novel?
• 12:18
  My niece Cassidy.
• 12:20
  So my niece Cassidy was born and I really wanted to give her a story that can and, you know, present a legacy and something that she can look back on and understand.
• 12:30
  A vision can come to life.
• 12:33
  And so that's why I took Gower and created a much longer novel with deeper meanings and messages.
• 12:40
  Okay, and how long did that whole process take you?
• 12:42
  10 plus years.
• 12:44
  Oh, wow.
• 12:45
  So truly a labor of love.
• 12:47
  And you didn't quit.
• 12:48
  You kept going.
• 12:49
  You kept going.
• 12:50
  You gotta keep keep going.
• 12:51
  Because it's about divine timing.
• 12:54
  You may, it may not happen when you want it, but you got to trust and believe that if it's in your heart for you to do.
• 13:00
  It will happen.
• 13:01
  You just have to keep going.
• 13:03
  I love that.
• 13:04
  Okay.
• 13:05
  And so you also started a publishing company which is called Pie in the Sky Publishing.
• 13:09
  Pie in the Sky Publishing.
• 13:10
  Because I was actually doing this work in writing for some of your large corporations and I ended up saying, hey, why not just do this for myself?
• 13:20
  And so that's why I started Pine with Sky Publishing and also to help support other authors who want to publish books and don't want to do vanity press, but really want to think outside the box when it came
• 13:33
  to presenting stories.
• 13:35
  And so that's why we have Pine the Sky Publishing.
• 13:37
  And we want to be just like a Penguin or Simon Schuster, whatever, and really give authors an opportunity to share their messages to the world.
• 13:48
  Okay.
• 13:49
  And so our audience is all entrepreneurs, startup founders, many of whom have written books, but they're not in the business of writing.
• 13:57
  So coming from someone in the publishing world, what's the biggest misconception people may have about making a career as a writer?
• 14:06
  I think that it's something that we have to get some someone else to help support you do like an agent, a literary agent, or you have to go through a large publishing firm.
• 14:17
  There's companies like myself out there that will help you step by step.
• 14:22
  We work with people.
• 14:23
  I have a great guy, guy from Sony Pictures that I used to work with, who we help writers take their stories and make them marketable and take them through the journey so that they know that it's not hard
• 14:37
  to do it.
• 14:38
  You just got to be connected to the right people that is looking to.
• 14:41
  Help you of that.
• 14:43
  Okay.
• 14:43
  And Tisha, if people are hearing this and they want to learn more about your novel, your publishing company or the other work you're doing, what's the best way people can find you online?
• 14:53
  Www.publishing.com so we're PI in the sky, but we couldn't get that URL.
• 15:02
  So we're psy publishing.com and so that's where you can find us.
• 15:09
  Okay, Takisha, thanks so much.
• 15:11
  Thank you so much.
• 15:17
  All right, Dave Gulas back at bookcon and I'm here with Felicia.
• 15:21
  Hey, Felicia.
• 15:21
  Hi.
• 15:22
  So you are the author of the series the Alpha's Decimal.
• 15:28
  Yep.
• 15:28
  And it's a six part series.
• 15:29
  Number three comes out next week.
• 15:31
  Next year.
• 15:32
  Next year.
• 15:33
  Pardon me.
• 15:33
  Yep.
• 15:34
  Okay.
• 15:35
  So what, what inspired you to write this series?
• 15:37
  I was playing a game on my phone.
• 15:40
  So I was playing this game on my phone.
• 15:42
  It was late at night and I was like, you know, I Could make a really good story.
• 15:46
  So then I spent the next four days and wrote the entire book one, and then I accept it all.
• 15:52
  I, like you, emailed it to my best friend, and I was like, hey,.
• 15:55
  What do you think of this book?
• 15:56
  And so she reads it, edits, and she's like, it's kind of.
• 15:59
  But it has really good bones.
• 16:01
  So just do the edits.
• 16:03
  Eight months editing this book, and it went from 200 pages to this big, giant, like, 600 page book.
• 16:10
  And it went from just normal werewolves to me creating this whole scheme of things where the werewolves got banished.
• 16:17
  They're in our work world, and the werewolves are trapped inside witches.
• 16:22
  So it's two souls for sure, one body.
• 16:27
  So the werewolves, like, walk around in their mind and claw their insides, and the witches get to decide whether or not they shift into their wolf woman or not.
• 16:34
  Okay, that's.
• 16:36
  Yeah.
• 16:37
  Okay.
• 16:37
  All right.
• 16:38
  And so in book one, you also created a publishing company to put all these out.
• 16:43
  I did.
• 16:45
  I felt like a lot of authors get taken advantage of, so I wanted to put the author first so I make sure that the author gets more of the royalties in my publishing company.
• 16:58
  But I also create an entire line of products where it's based off of their book completely so the readers can really immerse themselves in the book as they're reading it.
• 17:09
  So I have two teas and candles, perfumes, colognes, like a whole line of products just for the books I publish.
• 17:16
  And what's been the response?
• 17:18
  Because that model, especially in an industry where the fan experience is so, so.
• 17:24
  Critical,.
• 17:26
  What's been the response to that business?
• 17:30
  The fans are loving it.
• 17:33
  I sell so much perfume along with the V books, so many candles.
• 17:38
  Because a lot of people just, they.
• 17:40
  Love to light a candle and read their book.
• 17:42
  They love to drink tea and read their book.
• 17:44
  So being able to have something that is from the world they're reading, they can fully immerse themselves in it is just amazing there.
• 17:52
  I've gotten good feedback from it.
• 17:55
  Okay, and what's been the response to do?
• 17:57
  Because they mentioned to a lot of, like, the bigger publishing houses, maybe, maybe there's that.
• 18:02
  I guess it's your experience.
• 18:03
  They take advantage of the authors.
• 18:05
  And so how do you balance, like, the need for the cost of promotion, what it takes to really make a book go versus the author, who really, most people would say is the most important part of that.
• 18:17
  They are the most appropriate.
• 18:18
  They do all the work.
• 18:19
  I mean, given I am out here, like, marketing and promoting, you know, and getting my Author out there, but like they're the someone who sat up every night, late nights, writing their book, getting frustrated, crumpling up papers or
• 18:33
  deleting and backspacing and whatnot.
• 18:36
  You know, like they're putting in all the hearts.
• 18:38
  So I wanted to make sure that they felt like they were getting the recognition and felt worthy of everything that they worked so hard to go.
• 18:49
  Okay.
• 18:50
  And they even like, they even get like affordable portion of all the sales.
• 18:53
  Of all online that I make.
• 18:56
  And I hand make it all myself.
• 18:58
  You do?
• 18:58
  I do.
• 19:00
  How long does that take?
• 19:01
  It depends on the product.
• 19:02
  Perfume, super easy.
• 19:04
  The candles, they take forever.
• 19:06
  Yeah.
• 19:07
  All right.
• 19:08
  And if people want to learn more about your company and potentially even though there's some authors that want to work with you, what's the best way people can find you online?
• 19:15
  I have a form you can fill out on my website, bloodboundbookspublishing.com so you can go and check me out on there.
• 19:21
  I have a lot of products on there.
• 19:23
  Libby Von's book to Diaper is on there.
• 19:26
  His legacy series is on there.
• 19:28
  So.
• 19:30
  Thanks so much.
• 19:31
  Thank you.
• 19:32
  All right, Dave Goolis back here at Brookcon and I'm with Tim Roberts from Critical Kit.
• 19:37
  Hey, Tim.
• 19:37
  Hey there.
• 19:38
  Nice to meet you.
• 19:38
  Nice to meet you.
• 19:40
  So tell us what Critical Kit is.
• 19:42
  So Critical Kit is a publishing company that creates role playing games.
• 19:47
  So we basically create storytelling games.
• 19:51
  Okay.
• 19:52
  And we're talking about this off camera how you are an accidental entrepreneur.
• 19:58
  Yep, I am an accidental entrepreneur.
• 19:59
  I used to be a software developer, but I was always fighting with the creative side of my brain.
• 20:05
  So, yeah, I wrote a game about five years ago and I didn't really think past that game, but the game did really well.
• 20:11
  So.
• 20:11
  So I started writing more, but then I also started looking out for other smaller games that couldn't get their things to market.
• 20:18
  And I decided as I developed that knowledge, I could share that knowledge and help them publish.
• 20:24
  So yeah, I became their publisher and yeah, now I pay people royalties and pretty much like a traditional publishing model.
• 20:34
  And it's all.
• 20:35
  So tell us about your flagship title, which is.
• 20:37
  Is Be Like a Crow.
• 20:39
  So it's a.
• 20:39
  It's a solo role playing game.
• 20:41
  Yeah, so yeah, exactly.
• 20:43
  Be Like a Crow is the thing.
• 20:44
  That's the game that started everything off.
• 20:46
  So that was the game I was talking about.
• 20:48
  I hadn't even thought past it.
• 20:50
  So it's basically a.
• 20:51
  It's a game where you can be one of several types of corbid.
• 20:55
  So you can be a Jackdaw, a raven, a rook, a magpie.
• 20:58
  And you can play in different worlds as well.
• 21:00
  So you can play in, like, this world, in our world, even in your own town, or you can play in a, like a fantasy world, a gothic world, science fiction, cyberpunk.
• 21:08
  We've got Norse mythology, Wild West.
• 21:10
  There's loads of different worlds, but ultimately you are still a bird in those worlds.
• 21:14
  And I'm from Sized Bird, but you are a bird and negotiating all the challenges of that world.
• 21:20
  Okay, all right.
• 21:21
  And so when you initially wrote that, like you said, you didn't think it much past that.
• 21:26
  What was it like when that solo game really took on?
• 21:30
  It was.
• 21:30
  So it happened.
• 21:31
  We did a crowdfunding campaign.
• 21:33
  Someone could convince me to try it.
• 21:36
  And it started off a little bit slow, and then in the middle, it just went wild.
• 21:39
  It got some traction on a gaming website.
• 21:42
  I think the fact that it was pros caught people's imagination.
• 21:45
  And, yeah, it blew up very quickly.
• 21:47
  It was going to be a much smaller game and we raised so much funding that we decided.
• 21:52
  Well, I decided to make it a bigger game, you know, because I had the luxury of doing that because of the funding that we raised.
• 21:59
  Okay.
• 22:00
  All right.
• 22:00
  And so now we're here at Booktown.
• 22:03
  What's been your impression of Booktown thus far?
• 22:06
  It's absolutely amazing.
• 22:07
  It's.
• 22:07
  It's very busy and this was always going to be a risk for us.
• 22:10
  Even though we have storytelling games, you know, we weren't 100% sure if everybody would take to them, you know, or.
• 22:19
  Understand what we had.
• 22:20
  But, yeah, we, we've been really surprised.
• 22:22
  We've been blown away by the reception and we, we're glad.
• 22:25
  We're trying to reach new markets.
• 22:26
  I think it's important to always think outside of your, you know, what you consider your core market and try and look at, you know, adjacent markets.
• 22:35
  If they're similar, like, for instance, our, our, our gaming, our role playing games are very close to board gamers.
• 22:43
  So they know, they understand the games.
• 22:45
  Whereas, you know, books, book publishing and things, slightly different readers, but a lot of people here are creative writers.
• 22:52
  And I saw those games are creative writing games.
• 22:53
  So we figured, you know, why not give it a try?
• 22:57
  Okay.
• 22:57
  And what's been the best part of this whole journey for you?
• 23:02
  I think I always love meeting people and talking to them about the games and hearing about their experiences with the games and, you know, what stories they've told people.
• 23:12
  People generally at conventions will bring me the things they've done with the Games and the stories and, and that's, that's very interesting.
• 23:18
  But you know, from, from a more capitalist side of things.
• 23:22
  It's also really good to, you know, increase our, the brand, the awareness of our brand.
• 23:27
  It's also really good to introduce people to these kind of games.
• 23:31
  You know, try and get them off their phones and get them playing these games.
• 23:34
  Yeah, okay.
• 23:36
  All right.
• 23:36
  And Tim, if people want to find out more about you, your company, what's the best way people can find you online?
• 23:41
  So the best way to find us online is go to criticalkit.co.uk.co.uk or you can go to criticalkit us and all our socials are on there, all our games are on there.
• 23:51
  And you can also go into your local gaming store and ask us.
• 23:53
  We've got distribution across the space.
• 23:55
  Okay.
• 23:56
  All right, Tim, thanks so much.
• 23:57
  Thank you very much.
• 23:59
  All right, Dave Gulleth back here at bookcon and I'm with Jasmine from idw.
• 24:04
  Hey, Jasmine, so tell us, so you, what does IDW and Top Shelf do?
• 24:11
  Yeah, IDW and Top Shelf do a wide range of graphic novels.
• 24:14
  For IDW specifically, we do a lot of licensed materials.
• 24:17
  So we have Godzilla, we have Sonic, we have TMNT and Star Trek notably.
• 24:21
  And then for Topshop, we have a wide range of original graphic type novels.
• 24:25
  This could range from anything from kids novels all the way up to adult four.
• 24:29
  So we have everything free your fancy.
• 24:31
  Okay.
• 24:32
  All right.
• 24:32
  And so 2026, what is it like in this business, you know, in terms of getting some of these graphic novels?
• 24:40
  Like I see you've got the teenage.
• 24:42
  I saw that 40 years ago.
• 24:46
  Right.
• 24:47
  What's it like in this business?
• 24:49
  You know, getting books out there, it's actually really fun.
• 24:53
  So we have a real well established process by now.
• 24:56
  Now we just kind of go around, we say, what can we do to make our fans really interested in our books?
• 25:00
  We want to keep you guys engaged because we don't want physical media to go away.
• 25:04
  I'm sure everyone's concerned with that at.
• 25:05
  Bugcon, but we're here to stay.
• 25:07
  So we go out of our way to make sure we have storylines that everyone that can interact with, from our fans to new readers.
• 25:13
  And we make sure that we take it all the way from creation all the way to your bookstore.
• 25:17
  That way everyone can interact with them.
• 25:19
  We have new runs, we have old runs that are fan favorites.
• 25:22
  A little bit of everything for everyone.
• 25:23
  We want to make sure we hit all our.
• 25:25
  Okay, and so speaking of fans, right, like the energy here at Book time is incredible.
• 25:30
  So many people, it's already even moved through the aisles.
• 25:34
  I see people dressed up as characters, like, people that just totally, like, geeking out.
• 25:39
  Like, talk about creating the fan experience that really connects your readers with your product.
• 25:44
  Yeah, of course.
• 25:44
  So at idw, we believe that we are our own fans first and that we're always just making stuff for our fans.
• 25:51
  Being at bookcon is, like, the greatest thing ever.
• 25:53
  I think everyone's on the same page when it comes to just wanting to read good material and good books and want to get back into this industry.
• 26:00
  So to see our fans, we just.
• 26:02
  It's like, bottom of our heart.
• 26:03
  We adore you guys.
• 26:04
  And then to also make sure that our fans are welcome, we always give crazy discounts.
• 26:08
  We want to make sure they're getting books that they might not have known about, and we want to make sure that they're continuing on storyline rescue, so.
• 26:14
  So if you're a fan, we have something for you, I promise.
• 26:16
  Okay.
• 26:17
  All right.
• 26:17
  If people want to learn more or find out anything more about your titles and whatnot, where can they find you on learning?
• 26:22
  Yeah, you can find us on all of our socials at IDW Publishing.
• 26:26
  No, not do at IDW Publishing.
• 26:28
  And then for Top shelf, you can do at Top Shelf Comics, which is T O P S H E L F P O M I X.
• 26:35
  Okay.
• 26:36
  All right, Jasmine, thanks so much.
• 26:37
  Thanks for having me, Sam.