"Good things are possible and we don't have to settle." —Kat Abughazaleh

Some real-world hopepunk: Doctors in China report the 1-year results of a clinical trial in which they implanted insulin-producing cells into a patient with type 1 diabetes:

In other words, the patient no longer requires insulin injections to survive, and what's more, the implanted cells were grown from stem cells derived from the patient's own tissue, and not from a donor or embryo. It's an early, but promising, treatment path for a condition that affects millions of people worldwide!

In this edition:

• Fine-tuning proofs
• Distribution updates
• Current & upcoming events
• Our latest reads
• Production updates

Fine-tuning proofs

We're currently finalizing the print and ebook proofs for ACCELERATED GROWTH ENVIRONMENT, which means, among other things, that we're addressing all the little design details that go into creating a pleasant reading experience.

Typesetting is an important part of this process. We make intentional decisions about fonts, margins, line spacing, and more to produce a beautiful and readable page. One of the less well-known jobs here is to fine-tune problems like this hyphen stack (marked in red):

Hyphens are great and necessary, but stacks of them can be visually distracting and take you out of the story. At the typesetting phase, we can make small, targeted adjustments to horizontal spacing, called "tracking", to clean these up without altering the text itself:

This is just one of the fine-tuning issues we look for and correct throughout the entire book, and it takes a lot of time and energy!

If you want to learn more about book design, we recommend checking out the incomparable The Design of Books, which is chock-full of cool stuff like this.

Distribution updates

We plan to distribute all our books in both ebook and print formats to as many retailers and platforms as possible, and that means setting up numerous distributor accounts and passing several forms of verification and review so that we're allowed to sell. We spent a sizable amount of time this month getting those accounts all verified and finalized.

For ebooks, we're currently approved for sales via Amazon, Apple Books, Gardners, Google Play Books, Hoopla (library distribution), OverDrive (library distribution), Kobo, Smashwords, Tolino, and Vivlio.

(We're still working on ebook distribution with Barnes & Noble, which seems to be processing approvals much more slowly than the other platforms right now.)

For print, we're distributing through Ingram, like much of the rest of the publishing industry. That gives us access to most brick-and-mortar bookshops and libraries. We're also working on getting set up with ReaderLink, which does distribution to non-trade retail outlets like gift shops and department stores.

On top of all that, we're also setting up our own direct sales channel, and we expect to have more news about that after the new year.

You can always find our latest distribution status here.

Current & upcoming events

We attended Geek Girl Con in Seattle on November 9. We didn't run a table—we won't be doing that until we've got some books ready to sell—but we met some very nice folks and saw some very nice art and made some lovely connections.

We also attended the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association's Quasar online event November 15-16. This was a special continuation of the 2025 Nebula Awards Conference focused on virtual programming around industry topics relevant to authors and publishers in the sci-fi and fantasy space. We particularly enjoyed panels on book contracts, building community, and working with libraries and bookshops.

For future events, we've applied to participate in RadCon in February, Emerald City Comic Con 2026 in March, and LAcon V in August. We're still evaluating the bewildering array of other local, regional, and national conventions throughout the year. More to come!

Our latest reads

Josh recently enjoyed Cherie Priest's It Was Her House First, a haunted house story with a big heart, a charismatic cast, and a few trope-defying surprises up its sleeve.

Brianne recently loved T. Kingfisher's Snake-Eater, a romantic horror story (romror? horrmance? horromance?) that explores what it means to stand up for yourself and build your own community despite others' expectations of you.

Brianne also enjoyed learning about the creative people, places, and processes that influenced Lin-Manuel Miranda's artistic journey in Daniel Pollack-Pelzner's Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist.

Production updates

We recently reviewed a WIP of the cover art for ACCELERATED GROWTH ENVIRONMENT, and we're looking forward to the final cover reveal next month.

We've finished edits and started print and ebook galleys for THE MAN IN THE GARDEN HOUSE.

We signed our cover artist for THE COLOR OF TIME, and we're very excited to get that piece underway.

Lastly—and this is far from the most important thing—we did a very small improvement to our logo:

Support Shiraki Press

Would you like to support our mission to bring more hopeful adult fiction into the world?

If so, the best ways you can help today are:

• Share our call for submissions anywhere you think it might resonate with readers or authors
• Follow and boost us on Instagram and BlueSky​
• Buy one of these hopepunk books we admire from Bookshop.org. (Shiraki Press makes a small commission on these sales.)

Connect with us

Feel free to reply directly to this message with any questions or comments, or email us at connect@shirakipress.com. (For submissions, please click here instead.)

You can also find us on Instagram and BlueSky, and at shirakipress.com.

This newsletter contains affiliate links to Bookshop.org. These sales earn both Shiraki Press and your chosen bookshop a commission.