Story Time: When the Fold Saves the Day

One of the mottos I’ve been using more and more as the years pass is “When life gives you lemons, ask for tequila and salt”. Or kvas, if you run out of tequila. So, trust me when I say, I didn’t expect that the Fold would be the one to save the day. And my brand new book-subscription box’s ass.

Hello awesome nerds and happy Monday everyone!

I hope you had a lovely weekend and you recharged your batteries, because I most certainly didn’t.

Even though last week was packed with national holidays here in Greece, I was so freaking busy with work, that I didn’t get the chance to relax as much as I wanted to. And for someone like me, who’s grave stone will, more or less, say that “she died because of her anxiety and stress”, finding out at 8pm on a Wednesday night that the publishing house decided to postpone the publication of the novel that was supposed to be the featured book for the month of May in the Witches Wanna Have Fun bookbrewed box, didn’t really help me to calm down.

You should’ve seen my face, you guys.

All of a sudden, watching Cinderella for the gazillionth time didn’t seem so appealing anymore. Having a nice, hot campfire mug of coffee (at 8pm) didn’t seem heartwarming at all. All that mattered was that I only had less than 24 hours to deal with this crisis, otherwise bookbrewed would come to an end before it even had the chance to rise and shine.

After a small mental breakdown, some brainstorming with my team and a few phone calls to publishers, it just dawned to me.

First of all, I had to tell the truth to the subscribers. In situations like this, honesty is the best policy, especially when it comes to start-ups. And not only that, but also, I had to give subscribers the chance to choose the book they wanted included in their box, in order to avoid double copies. That was primarily the reason why I wanted to feature a new release, one that the publishing house decided to push back and the salesman of my region didn’t have the courtesy to inform me about.

The thing though was that, based on the reveal I had made, my options were quite limited. Luckily though, there was one book… A book that had come out with a whole new cover a couple of weeks ago and it had become, yet again, the hottest topic in the bookstagram community. I’m talking of course about Shadow & Bone and it’s major comeback, thanks to the Netflix show.

Honestly, guys… I’ve never been more grateful for Darkling and the Fold in my ENTIRE life!

I also gave my subscribers two more options, of two amazing Greek books, packed with witches and magical powers, so I honestly hope that, whichever book they have chosen to be featured in their box, they’re going to enjoy the journey.

Still, if I learned anything over this whole situation and crisis, is that I was right following my gut feeling and not doing that second MBA, that felt more like life coaching. I’ve gained a lot of experience over the past ten years, so I’m pretty sure I know how to deal with crisis in business, even if I need to freak out a little bit at first, have some coffee to chill and think what would my favourite fictional character do in a similar situation.

So, I wanna thank Alina, the Darkling, but also two amazing Greek authors, Sylvia Macray and Magda Asimakopoulou, for entrusting me with their books.

This is gonna be the beginning of a great adventure. And if a dozen of volcra comes my way, I’ll just have to deal with them. The old-fashioned, Alina Starkov way.

Thank you all, awesome nerds, for stopping by once again. It truly means the world to me and I want you to know that I most certainly don’t take your presence here for granted. I never will.

Have a lovely week, everyone. Stay safe and stay positive!

Till next time… Toodles!

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