A Garage of My Own!

A while back I wrote a blog post about the romance of small businesses when they’re still modest enough to be housed in a dreamer’s garage and the outsized role that garages play in American life in general. 

In it I pined for that halcyon day when Delcan Haven Books, the publishing arm of Nathan Rabin’s Happy Place enterprises would someday be big enough for a garage of its own. 

It wasn’t the garage itself, necessarily, that I desired but rather what it represents, although on a practical level, as someone who will soon have hundreds of copies of The Joy of Trash and The Weird A-Coloring to Al that will need to be shipped, stored and then sent out to customers, a big, empty garage is exceedingly useful.

I will hopefully be finding out for myself because due to the insane housing market we’re selling our modest condo in order to move into a house big enough for us, our dog and our two wild boys. 

Best of all, this house will have big-ass closets, the kind you can store lots and lots of copies of You Don’t Know Me But You Don’t Like Me, and a garage. 

A garage! A genuine garage! To house my genuine, bona fide, money-making small business! 

Declan Haven Books is growing with the upcoming publication of The Joy of Trash, The Weird A-Coloring to Al and The Weird A-Coloring to Al Colored In Edition so it makes sense for us to move into a bigger space physically. 

And by “us” I mean “me” but also you, the Happy Place reader and patron who buys my books and makes it possible for me to continue to be an author without a major publisher behind me like Scribner or Abrams Image. 

If’s funny, when I asked my Scribner editor how many copies my 2009 memoir The Big Rewind had sold in its first few months and he said a few thousand copies I was convinced that my life as an author was over, that no one had any interest in anything I had to say and that my career had ended when it seemingly had just begun. 

When I sold several thousands of copies of The Weird Accordion to Al independently, on the other hand, I felt as if my career as an independent author and publisher had only just begun, that I had a definite sense of what readers wanted from me specifically and that if I managed things carefully and aggressively that I could go on happily and lucratively writing and publishing books at a steady clip until it was time for the big dirt nap. 

When I was at Scribner I thought I had to keep cranking out books at a steady clip, and that each book had to sell more than the last or my career as an author at a prestigious publishing house like Scribner would be over. 

I look back at the books I published with Scribner with enormous pride, You Don’t Know Me But You Don’t Like Me in particular, but I’m also proud of myself for figuring out a way to publish books independently without a drop in quality or professionalism. 

It’s entirely possible that The Joy of Trash will flop or under-perform or otherwise fail to live up to my sky-high expectations for it but I have faith in it, myself and my readers.

I’m also encouraged by how much repeat business I get. I know that I’m selling books independently because of the money I’m making but also because I’m seeing the names of the people who buy my books when they pre-order The Weird Accordion to Al and The Joy of Trash and then again on the packages when I send them out. 

I can’t tell you how validating that is and how much it means to me.

I want my readers to be so happy with my books that they can’t wait for the next one. That’s why the exhausting process of shipping out hundreds of books proved such a weirdly happy experience last time around: every order made me feel wanted, every shipment represents a reader’s faith in me, my abilities and my dreams. 

I’m psyched to finally have a garage to house my small business. It’ll be an even greater thrill when I can start filling it with new books just waiting to be sent out to the readers/patrons who make this all possible. 

Be a part of the recently launched Indiegogo campaign for 7 Days in Ohio II: Return of the Juggalos over at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/make-7-days-in-ohio-2-return-of-the-juggalo-happen--2/x/14797497#/ and help send Nathan back to the Gathering for the EIGHTH time for more literary magic, madness and miracles! 

Pre-order The Joy of Trash, the Happy Place’s upcoming book about the very best of the very worst and get instant access to all of the original pieces I’m writing for them AS I write them (there are six so far, including Shasta McNasty and the first and second seasons of Baywatch Nights) AND, as a bonus, monthly write-ups of the first season Baywatch Nights you can’t get anywhere else (other than my Patreon feed) at https://the-joy-of-trash.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

Missed out on the Kickstarter campaign for The Weird A-Coloring to Al/The Weird A-Coloring to Al-Colored In Edition? You’re in luck, because you can still pre-order the books, and get all manner of nifty exclusives, by pledging over at https://the-weird-a-coloring-to-al-coloring-colored-in-books.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

and of course you can buy The Weird Accordion to Al here: https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop

AND of course you can also pledge to this site and help keep the lights on at https://www.patreon.com/nathanrabinshappyplace