first off—if you missed part 1, feel free to scroll down to the next section for the longer description of why preorders are important but here’s a TL;DR—

1. preorders = tangible proof for the publisher that there is interest in the book, which means;

2. retailers will buy more stock for their stores. more stock = more eyes = more sales

3. preorders help books hit bestsellers lists

4. preorders help ensure the longevity of the book in the market, especially for a BIPOC/marginalized author

5. preorders/sales help ensure the author can have a long career, especially for a BIPOC/marginalized author

why i loved GIRL DINNER, out Oct 21, 2025

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girl dinner is a phrase we all know so well from the viral tiktok video that later became a trend. i do have some thoughts on the idea of using this phrase in the title of a book that makes money without necessarily compensating the original creator of said phrase but alas that is a whole other topic that would require its own post.

to say i was obsessed with GIRL DINNER is an understatement. as someone who usually struggles to EYE-read a book (i usually have to listen to an audiobook), this one certainly reigned me in like no other.

“It was the fact that there was no objective measure of a woman, no simple framework by which to exist, and the only real danger was in the pretense that there was.”
— GIRL DINNER, Olivie Blake

GIRL DINNER follows two seemingly unconnected characters—Sloane, a new mother and adjunct professor, and Nina, a sophomore hoping to get into a sorority and in turn, completely turn her life around. This seemingly normal story soon becomes a horrific tale but at the core of it is the interrogation of girlhood, motherhood, and the expectations society puts on women.

i love Olivie Blake’s writing and particularly her narration style—humorous, contemplative, and just the right amount of rambling tangents. this book felt like a release of the accumulating rage and powerlessness i’ve felt being a woman in the social media age, and in the trad-wife/girlboss/fourth wave feminism age. i was so impressed by how artfully Blake portrays two sympathetic but also flawed characters in their own unreliable light that is then thrown in stark relief when we finally encounter each character from the other’s perspective.

although i’ve seen this book marketed in some places as a dark academia, i do think it exists outside that distinction. yes, it is set primarily at a university and both main characters are teaching or attending said university, but it is not really about the institution of academia or the study of intellectual pursuits. It is instead, about existing in a period of youthful beauty that will later determine your future and also about recognizing the naiveté of that youth and the way society boxes women in.

regardless of genre definitions—if the sound of cannibalism, sororities, motherhood, girlhood, and trad wives is at all interesting to you, then i think GIRL DINNER will be a great addition to your fall TBR.

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[if you missed part 1] what the heck are preorders and why is everyone yelling at you to preorder their book? [the long version]

well, let me tell you. (as an ex-publishing employee, book influencer of eight years, and current indie publisher under Bindery Books.)

the publishing industry banks on a few arbitrary metrics to understand whether a book is going to be “successful” or not. one of these metrics is the unfortunate goodreads adds. the other is preorders. (i will not at this point get into how this is ultimately a popularity contest of how buzzy you can make your book sound because no one is actually preordering based on ACTUALLY READING your book, because it’s not OUT yet! i will get back to the importance of early reviews tho 😉)

preorders are essentially what they sound like—you order a book ahead of its release because you are invested in reading it once it’s out. think of it like kickstarter, but for books! the more people who preorder the book, the more confidence there is that the book will sell. and there is nothing publishing loves more than a surefire bestseller. high preorders also signals to the sales reps and retailers that there is a lot of interest in said book and this encourages sales reps to sell more aggressively, and retailers to buy more stock (what we call sell-in), which in turn, can contribute to further sales because more stock = more eyes on the book when browsing in stores. (we’ve all been convinced by a full table of the buzzy new book at some point in our lives)

preorders also help books hit bestseller lists because the lists will count the number of copies sold during the first week PLUS all preorders together to determine the official sales number for the first week. i.e. if you have high preorders, you can more easily hit a bestseller list on the first week.

now why are preorders important? and especially for marginalized writers? well—if you’re an unknown debut author, and a BIPOC author to boot, you are probably working against all the biased forces of the industry and if you fail to scrounge up preorders you are even less likely to sell well. if you fail to sell well within the first six months of your book coming out, then stores are less likely to restock your books. and if your books fail to be restocked, then there’s no reason to print more copies, which will ultimately lead to your book simply going out of print and descending into the ether where most author careers go to die. (i am so sorry for triggering any authors reading this 😭)

but there’s hope! early reviews by influencers and booksellers and industry professionals go a long way to convincing people to pick up a book based on the QUALITY of its CONTENT. but that only works if the people reading early actually POST their reviews and express their excitement.

as a regular reader in the general public—especially one who wants to support marginalized authors—preordering books from authors you want to see more from is SO important to the longevity of their career and of the career of others LIKE them. if you don’t support BIPOC authors now, then when the next one wants to get published and can’t point to any previous successes before them, then they are going to run into a tougher time (it’s an unfortunate reality but it’s true).

aaaand if you’ve made it this far, then this is my attempt to get you to preorder the second book coming out from my imprint, Boundless Press — BURN THE SEA by Mona Tewari, which is the first in a fantasy duology following the life of one of India’s historical queens as she goes up against the colonizing snake monsters known as the Porcugi. It’s ultimately a story of incredible women who refuse to bow to their oppressors and I cannot wait for it to be out April 2026. ❤️

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