Let’s recap ‘soft launch’ September, and what the next step means for The Book Shelf

Social media, for better or worse, often seems to cast the widest net in terms of connecting to people. While I am grateful to have this at my disposal (and hopefully not looking too Josie-Grossie-going-back-to-high-school out of place as I sometimes feel when it takes 2 hours to create, edit and post a video!) I am LOVING the opportunity to give The Book Shelf a personal voice through this Thursday blog space. A space that has already allowed me to share myself.

‘Making reading personal’ is the motto of The Book Shelf for an authentic reason; the utter magic that the written word evokes cannot be anything other than personal. Two people can read the same book and will never feel, or take from it, exactly the same thing.

While I cannot go on a physical reading journey with each and every one of you, I can do my absolute best at evoking meaning through a written word connection via social media and this precious blog space.

Here at The Book Shelf, our connection is personal, too.

I felt this overwhelmingly through September’s ‘soft launch’ — a phrase which initially scared me. I am not a perfectionist (which, if I was, would be downright comical, because the notion of perfection is both impossible and a nonstop moving target) but I do love the feeling of having all my ducks in a row, being the notion of reliable and sturdy. For some foolish reason, I worried that a soft launch would be the opposite of this.

By allowing myself to re-define a soft launch as pure focus on the heart and mission of The Book Shelf, to be open to learning and tackling new things that arise with starting a business, to hear feedback and be useful with it — September became a grand success to me without the added bonus of book bundle orders. (Which came and were welcomed with utter joy.)

September also connected me with new people over the purpose of what I am creating through The Book Shelf; restrengthened a tether to many kind humans who knew me in another life. And the most magical of all? Witnessing the already wonderful people in my life become total hype men and women in my new season of creating this beautiful business.

So what does all this reflecting mean for The Book Shelf?

It means that I am STILL going to connect with you through not just this blog and the social media I referenced above — but through every carefully selected book title that you will find on this website . . .

. . . which has now expanded to include TEEN and ADULT selections.

. . . which has now ’re-homed’ all book bundles in one streamlined space on the site.

. . . which now has the audience distinction right in every product title for easier filtering (Youth/ Middle grade/ Teen/ Adult).

Thank you for every view on a post, every read of a new blog post, every call of kindness and support and every book ordered and read.

Thank you for making what I do here personal.