Can I tell you a story?
Get the Counterweights audiobook for free, and I'll tell you a bunch!
Last month, I boarded a train with my trusty travel sidekick, Cal, and we headed to our favorite city - Chicago. We had just 36 hours, but we packed it in. Delicious food, miles of walking, our favorite bakery, and the best Goodwill known to humankind.
In between all of that, I wedged myself into a tiny, soundproof booth in the cutest downtown brownstone and read every word of Counterweights into a microphone, just for you.
If you pre-order Counterweights, you get the audiobook (read by yours truly) FOR FREE.
You’ll also get a few other treats - the Madness + Miracle guide for beginning your personal counterweights practice and downloads of the cover art (hang it in your home, load it as a phone screen, or both!)
It might seem pointless to pre-order when you can just wait and grab the book after it’s released. I used to feel the same way - until I got a front-row seat to how helpful pre-orders are for authors.
They ensure the books are fully stocked so they don’t run out on release week.
They help with visibility across book-selling platforms.
It helps books hit publishing lists1.
This is why we authors do our very best to entice you. ;)
I wrote Counterweights because I was perpetually weighed down by the too-muchness of this world.
Political mayhem. Everyone’s fighting. The news is bleak. Personal stuff. (Fun fact, I was threated with a lawsuit by an extremely powerful institution as I was writing the book and spent five harrowing days barely able to eat!)
I had to find a way to hold on to the goodness that still arrives daily. I desperately needed to figure out how to carry the complex abundance - both the difficult stuff that I cannot control, and the beauty that keeps me in love with this one, precious life I’ve been given.
I wrote Counterweights to help us stay upright in a world that threatens to pull us under.
It’s not about toxic positivity or simply “counting our blessings.” It’s about devoting honest attention to both the bad and the good.
We cannot counter what we don’t weigh.
I’ll have more to say about Counterweights. (Stay tuned next week for an announcement about my first-ever book tour!) As always, as subscribers to The Soup, you’ll be the first to know.
Thank you for supporting me and this book of my heart. It is Shannan Martin on the page - the things I love and care about most. It’s heavy and light. It will make you cry2 and I promise, it will make you laugh. It’s unlike anything I’ve written before (and it’s the type of writing I do best - gritty, faithy, fun, and packed with stories from my life and work.) You will find yourself in my words.
If you’re able to pre-order the book today, it would mean the world to me. Choose your favorite retailer here and fill out the form to redeem your freebies!3
(If you’ve already pre-ordered, just find your order number and plug it in. It’s simple, promise.4)
See you back here next week to find out if I (along with some of your other favorites) are coming your way this spring!
love,
Shannan
My second book hit the Publisher’s Weekly bestsellers list which is a huge win! Hitting a list is great publicity and helps readers - and even media outlets - discover the book. And in most cases, it relies on pre-orders.
Not many people have read it yet (that will change soon! stay tuned!) but I received personal texts from two editors and a personal friend saying it made them cry tears of tenderness and hope. The Gen Z audio engineer told me it made her cry multiple times as I read it and added, “I think people who aren’t religious at all will still really want to read this.”
The audiobook and guide will be emailed to you on launch day but they’re only available to those who pre-order. Add the dreamy cover art to your phone today as a reminder to keep looking for your counterweights.
Reminder: when you pre-order, you don’t actually pay until it ships. In the best case scenario, you sort of forget and then, voila! a present from your February self arrives in March.
Love your heart so much, Shannan! And I so appreciate the words you share with us. I feel less alone, and more hopeful. Cannot wait for your tour and to get my copy of Counterweights.
I'm so glad we're in the same corner!