Hot Lit Summer: Books, Babes, and Audiobooks That Slap
July Edition: We’re loud, proud, and packing tote bags.
☀️ Hot Ink, Hotter Days ☀️
It’s officially summer in Portland, and wow—our sun-deprived skin is rejoicing. While the rest of the city is basking in 72-degree bliss, we’re deep in the publishing trenches. Team Unsolicited is hustling to wrap the 2025 Year of Womxn lineup (spoiler: it slaps), and we’re cooking up the 2026 catalog like it’s a literary potluck—and you’re all invited.
Oh, and festivals? Yeah, we’re gonna be everywhere. But let’s not bury the lede...
📢 STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING: WE’RE GOING TO AWP 2026 📢
Thanks to our glorious, book-loving donors (we’d tattoo your names on our arms if we had space), Unsolicited Press is officially headed to AWP 2026 in Baltimore! We’re bringing the heat:
The greatest hits from 2023–2025
All the hot-off-the-press 2026 bangers
And yes, that literary weirdness you’ve come to love.
Come see us IRL and grab books by:
Douglas Cole, Morgan Waites, Mick Bennett, Gary M. Almeter, Irshad Abdal-Haqq, Patricia Q. Bidar, Mari Matthias, David Feela, Yvonne Osborne, Terry Tierney, Anne Leigh Parrish… (we’d list more, but this isn’t a CVS receipt).
📅 Dates: March 4–7, 2026
📍 Location: Baltimore, baby
🎒 Required: Tote bags, Gary, curiosity, maybe snacks
💥 Buy a Book, Get a Year of Us—Free.
Yep, you read that right. From now until July 31, every single reader who buys a book from our catalog—any book—will get an automatic upgrade to our paid Substack subscription (a $50 value) for free.
That means:
📬 Early access to new releases
🧠 Exclusive behind-the-scenes content
🔥 Spicy essays, hot takes, and sneak peeks
📚 Bonus downloads and reader freebies all year long
How to claim it?
You don’t have to lift a finger. Just order a book directly from our site between now and the end of July, and we’ll handle the rest. No code. No catch. Just a full year of Unsolicited Press coming straight to your inbox like the literary treat it is.
👉 So go on—treat yourself. You get a book and the best seat in the house.
p.s. if you’re already a paid member, go buy a book…we will extend your sub a year for free!
🎧 NEW AUDIOBOOKS JUST DROPPED 🎧
Got ears? Good. Because we just released a killer lineup of audiobooks and you’re gonna want to binge-listen.
🔥 MOUTH by Kerry Donoghue
A collection of hungry, biting stories about our American appetite—for food, for love, for something more.
🎧 Sink your teeth in
♟ ROOK by Stephen Eoannou
Al Nussbaum: chess nerd by day, criminal mastermind by night. Based on a wildly true story.
🎧 Check it out
💘 THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE AND OTHER STORIES by Nancy Christie
All the messy, gut-wrenching, gorgeous forms of love—from family to lovers to the ones who ghosted you.
🎧 Feel the feels
🌫 LINES by Sung J. Woo
Two timelines. Two tangled souls. One love story navigating the fog of what-ifs.
🎧 Listen in
🐜 BUGS by CJ Friedman
The bugs are watching. And they’ve had enough of humanity’s nonsense. Sci-fi weirdness at its finest.
🎧 Bug out here
💥 Pro Tip: Want ‘em all? Snag a free 3-month Audible trial and go wild. Click here and thank us later.
🎧 "Audiobook & Chill" Giveaway
You reading something delicious from Unsolicited Press this summer? Show it off—and win big.
How it works:
Post a pic of your current Unsolicited Press read on Instagram, Facebook, or Threads and tag us @unsolicitedp + use the hashtag #unsolicitedpress. That’s it. You’re in the running to win some seriously good ear candy.
What you’ll win:
One lucky lit-lover will score their pick of three freshly dropped audiobooks from our catalog plus a surprise bonus ebook, because we’re feeling generous (and chaotic).
Bonus entry? You got it.
If you’re reading this on Substack, congrats—you’re already one step closer to winning. All subscribers get an automatic extra entry. We love a shortcut.
📅 Deadline to enter: July 31
🎉 Winner announced: August 1
📚 Ready, set, post. Let’s get loud about books.
💻 SMASHWORDS SALE = BOOK BONANZA
It’s the Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale and guess what? Our entire ebook catalog is on sale all of July.
Load up your digital shelves with unforgettable reads at sweet, sweet prices.
💔 IN MEMORY: ROBERT KNOX (1947–2024)
We’re heartbroken to share the loss of Robert (Bob) Congreve Knox—poet, truth-teller, and beloved member of our literary family.
Bob’s poetry collection Cocktails in the Wild is everything he was: bold, insightful, and a little wild around the edges. It’s a book that sees beauty in the ordinary and celebrates the chaos of life.
To honor Bob’s legacy, 100% of future proceeds from Cocktails in the Wild will be donated to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Let’s keep his voice alive and give back while we do it.
💚 Get the book, honor a legend
☀️ What’s Coming for You in July:
– Three new books that’ll punch you in the feelings
– More audiobooks dropping like heatwaves
– An amazing opportunity for all paid substack subscribers (hint: writers are going to want it!)
Until then: drink water, read weird books, and keep being the magical human you are.
With chaotic love,
The Unsolicited Press Team
Publishing the strange, the urgent, and the unignorable.