UPDATE: Advance copies are no longer available.

You can now purchase an advance copy of Benjamin Weatherby’s Practical Bestiary!

This first edition is a hardcover and costs $18.41 (plus tax and shipping).

Please know that I’ve made the book as affordable as possible — that price is the exact cost of producing the book via Blurb, with absolutely zero profit to me. The way I see it, everyone who reads it and gives me feedback is doing me a favor; I don’t want to make money off this until after I get it published for real.

So, what do I want from you in exchange for your hard-earned cash? An excellent question.

1. Enjoyment

That’s it, really. I’ve put a lot of work into this book, and I think it’s really good. I trust that you’ll be able to get $18.41 of pleasure out of it. So if you buy a copy and never do anything more than smile once or twice while reading it, that’s enough for me.

2. Feedback

I want to know what you think, good and bad. What worked? What didn’t? The goal of opening this up to a wide audience is to gather input and make revisions before I bring a finished product to a publisher. Please contact me to let me know what you think. I want to hear it all.

3. Participation

The bestiary has some audience participation built right into its pages. I’d love to see what you do with the illustrations! Draw away, then snap photos on your smartphone and submit them on the website.

4. Grace

To be clear, I consider this an uncorrected galley of the book, and I’m making it available (warts and all) so I can gather feedback. As I was reading to Jack, I found so many typos that I’m downright embarrassed about it. Please let me know what you find, so long as you don’t rub them in my face.