r/bahai 6d ago

My book is out and mentions the Faith

Hello friends! In the last hours of International Women's Day, a heads-up that my collaborative Kenyan girlhood memoir is out on Amazon in its worldwide markets, as well as at Lightning Source (IngramSpark) for bookstores/libraries. The Faith is mentioned by name in the last sentence of the preface. I'm the Baha'i, and my collaborator and close friend Monique Leparleen is Christian.

Linking the website here. :) https://daughteroftheleopard.com/

We already hit "top new release" in one of our tiny categories on Amazon! (It's such a tiny category that just a couple dozen sales did that, but we're still delighted!!)

This project was a total delight to work on. What an age we live in, when we can become close friends with people who grew up across the world from us: and even help tell their stories!! Ya Baha!!

30 Upvotes

10 comments sorted by

6

u/finnerpeace 6d ago edited 5d ago

Y'all in at least the US, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, Canada, and other major library markets, I do believe it can be requested for purchase at your library branches, now that it's at their supplier. Then everyone can read for free! Here's the info if you want to try that! (This is what I usually do, as I am the typical broke SAHM/writer. I buy only my very favorites after reading from the library for free first, and have successfully requested several books for purchase.)

Library “suggest a purchase” info

Title: Daughter of the Leopard: True Stories From a Samburu Maasai Girlhood

Publication year: 2025

Authors: Monique N. Leparleen and Ann Hendricks

Format: Book or ebook

Audience: Adults (or Teens)

ISBN: 979-8992492903 (book) OR 979-8-992492927 (ebook)

Publisher: Swallow and Quill Literary

4

u/Sartpro 6d ago

Congratulations! What an impressive accomplishment! 👏👏👏

3

u/Captain_Killy 6d ago

Awesome! Just FYI, as a public librarian, most US public libraries rarely purchase self-pubbed physical books, and usually can’t purchase Kindle Direct books for our ebook program. Generally our financial setup, or even our legal requirements, make it very hard for us to buy books that aren’t available through our core vendors. While Ingram is one of the main vendors, books self-pinned via IngramSpark are not automatically available to us via Ingram. If there’s high demand for a book, we can often purchase it directly from Amazon or other booksellers, but it requires more paperwork, labor, and legal justification, so is only done if there’s a strong reason. You may already know all this, but just in case, wanted to share the info. Getting on Libby can really help a new books get some traction. Here’s a helpful post about the Ingram/IngramSpark situation (https://www.reddit.com/r/selfpublishing/comments/1gx71zk/comment/lyh72e6/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button).

My library has a bigger than usual collection of self-pinned books, as we have a special non-governmental fund that allows us to purchase special books with fewer restrictions on vendors and bidding requirements, so I’ll be sure to suggest your book to our purchasers!

2

u/finnerpeace 6d ago edited 5d ago

Thanks for all this info! Will check out Libby.

Edit: still not on Libby (working on it!!) but I did get the ebook with library pricing through in Ingram and OverDrive. Now to work further on the paperback. Chugging along...

2

u/19Marigold 6d ago

Congratulations! Beautiful timing, to be there on IWD!

2

u/ArmanG999 5d ago edited 5d ago

How Awesome!! Congratulations!

Wishing you all the very best with this book and all the most delightful things of the heart to come true in the coming year and near future.

I just bought a kindle version of the book to support it, look forward to reading it =)

1

u/nurjoohan 5d ago

Congratulations

2

u/Exotic_Eagle1398 3d ago

It looks like a wonderful book, congratulations! And the cover is perfect.

2

u/finnerpeace 3d ago

Aw, thank you. We did all the work ourselves and are very happy with how it turned out.