Be There: A Novel

Why let events out of your control hold you back, when you can grab a surfboard and learn to ride the waves?

When Sydney and her fiancé break up, she has two choices: Stay in San Francisco as a single in the same-old routine, or try the experience of being a virtual nomad and working remotely. Since her ex was never very supportive of her startup or her learning to surf, she decides to go remote for a few months and do both.

In Bali, Sydney attends surf camp, where she learns to face her fear. Ancient temples, wild waves and island life is a dream, until she’s injured.

In Barcelona, she attends a boot camp for female entrepreneurs, which emboldens her. She learns the power of conversation and how to talk your way to success.

In Barbados, it all comes together as Sydney puts her surfing skills to test while raising investor funds for her company. She gets back in the water, joins a group of women waveriders and has fun working hard and playing hard.

What Sydney learns by Being There is success on your own terms is possible. A lot of people don’t let themselves be free. It’s important to know what it feels like to feel free. Freedom cracks everything open, and reveals all the possibilities.

New experiences optimize her work and these adventures break all the fear barriers. Traveling broadly, starting her own business, and extreme sport bring Sydney to the next stage of life in style. In the post-pandemic world, more options are available than ever before. Why not take advantage of them?

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The Be There eBook is AVAILABLE NOW at IntheStacksPublishing.com, Amazon, Apple Books, GooglePlay and more.

ADVANCE READER COPIES available at the In the Stacks Publishing online bookstore just before the release party in Honolulu on April 13, 2024. 180 ARCs will be available ahead of the September 17, 2024 publication date, as part of Be There Surfing Vol. 2 Collection. RSVP for launch parties in New York, San Francisco and Encinitas this summer. Join us for the virtual launch in August, ahead of the novel’s September 24 publication date, with an online event on September 30, where Michelle will be reading from the book. Launch parties will follow in October, November and December, to be announced.

The Be There Surfing Vol. 1 Collection is still available. Owners of Be There digital collectibles get early access to the novel, including an advance copy of the eBook, exclusive updates, excerpt captions to their surfing collectible written by Michelle, a discount code for Surfchique products, and exclusive perks such as being written into the book or having a character named after you, with an excerpt of the personalized section provided, a signed copy of the paperback, and one lucky digital collectible owner gets a private surf session with Michelle. Plus, unlock the Storified App! You’ll get special early access to the Storified app, so you, too, can create interactive stories.

View the Be There Surfing Vol. 1 Collection

About Michelle

Michelle Zaffino is founder of the book discovery product MyLibrarian, whose app and book club service launched in 2020. The author of six books, Michelle realized that whether your book is indie or traditionally published, book discovery is broken, so she learned to code in front-end web development bootcamp, in order to build products to fix it. MyLibrarian / In the Stacks is our way of sharing good books with the readers who love them. The Librarian Brain data set was born out of our love for metadata and aims to ensure diversity and inclusion in book publishing artificial intelligence. When she isn’t working remotely as a virtual nomad, you can find Michelle at a coworking space or coffee shop in San Francisco, where she’s lived for 15+ years. Michelle is co-Executive Director of SheFundraises, a fundraising platform and community for founders, and a passionate digital collectible and freedom tech enthusiast.

Opening Date
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