Last week I suddenly had a day where I felt like I had wings. You know, one of those days when you’re inexplicably full of energy – well, actually, I suspect it was just because I was at my office – and you end up ticking off all sorts of tasks. I was at the office, and the day before I’d found a box of fancy-looking felt-tip pens at Off-House. They were 55 yen (about 30 cents) each, so I picked out ten.

Armed with these pens, I got to work. I printed out the word “leven” and traced it. After scribbling across two whole sheets, I scanned everything in. I chose the nicest version and Photoshopped it onto my cover. I also drew a few lines, scanned those too, and stuck them on the cover. And suddenly, it was done. (Well, almost done. I might still tweak the placement.)

_{PS: Autastisch leven translates to Autastic life or Autastic living.}

Stripe was working by then, too. Well, whether the connection with my Japanese bank actually works is something I’ll only find out in a few days, when my first payout either does or doesn’t go through. But everything on my website was functioning again, so people could pay with iDeal, credit card, or PayPal. So I figured: what am I waiting for? I’d already drafted the product page days earlier, so I hit the button and bam! The pre-order (Dutch only) was live!

When I made my English and German books, I ran a Kickstarter campaign. That was fun, because it gives you a sense of urgency – a goal you have to reach. But Kickstarter also takes about 10% of the money you raise, which I found a lot less appealing. So this time I decided to run a similar pre-order campaign, but on my own website. I came up with three tiers, the same ones I used back then on Kickstarter.

Normal
For €22.99 you simply get the book, no extras. These books will ship directly from the warehouse, so there’s nothing special I can do with them.

Signed
These books are €50 and signed by me. For this, I have to physically go to the Netherlands (more on that later) with my stamps and fancy felt-tip pens, and then head to the post office to send out the whole stack. (Luckily my label printer is still at my brother’s place, haha!)

Your name in the acknowledgments
This is the most expensive tier. For €100 your name will be printed, in black and white, in the acknowledgments of every book. Three people have chosen this tier so far, and I already saw one very clever person list the name of her practice. Well played, lady, well played.

To create a bit of urgency – and because it’s just really fun – I decided to host a special online webinar/Q&A for the first 100 people who pre-order. I’d had this idea for a while, but first I needed to install a plugin that automatically adds the webinar to your shopping cart… as long as there are spots left. I also had to make sure you can only buy the webinar if you’re also pre-ordering the book. (You can simply remove the webinar from your cart if you don’t want it – please do, so someone else can take your spot!) The webinar will take place on 6 April 2026 at 20:00. Participants will receive the link and more details later.

Since I was already in nerd-mode, I also installed a little tipping button. Anyone who pre-orders a book (or buys anything else) now gets the option to add a tip. And you’re using it a lot, so this turned out to be an excellent idea!

So far I’ve received 77 pre-orders, which means there are 33 webinar spots left. My original goal was to reach 100 pre-orders, but I think I’ll be raising that goal soon. The more pre-orders, the better, since it helps me estimate how many copies I should print in the first batch.

I’d love it if you could share my Instagram post about the pre-order. And I’m also curious whether you have any good ideas to help promote this book even further. Giveaways, podcasts, interviews…? Who should I talk to, and what should I do to get this book in front of as many autistic people as possible? (I do have someone handling marketing and press releases, of course, but all suggestions are welcome!)

And yes, I’m coming to the Netherlands! This was absolutely necessary, with everything I need to do for the new book. But this time I’m staying for quite a while: six weeks! I’ll be there from 3 March through 14 April, and during those six weeks I’ll be able to do interviews, give talks, host a launch event (yes, we’re doing that!), do photoshoots, and of course see all my lovely friends and family.

I’ve already received my first request for a talk, but I’d love to do many more. So if you work at an organisation that focuses on workplace inclusivity, a library, a parent support group, or anything along those lines, think of me! And if you’d like to interview me or have me on your podcast, radio show, or TV programme, I’d love to hear from you. You can email me at boeken@toeps.nl.

I still need to plan my photoshoot days – I’ll post more about that later – but if you want to book me for an individual session, feel free to email me as well. In that case you can use fotografie@toeps.nl.

Because I find it quite overstimulating to stay with friends or family for the entire six weeks (and I’m sure the feeling is mutual, haha), and because it’s incredibly impractical to drag a suitcase and a box of books from one place to the next, I’m still looking for a place to stay during that period. I’m considering something like Holland2Stay, but if you happen to be travelling the world, have an empty place (preferably somewhere near public transport), or know of something suitable, let me know!

As for the book itself: I’m still very much in the middle of writing it. Right now it’s like an unfinished IKEA piece. There are planks and screws everywhere, and you can sort of see what it’s going to be, and the parts are all there, but how exactly everything is supposed to fit together… that’s still a work in progress.

Every now and then I post a question on Instagram or Facebook, and I get so much useful feedback that I now have an entire spreadsheet full of it. I already know I’m going to ask you for input several more times – for example about friendships, relationships, and hobbies. I won’t be able to include everyone’s answers in the book, but that doesn’t mean your input serves no purpose. Every message can give me ideas, point me toward a problem I’d overlooked, or offer a reality check. Truly, your feedback is invaluable.