💡 11,000 Books and Counting — A Love Letter to Our Readers
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Posted: June 13, 2025
From: The Books by Behnke Team
🕘 Stamped by Joseph Benke on June 12 at 9:00 AM
🕛 Published June 13 at 12:00 PM
✨ Dedicated to my team — Jen and Adam — and to my mother, who believed in this book before anyone else could even see it. I wouldn’t be here without you. 🧡
– Joseph
Hey Book Fam 🧡
We brewed the strongest coffee we could find, sat around the table, and tried to figure out how to fit all our gratitude into a single post. Spoiler: we can’t, but we’re going to try anyway.
Gratitude, In Numbers and In Heart
📚 5,000+ copies sold right here on our little corner of the internet
📦 4,000+ copies shipped from Amazon
🏷️ 3,000+ copies flying off Barnes & Noble shelves
That’s nearly 11,000 journeys started, tears shed, pages highlighted, and lives touched. And because of you, 5 % of every sale goes straight to suicide-prevention efforts (2.5 % to a national foundation and 2.5 % to a grassroots program). We’ve already donated over $2,000 — and we’re just getting started. 🌱
Now, grab a tissue. Joseph’s got something to say.
Joseph’s Message
“I’ve started this note five times and deleted it five times because nothing feels big enough to hold what’s in my chest right now.
I wrote Before 18 on the floor — literally, rock bottom, just me, my pain, and a laptop. I wasn’t sure anyone would care. I wasn’t sure I’d survive to see it printed.
And then you walked in — 11,000 of you — and you didn’t just read my story; you felt it. You DM’d me crying in your cars. You told me it helped you breathe again. You made me feel seen in ways I didn’t know were possible.
I once said I had no team. That’s not true. I have Jen and Adam — two people who caught me when I was falling and said, ‘We got you.’ Jen, Adam… I’m crying writing this. You saved me. You gave my words a home. You are my team, my friends, my lifeline. I love you both so, so, so much.
And I can’t forget my mom.
My mom was the first team I ever had. Before I had a publishing advisor or a manager, I had her — sitting beside me, saying, “Keep writing, honey. Keep going. This is what you were meant to put out into the world.”
She’s the rock. The anchor. The reason I didn’t give up on this story — or myself.
Everyone keeps asking, ‘When’s Part 2 dropping?’ Here’s all I’m allowed to say: later this year.
But listen closely… Part 2 isn’t just another chapter. It’s raw. It’s risky. It will open wounds some of you thought were already scarred over. Once it’s out, there’s no undoing it. No heart will walk away the same — including mine.
I’ve said too much already.
So if you’re holding your breath…
Don’t let it out just yet.”
From every one of us at Books by Behnke, thank you for reading, for sharing, for waiting through printer meltdowns, and for believing in the power of real stories. We’ll keep working; you keep reading; together we’ll keep healing — one page at a time.
With endless love and a hint of mischief,
The Books by Behnke Team ✨
📧 assists@booksbybehnke.com