Frequently Asked Questions
If I live in St. Louis, where can I pick up the book in person?
If you pre-purchase a book online through our website, you can choose to pick up your copy at STL Style House and we’ll notify you once it’s ready. If you pre-purchase through a bookstore or local retailer, you can pick it up there or have it shipped. Once we place the order for the first print run, we’ll have a limited number of extra copies for bookstores and local retailers to sell in their stores too.
Why do you need to make a book?
Our stories typically only get a day of playtime on social media before the next one goes up, but the messages and lessons in them are still so relevant. That’s why we hope to further honor and elevate the stories and the people who tell them. By taking the content offline and accessing a wider audience who can experience everything in person, our hope is to:
Give the gift of reflection that takes place when you hold and read a book
Offer something concrete and tangible with unique value, separate from only sharing these stories on social media
Generate another avenue to talk about themes addressed in these stories specific to STL
Memorialize and permanently share the powerful points of view we’ve heard from the people who know St. Louis best
I’d like a copy of the book, but I can’t afford it.
Thanks to a grant from the Arts and Education Council of St. Louis, we’ll be donating one copy of the HOSTL book to all St. Louis area libraries in the city and county. If you’d like more books in the library system, help us make this possible by requesting them from your local library too.
I have a reading disability or visual impairment; how can I access the book?
We welcome opportunities to make the HOSTL book accessible to more people. If you have suggestions for how to produce and distribute this publication to help a wider audience enjoy it, contact us by sending an email to humansofstl@gmail.com.
How can I get a copy if I’m featured in the book?
This publication wouldn’t be possible without you! As a thank you for sharing your story, we’re giving every human featured in the book a complimentary copy. If we weren’t able to get in touch with you already to get a model release signed and get your updated contact information, please send us an email at humansofstl@gmail.com or private message us on any of our social media channels.
Is there going to be a Humans of St. Louis book tour?
We are looking forward to sharing all the behind-the-scenes of how and why this book came to be! If you’d like to invite HOSTL for a speaking engagement and offer book copies to the audience, please get in touch with us at humansofstl@gmail.com or over our social media channels with information about dates, times, and your specific ask.
Are you doing a follow-up book to the first one?
Whew! We’ve certainly got the stories. First, let’s see how this one goes. And if you’d like to help sponsor volume II, let us know.
I can see all of the HOSTL posts for free online. Why should I buy a book?
In our digitally-based world, it’s easy to forget the impact that a real, physical photo can have. We want to share the stories we’ve gathered of a St. Louis that is both familiar and unknown — in a book, in your library, to give as a gift to your friend or your loved one who moved away from St. Louis 10 years ago, or so you can put a bookmark in that one story that made you laugh, weep, or just feel a little closer to home. We’re memorializing Humans of St. Louis in a tangible record that can be a gift to us all.
Do you ship outside the US?
Yes, we do! The prices will be higher for S&H, and those should be reflected in your order during checkout. But if you encounter a problem, e-mail us at humansofstl@gmail.com and we’ll be able to ship the book anywhere.
Can I purchase a copy at a local bookstore?
Yes, once the book is printed and distributed, book copies will be available at several independent bookstores and retail shops in the St. Louis region. Stores are only reserving so many, so you can always ask them to purchase more or you can purchase directly through the Humans of St. Louis website here so the majority of proceeds continue to fund HOSTL as a nonprofit.
When will I get my book?
It’s been quite the process to put this book together from choosing the stories, ordering them, getting permissions, finding the right team of people to build the thing, coordinating all our schedules, and then editing, pre-marketing, printing, and distributing. We finished designing the entire book and hope to have the final product printed by Summer 2022. We’ve been providing quarterly updates through the HOSTL Kickstarter page and through our digital newsletters. The closer we get to print, we’ll be sure to also update the audience and backers on all of our social media sites too. In the meantime, you can sign up for our newsletter here.
Something went wrong with my order. Who do I contact?
Please email humansofstl@gmail.com.
Will I be able to buy this book after the pre-ordering is complete?
Definitely! Once the book is printed, HOSTL will have a limited amount of copies to still sell directly through our website. Books will also be available in St. Louis bookstores and retail shops. But if you’d like to guarantee that you’re one of the first to get your copy as soon as the book is printed, pre-purchasing is recommended to make sure you reserve it. If the first print run is successful and enough books are still being ordered, we’d LOVE to do additional print runs in the future.
Who’s making money off of the book?
Humans of St. Louis is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which exists to tell the stories of people in St. Louis. HOSTL has one lead storyteller, a handful of team storytellers, a volunteer board, and a volunteer editing team. While working to see the mission of storytelling grow in the St. Louis region, the organizational costs of running HOSTL are supported by money raised through print sales, presentations, facilitations, and commissioned storytelling work.
The money raised in the Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for the book helped cover a portion of the project’s writing, design, editing, marketing, printing, and distribution. Everyone in the book will receive a complimentary copy. In addition, each month in the first year once the book is printed and available, we’ll be donating a portion of new book sales to places that address the type of needs we’ve often seen from our featured humans who experience circumstances like food insecurity, homelessness, and lack of healthcare.
The first organization we’ll be donating to is PotBangerz, a St. Louis based 501(c)(3) family of community leaders who fight injustice by uplifting the community, meeting nutritional needs, helping unhoused families navigate their way to permanent housing, and advocating for them when they need it the most. PotBangerz is run by Mama Cat, who we had the fortune to interview and makes a cameo in the book.
More to come!
Who made the video?
We are lucky to have worked with filmmaker and drone videographer, Jon Alexander and Justin Barr.
Who’s making the book?
This book is 100% made in St. Louis! See our team for introductions to the local talent designing, fundraising, writing, editing, and championing this big and beautiful St. Louis project. It’s also funded in part from 445 backers who pledged to the HOSTL Kickstarter campaign in July 2018. The contributors are recognized in the acknowledgment section on our website. Those who donated at a certain level or higher are also recognized in print on one of our favorite pages at the end book.
If you’re keeping this all local, is the printer in St. Louis?
Self-publishing a book is an expensive process. In order to maximize the possibility of getting this book made and keep costs under what we can raise money for, we looked for the closest (and also best) printer we could find, who is also in alignment with the work we do. Originally, we planned to print with Versa Press, in East Peoria, Illinois — about three hours northeast of St. Louis. They would have delivered a great product at a price within our budget. However, with supply chain issues and paper shortages during the pandemic, we had to look for another printer. Luckily, we found Callawind Book Publishing in Montreal to help us navigate our self-publishing process in China to be professional, high-quality, and successful.
What if I want to donate something that’s not a reward level?
If you’re interested in making a donation specifically towards the book project, your contribution will help:
Print, bind, ship, and deliver it
Gift complimentary copies to subjects in the book
Purchase copies for companies, organizations, and schools
Donations can be made here, or please contact us at humansofstl@gmail.com.
How else can I help support the book project?
Tell your friends and loved ones about HOSTL’s storytelling, share the Humans of St. Louis social media pages, or share our website with your network. You can invite HOSTL to give a speaking presentation to your school or business, donate to the non-profit, or purchase framed prints to display HOSTL stories as an exhibition around town. We also have a volunteer sign-up if you’d like to help the team once the book is ready to deliver to local retailers. We’ll definitely need the extra help!