""I'm a person who prefers to underpromise and then, hopefully, overdeliver," author SenLinYu tells me on a sunny June afternoon. Seven years ago, when Sen was a stay-at-home parent composing a sprawling, Harry Potter-inspired epic on their phone, keeping expectations low was easy. But now, millions of downloads, dozens of language translations, a two-book deal with a major publisher, and tens of thousands of preorders later, it's all but impossible."
"We're on the 16th floor of Penguin Random House, chatting in a corner office with a glamorous skyline view. It's the day before Sen's sold-out event at Manhattan's legendary Strand bookstore, where 170 tearful fans will gather to celebrate Alchemised, the 1,040-page dark fantasy novel that the attendees haven't yet read, and that won't be released for three more months, on Sept. 23."
SenLinYu began as a stay-at-home parent composing a sprawling, Harry Potter–inspired epic on a phone. The original serialized fanfiction accumulated millions of downloads, nearly 400,000 words in the iteration 'Manacled', and widespread online adulation. Sen reworked the story into Alchemised, a 1,040-page dark fantasy with translations, a two-book deal, and tens of thousands of preorders. Sen preserved anonymity via a pen name while engaging in promotional events including a Penguin Random House interview and a sold-out Strand bookstore event where 170 fans gathered. Promotional activities have pushed Sen from private anonymity into intense public visibility and fan devotion.
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