How to Build a Robot (Boyfriend) is the debut novel by journalist and playwright Liz Shannon Miller, available now for pre-order on Amazon.
Shy coder Emma and irrepressible engineer Marti are brilliant graduate students who are less brilliant with romance. When Marti suggests combining their work to create the ideal artificial lover, Emma has… doubts. But when the artificial personality she’s developed merges with Marti’s robotics work, the singular entity known as Bob is born. Bob could change everything not just for Emma and Marti’s love lives, but for science — as long as a skeevy techbro billionaire doesn’t ruin everything…
All About How to Build a Robot (Boyfriend): A FAQ
Hello! In December 2013, I started writing a novel about two best friends with a hankering for some weird science. Thirteen years and nine drafts later, I’m now self-publishing How to Build a Robot (Boyfriend), and I’d be pleased as punch if you read it.
Self-publishing? Why?
In some ways, the answer to this question is “because I can.” I’ve been interested in self-publishing for years, and already have three ebooks listed on Amazon and other outlets compiling the best of Liz Tells Frank What Happened In…, my off-and-on blog project. It’s certainly not a glamorous pursuit, and the part of me that once coveted one of those Publishers Weekly screenshots of a sale announcement is a little bummed about this. But the rest of me — like, a good 98% of me — is very excited to be putting this book out there, on my own terms.
So what’s the strategy?
How to Build a Robot (Boyfriend) will go on sale at Amazon — and be available on Kindle Unlimited — starting September 1st, 2026. Because of Amazon’s very specific rules about self-publishing, it will be exclusive to Amazon for at least 90 days. At some point, it will no longer be available on Kindle Unlimited, but will be available on every independent platform to which I can publish.
Hey Liz, do you feel a little weird about engaging with the Amazon monolith, considering ::waves at the world::?
Absolutely not. Amazon is a good and important company and Jeff Bezos is a beautiful man inside and out. His lips don’t look weird at all.
Oh of course, no one would ever imply otherwise.
Exactly.
So, you’ve checked this book for typos, right?
Oh, I’ve gone a step further than that: I’m thrilled to have worked with award-winning professional editor Tara Avery to make sure the published version of this book is as clean and professional as possible. Paying Tara is the biggest expense involved with this project, but in my eyes an essential one.
Did you consider doing a Kickstarter to cover the costs of the editing and so forth?
I sure did! Then I realized that because this really isn’t too expensive an endeavor, I would have felt uncomfortable asking for more than $5 a pledge — which was about the amount of money I was planning to charge for the book once it was on sale. So I figured, what the hell, in a way this is the Kickstarter campaign. Except it’s a whole lot simpler: You pay Amazon (or a future non-Amazon publisher) money, you get a book, I get some percentage of what you paid Amazon (or a future non-Amazon publisher), and that money goes towards helping me break even.
Do you actually think you’ll break even?
My dear friend/strategy consultant Megan Westerby asked me during a very serious business lunch (Benihana!) what my goals for this adventure were. And I told her they were pretty simple: Making my money back would be nice. But what genuinely matters the most to me is getting this book out of the figurative drawer and into the hands of people who will enjoy reading it. (At least, I hope they will.)
Hey, that cover is amazing!
Why thank you! Well, really, thank my friend Asa Tait, who is not just a wonderful designer but a very talented writer as well. (We also just started a podcast together with our friend Jesse Vigil, if you want to listen to three pals rant about movie franchises — and c’mon, you do want that.)
Is this book available on NetGalley?
The answer is now yes! (Until Sept. 18th, 2026, that is.) And unless I look at your profile and you seem like a real jerk, I’ll very likely approve you for a copy. At the end of the day, I’m just excited for people to read this book.
Anything else you want to mention?
Just that this has been a massive labor of love for so many years, and I owe so many people so many thanks just for getting to this point. (I list out as many as I can remember in the acknowledgements, which are maybe a little long but hell, you only self-publish your debut novel once.)
Maybe this is all a little silly, considering the tremendous weight of world events, but stories have always gotten me through hard times. My hope, as cheesy as it may be, is that a tale of female friendship (with a few sexy bits) might do the same for others.
liz shannon miller 