#IndieBooksLoveFest-Update!

Hello!

Welcome to the latest update on what I hope will be a year long ,independent book publishers Love Fest.

Much to my surprise, shock and amazement,10 WONDERFUL and highly enthusiastic publishers have thrown their hats into the ring, and have agreed to let me basically start a ball rolling, and hopefully shine a spotlight on the world of Indie Publishers.

What is an independent publisher?

An independent book publishing company is one that is not part of a multinational corporation, they operate independently of a set specific sales model and often specialise in genres such as poetry,niche markets such a limited editions or magazines.

This gives both the writers and publishers creative freedom ,but with this comes a certain lack of visibilty on shelves of bookshops and supermarker shelves. Unless it is a ‘breakout’ novel, for example the case of JK Rowling whose first Harry Potter was published by Bloomsbury

Or Galley Beggar Press whose book, ‘Ducks, Newburypoort’ has quite rightfully been nominated for this year’s Booker Longlist-Congratulations Lucy Ellmann!

It tends to rely on a dedicated campaign of social engagement, use of bookbloggers, reviewers to boost sales.

Having a smaller budget for publicity campaigns means indies need YOU.

They need the ripple effect, to have you say on your social media platforms ‘I BOUGHT THIS BOOK AND LOVED IT.’

Twitter especially is great for spreading the word, linking to publishers, authors and reviews

Nothing spurs someone on like a reader reaching out and saying,’I LOVED THIS BOOK!’

Reviews and visibility matter, below is a list of some of the UK based small publishers currently printing wonderful books today, but scratch the surface and you will find that even in your locality ,there are possibly a couple on your very doorstep.

It’s absolutely not a case of snobbery or elitisim in saying ‘Try this for size,’ this is not a rejection of ‘The Big Five’, this is just a book blogger’s way of saying, try something different.

In many MANY cases, the books the same price as the books you would buy in a shop.

Often they are much less.

At the moment, if you check Fahrenheit Press, their ebooks are less than a cup of coffee in a well known international chain. Also a damn site more enjoyable !

So what I am saying is, skip a coffee, buy an indie book!

Ways that you can help an indie publisher-

• Buy books directly from them
• Order from an independent bookshop(two birds, one stone in terms of support!)
• Order the book from a library-this is about growing readers, rather than excluding those without a small fortune to spend on books! Also, you’d be surprised how many books are actually budget friendly. For example, Salt have ebooks from just £1.99 available, Dome have a half price sale on most of their stock, and at £4.50 with free shipping, that is a cracking bargain ! Asda sell mainstream books at the same price so if you have a book budget, this is a way to be an ethical bookbuyer and an indie supporter!
• As I said, it’s not just about money-things you can do for free include following them on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram, say hello and I like what you are doing!
• Sign up to their newsletters-direct news and offers straight to your inbox, what’s not to love? Currently Eye books have a fabulous competition going on over on Twitter to be put in a draw for a pile of books, simply for re-tweeting and signing up to the newsletter!
• Become a backer-Unbound crowd fund their books so you can be an active participant in supporting a book to become published! How cool is that?

Basically, most of us are book lovers, not all of us have the spending power to afford to buy what we’d like. But there are ways we can help,such as starting this conversation, sharing tweets, share your reviews on places like Amazon but buy directly from the publishers websites.

I live on a social housing estate, we get through month to month by the grace of some god/goddess who seems to to keep an eye over us. Blog tours have afforded me an opportunity to discover independent publishers and writers I would never  have heard of.

We live in a town that spens the least amount, per head, on culture, than any other in Wales. We have no bookshops, there is a WH Smiths but god knows what ‘bestselling chart’they are following as NONE of the Sunday Times Top Ten are represented there.Every time there is a book event or you want to go to a bookshop, you have to add 10 pounds to the cost for train travel. It’s not a luxury people like us have , and but what I am trying to say is that it is possible to be an ethical bookbuyer/book supporter even when you have, maybe like me, 10 pounds a month to buy a book(several if you are canny!).

I have maybe 5-600 physical books in my house because I am old, I ask for them for birthdays/anniversaries/special occasions plus lovely book friends tend to drop them off when they are finished. Proofs are an absolute luxury that make me well up every time someone offers me the chance to read one (Titan I am specifically looking at you!)

Second hand books , library books, handed across books, it does not matter!

Let’s start this thing, because without wonderful people like you, taking the time to read meandering thoughts like these and thinking,’Maybe I will ditch the coffee..’it will all be for nothing.

Publishers, publicists, editors, designers, authors-all of these and more have kindly offered their time and expertise to #IndieBooksLoveFest, the first AMAZING publisher is being announced tomorrow so please, subscribe, keep an eye on your inbox and settle on for some book on book action!

Links-http://79.170.40.167/rachelreadit.co.uk/indiebookslovefest/

https://nothingintherulebook.com/2019/05/01/so-alternative-50-independent-and-alternative-publishers-to-support-buy-books-from-and-submit-your-work-to/