Independent publishers’ book sales difficulties, UK
by Angela Young on August 15, 2007
I don’t know if it’s the same on the west side of the pond, but over here on the east side, independent publishers - especially if they’re not yet well-established - have a hard time getting their books into bookshops.
It’s a horrible Catch-22, or possibly Kafkaesque, situation: the literary review pages are unlikely to review books, in my case first novels, by unknown writers anyway, but if they’re published by unknown indie publishers it seems there isn’t a hope. And without reviews, the bookshops won’t stock the books, nor can the indie publishers afford the cost of table- or window-space.
My publisher, the wonderful, independent, Beautiful Books, sent out hundreds (well, tens) of copies of Speaking of Love, my first novel, but not one review was written and so, now, not one bookshop stocks it. But how do the indies sell their books, then? Obviously they’ve got websites and there’s always trusty old amazon, but those outlets require the potential book-buyer to know what she is looking for already.
However, I think I have discovered a secret weapon. This Sunday, 19 August, I’m going to Mostly Books in Abingdon, Oxford, England, to take Mark Thornton’s one-day course for writers on how to sell your book into indie bookshops. I heard him talk at the Society of Authors in London and I will post about his course and my success, or failure - which, if I fail, I’m sure will only be because of my incompetence, not his advice - when I am armed with the secrets of the/his secret weapon.
(A longer version of this blog appears on my blog, title: Orchids for Simon, date 15 August.)
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