|
Hello ,
Have you pinned down your holiday reading yet? Your holiday book presents?
If not, please take a moment.
Did you know there are just five - yes, five - major publishing companies in the whole world? Between them, they create pretty much everything you're likely to buy - in book or ebook form - this holiday season.
The bookshops are jam packed with titles, and there's no doubt if you're a bookish person or a bookish giver, you'll be heading right there in the next few weeks.
I'd like to invite you to pause.
There are many thousands of books published every week that are just as good, if not better, than some of the 'mainstream' published books by these five giants.
I might even argue my own books are pretty good. But the truth is, it's very hard to get published by the big five. And if we do, we don't actually get paid very much.
Many authors like me decided long ago to go it alone.
We 'independently publish'. That doesn't mean you don't get quality. You get great stories. You get great covers. You get great audio, paperback, hardback, all of very high quality.
You will just rarely find us in the big bookshops. (Though, gratefully, your local bookshops may well stock us if you ask them.)
Independent authors do not pay publishers to publish our work. We publish it ourselves. We pay for design, quality editing, proofreading, and more. Then we distribute it across digital and paper platforms.
You can actually order our books in most bookshops, but you won't find them on the shelves.
Here's a technique for finding excellent independently published books - whether fiction or non fiction - this holiday season.
Go to your browser and type 'Free Kindle Books'.
You'll get a link to your local Amazon. Click through.
Have a good search within the Free Kindle Books menu on the left hand side, to find the genre of books you like most.
Click through, and look for something with lots of positive reviews. Anything above four is excellent.
Let the cover do the talking - find something that appeals, or would appeal to whoever you're buying for.
Click through, and go down to the book's description on the left hand side. Look for the publisher.
If there is NO publisher, it is probably an independent author. Or if the publisher name seems to reflect the name of the author, that's another clue that the book is independently published.
Remember, this book is FREE. You're already winning. If it's got loads of great reviews, you can be sure the book is at least as good as something you'll find in a mainstream bookshop.
But if you want to BUY a book, here's an extra tip. Hesitate before you buy on Amazon.
Do some judicious searching on the web, to see if you can find the author's own website. If you can, click through and see if the author sells directly.
Many of us indie authors now sell books, in ebook, audio and paperback, even hardback, from our own websites - you get the book cheaper, usually - and we get far more of the after-print price, than Amazon gives us.
Often, with an email to our websites, you can ask us to sign copies for you too.
If you buy an ebook from our websites, we get pretty much every penny, instead of the 60% Amazon pays us.
Holiday shopping for books this way can be enlightening, cheap and fun.
You may just discover the next author superstar, and buy one of their excellent books before they hit the big time.
Please consider supporting your local retailers this holiday season. Support your local charities. And support your local independent authors!
Please let me know if you find any indie gems this holiday season. I love hearing from my readers.
Please catch me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
Gideon Burrows
www.gideon-burrows.com
|
