What the best Indie bookstores do…

As an author, I support indie bookstores. Or should I say, I support indie bookstores that support me as an author. I have traveled across the country to do book signings at various bookstores and I have learned quite a bit. I learned not only which bookstores are worth investing in as an author and a reader and which ones will surely go out of business.

Lesson #1 - It doesn’t matter how long your bookstore has been in business. It matters that you make money.

I have personally witnessed bookstore owners with attitudes about their business. They only want a ‘certain’ genre of books. They refuse to keep new books in stock. The result is a bookstore filled with hundreds of books they can’t sell. This is the same philosophy that larger bookstores use. Therefore, why start an Indie bookstore to reproduce the social status quo in the book publishing industry.

Lesson #2 – It doesn’t matter where your bookstore is located. It matters whether you spend your time building a solid customer base.

I know five bookstore owners that exclusively sell their books online and at a local flea market. They have been in business for fifteen years without fail. It is the only thing they do and they make a great living. They understand that a nerd that buys books will get them from anywhere.

Lesson #3 – It doesn’t matter how you do book signings. It matters that you do them often.

The three most successful Indie bookstores schedule 3-6 book signings every week. They have authors come out and sell books on-site. The authors invite their friends, talk to customers, and bring in a new customer base to the store. This is a smart tactic that builds their business with very little effort on behalf of the owner.

Lesson #4 – It doesn’t matter whether you like social media. You need a Facebook page for your business, an Instagram handle, and a Twitter page to keep your customers updated on new books and book signings.

The best indie bookstores are constantly giving out bookmarks with discounts for returning customers. Also, they have their information at the counter. This allows people to follow them on social media on their smartphones.

Lesson #5 - Keeping your store organized is key to attracting readers.

The best indie bookstores have labels for their books. This helps readers to quickly scan and see what kind of books they want to read. Variety is a key component to attracting new customers. My personal favorite advertising are the bookstores that have a special shelf above the register. They put the books and the book signing dates of all the authors that will travel to their store to sign books. This helps the bookstore advertise in advance.   

Lesson #6 – Doing a large event at your bookstore with twenty or more authors present once per year, brings in new readers and builds your customer base.

Large book events are a great way to raise awareness for your bookstore. It also brings in new customers.

Lesson #7 – Using social media to promote your book store signings with authors helps build the reputation of your store.

The best Indie bookstores take lots of pictures. They put them on flickr, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and the bookstore blog.

Lesson #8 – The best indie bookstores sell books online and never turn down international sales.

There are books in the U.S. that are just not available or that people may not be aware of in the U.K., Canada, and Europe. What better way to make those books available than to sell them online through a blog?

Lesson #9 – The best indie bookstore owners team up with the alternative press outlets in locally.

Many of these local papers are looking to sell papers and will trade advertising space with a bookstore for selling their papers each month in their store.

Lesson #10 – The best indie bookstores have a system for paying the authors regularly.

Most have written agreements, receipt books, and keep 3-5 titles of every book in stock. They even have two shelves that house the ‘new releases’.

The last tidbit of advice is not a lesson. It is a rule of common sense. Please get a mailing list to let your customers know about what is happening in your store.

I love indie bookstores. Many owners have supported my career for the past seven years and I love the free advertising my titles get each day. However, I understand that in order to keep those bookstores open that sharing best practices is key.

Happy Reading!

There is no such thing as an 'honest review'

I just finished finalizing a new book release. It took me six months to ensure that it was quality work. I know that it is review time. Currently, I am looking for reviewers. Don’t get me wrong. I know plenty of reviewers that can read my work and give reviews. However, I am that rare form of author that is brave enough to ask different people for reviews. Therefore, I search for new reviewers with each book release. This past week I stumbled across three review groups on Facebook. They were hilarious to say the least. In the description it stated that no one should ask to trade reviews or pay for positive reviews. Additionally, there was more comedy as the description stated that this was a place where ‘honest reviews’ take place (Insert laughter here).

Since everyone seems to have opinions on how authors get reviews…I think I will take a stab at it as well…

I don’t believe for one minute that most authors get ‘honest reviews” and this is why…

First, the only people that should be reviewing people’s books in my opinion are readers. This means people that actually purchase your work. If you are sending free .pdf files of your work to random people, how can you look someone in the face and state that you want honest reviews? You are gifting your work to someone and then begging for a review. There is nothing honest about this practice since in fact you are paying them with a free book.

Second, there are thousands of authors on amazon.com that make their work free for thirty days in order to garner reviews and even get best-seller status. Not only is this indeed unethical. It is once again a scam to garner reviews from people that did not pay for your work by ‘gifting’ them a free book. Further, this practice makes it look as if an author has a higher ranking on amazon.com than they actually do. Sorry authors but the scam is up.

Third, never tell someone not to pay to get a book review. That is ridiculous. There are many large review companies under the publishing industry umbrella that in fact do get paid to produce high quality and reputable reviews. What about book critics? What about literary columnists? There are also independent reviewers and those that run literary blog tours that in fact get paid to review authors work.

Finally, most authors send their work to the same review houses over and over again to ensure they are getting reviewed. Positive reviews are often based on the relationship between the author and the review house. I have seen it time and time again in this industry. Do you really think that publishing companies don’t have relationships with review companies? No one can really believe that this true.

Please stop with the ‘honest review’ nonsense. Focus on getting a more thorough review of your work that includes a review of the syntax, storyline, story elements, content, and overall writing style. This is more telling to the reader in terms of the type of experience they will have when they engage with your work. Steer clear of the ‘honest review’ mantra since this clearly hinges on something personal rather than professional. Reviews are hard enough to come by and since most readers report that this does not influence their decision to purchase there is no need to convolute this practice with foolishness.

As always happy reading!