Confessions of a Book Store Owner

So many people have never heard of ‘local lit’ or the idea of ‘reading local.’ For many causes, asking for Facebook likes may seem irrelevant and trivial, but it really counts here— Just by inviting your friends to ‘like’ the page, you are introducing them to the concept of Read Local, and once introduced, why not participate?

So what IS local lit? It’s literature written or published in your community. Doesn’t get much simpler than that. Why read local lit? There’s a ton of reasons! 

• Like ‘shopping local’ and ‘eating local,’ it keeps more money in your community— and reduced fuel pollution associated with shipping
• It supports your local authors, editors, and publishers
• It smashed the stereotype that all writers live in New York, and makes authors in your community more visible, meaning that youth are more likely to consider writing as a viable career option

Reblog and add your own reason to read local!

You shop at local businesses. You eat locally-produced food. Why not read local literature?

• Keep more of your money in your community.
• Reduce fuel pollution associated with shipping.
• Support local authors, editors, and publishers.

Things you can do to show support for local lit:

• ‘Like’ the Read Local Facebook page. 
• Ask your local independent bookstore to carry more local lit.
• Ask your local library to carry more local lit.
• If you have a favorite local author whose books you usually buy from Amazon, contact them and ask if they’ve asked about stocking their books at local bookstores. If they can’t, ask about buying their books directly from the author. This way, more of your money stays in your community than if you bought through Amazon.
• Tell your friends about your favorite local authors.
• Tell your friends about the importance of reading local lit. 

brainfoodvenue:

Stop by at six with poetry and friends— Meet new poets, discover new poems, and get a cup of coffee. 

RSVP to the event and check our Facebook page for address and directions. 

signal boost, Colorado folks!

brainfoodvenue:

1)     The bar continued to rise. Many talented authors self-publish, for a variety of reasons including finances and artistic control. Still, in a rush to publish, some sloppy authors put out work with egregious editing errors and poorly designed covers. Unprofessional work reinforces old prejudices against indie authors, frustrates readers, and infuriates indies who produce quality work.

Over the last year, groups have formed to evaluate and identify quality books and publishing professionals, once reluctant to deal with self-publishers, have joined forces with indie authors. Like any author who cares about her work, these pros expect self-published books to stand up to the New York competition. With quality self-pubbed books attracting a wide audience, reader expectations increased, raising the bar for all self-published authors.

2)     Assisted self-publishing opportunities exploded. Early on, self-published authors were on their own, shouldering full responsibility for all aspects of the publishing process.  For many authors, this was a daunting proposition.

Today, high quality assisted self-publishing companies take care of all the nuts and bolts, some offering services for a pre-determined upfront cost, others offering a range of ala carte services. Some of these companies even publish under the own ISBN, emulating the traditional publishing model while allowing authors greater control and a higher share of their profits.

3)     Self-publishing platforms became more author-friendly and easier to navigate. Improving DIY platforms mean fewer of the post-conversion issues—odd formatting, for instance—that plagued indie authors. Companies introduced new platforms like Kobo Writing Life, giving authors flexibility plus additional sales and distribution channels. And aggregator/distributors likeBook Baby and companies like Author Solutions/Booktango offer myriad services from editing to design, distribution, and marketing and promotion.

4)     More traditional publicists began to promote self-published authors. Traditional publicists cannot replace Internet publicists nor do they replace the vibrant book blogging community, without which the e-book revolution would not have taken hold. Still, with their knowledge of and experience with mainstream media, traditional publicists can get exposure for indie authors that would be impossible to get on one’s own.  In 2012, I had the honor of appearing on the Jordan Rich and Mary Waldon Inspiring Women radio shows, and I received coverage in theBoston Globe and Newton Tab. By provided mainstream exposure, this helped me build a wider audience.

5)     Bookstore owners became more receptive to self-published books. Until recently, authors who hoped to see their book on shelves in brick and mortar stores reached out to individual store managers and owners. If the author could show a local following, bookstores would often carry the book, but few others showed any interest. Due partly to animosity toward Amazon, seen by some as the behemoth putting small stores out of business, many store managers and owners refused on principal to stock self-published books.

(Inserted note from myself: Oh really? Some bookstores even outright cater to indie authors! Cough cough, Brainfood Bookstore, cough.)

In 2012, as self-published titles continued to gain steam, routinely making the NY Times and USAToday bestseller lists, store owners began to realize that refusing to carry self-published books cost them opportunities. Today, some forward-thinking store owners offer self-publishers an opportunity to buy shelf space for a reasonable price—under the same or similar contracts offered to traditional houses.

6)     Distribution chains opened for self-published books. Until John Locke signed his distribution deal with Simon and Schuster, no self-published book enjoyed mainstream distribution. For a while, not even Barbara Freethy, a traditionally published author with numerous bestsellers, sold her self-published books into stores. While distribution remains limited and available primarily to authors who’ve reached a certain sales threshold, smaller distributors have begun to work with self-published authors.

This year, Bella Andre received a 7-figure deal for worldwide rights to distribute her bestselling novels in paperback—while maintaining rights to her e-books! Expect to see more such deals as indie authors continue to prove their worth with mind-blowing sales records!

7)     The mainstream media finally took notice. Until recently, the mainstream media shunned self-publishers, refusing to write about or review their books. As more and more indie books claimed a spot on the staid NY Times and USA Today bestseller lists, self-publishers became harder to ignore. Today, Forbes, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and the Huffington Post report regularly on the self-publishing industry; many other outlets have begun to follow suit.

8)     Literary organizations reached out to self-published authors. Grub Street, the second largest independent center for creative writing in the U.S., now offers classes in self-publishing and publishes posts on self-publishing on their blog. Bookstores host readings by indie authors and community groups continue efforts to recognize and celebrate self-published authors.

9)     Traditional and self-published authors began working together. In 2012, disparaging remarks by authors Jodi Picoult and Sue Grafton infuriated self-published authors. While many traditionally pubbed authors supported Picoult and Grafton, their ranks are thinning. Increasingly, established authors self-publish their backlists—and in many cases new work—blurring the line between traditional and self-published authors.

10) In 2012, for the first time, as Amy Edelman reports in IndieReader, the New York Times reviewed a self-published book. It is impossible to overstate the groundbreaking significance of this. Mainstream reviews will never replace the trusted reviews and recommendations of talented book bloggers. Still, by reviewing an indie-published book, this respected review validated self-publishing—a landmark step toward evaluating books based solely on the quality of the work without regard to who published the book.

yeah… this. :)

brainfoodvenue:

Brainfood Bookstore is a participant in the Intuit Small Business Big Wish program. Anyone with a Facebook or Twitter account can vote, and the businesses with the Top 15 most votes will get their wishes granted!

Brainfood Bookstore is wishing for vending machines (Brainnacks) so that we can expand to remote locations around Colorado. Currently, we are the only bookstore in Colorado that stocks only locally-published literature. We are very proud that we keep our customers’ money in the state of Colorado, instead of sending it out to the Big Five for mass-produced brain junk. 

However, we’ve run into our limitations. For one, we’re a pretty small bookstore. For two, only a small portion of Colorado has access to us— the mountains kinda tend to divide the state up. We have authors from Steamboat Springs on the other side of the Rockies, but they don’t have access to our bookstore. For many authors, we are the only brick-and-mortar store that carries their books, and they’d love the opportunity to get to see their books in our stores. Not to mention, folks across Colorado would like the opportunity to shop at a local-only bookstore, where they know their money won’t be sent out-of-state.

So what’s the solution? Build lots of bookstores across Colorado? Of course we’d like to, but that’d be expensive and out of our current abilities. But what we can do is place vending machines (Brainsnacks) across Colorado. In laundromats and arcades, patrons can purchase local lit from an automated machine. Who knows, perhaps we’ll expand across the nation! Wouldn’t everyone love to be able to purchase locally-published lit, knowing their money is staying in their state, wherever they stop to do laundry?

Please vote, and signal boosts are much appreciated!

Signal boost please! :)

brainfoodvenue:

In this great article by Terri Long, you can learn about why an independent publisher is more likely to decide to publish a great book than a traditional publisher (one of the Big Six)— if the great book is difficult to categorize, the audience is undefined, or the author is unknown. 

Traditional— and most independent— bookstores stock only from the Big Six and their subsidiaries and imprints. If many great books are bypassed by the Big Six only to be picked up by an independent publisher, that book— great and published as it is— still may never reach the shelves of Barnes and Noble, or the small indie bookstore near you.

Unless that small indie bookstore is Brainfood.

At Brainfood, we stock specifically from local and independent publishers— meaning that you can find the gem that HarperCollins and Barnes and Noble have missed completely. 

Everyone should read this who stil believes that ‘successful’ books are published only by the Big six. 

brainfoodvenue:

If you’re in the Boulder or Fort Colline area, you can’t miss this if:

• You are an avid reader.
• You have any interest in egyptology.
• You read sci-fi.
• You are a writer, or would like to write a book, and want input from an author who has been through the process.
• You like candy.
• You like supporting local bookstores (and authors, and publishers).
• You want to win a gift certificate.

Srsly, if this is you, check out the event link above… and be sure to reblog for the other candy-eating scifi-writing hieroglyphic-reading nerds out there.

colorado folks! signal boost please!