Memorial Day is an important holiday in the United States, a time to remember those who have fallen in service to our country. It’s also the official start of summer season for those who enjoy pools, lakes, and beaches. Water people, in other words. For the next couple of months, the pace of life will slow. With all of that hammock time ahead, many of us are planning our summer reads. If you love reading, if you love books, I hope you’ll support the industry that produces them by patronizing your local bookstore.
Indie Bookstores Support Authors
Independent bookstores are vital to authors, particularly those of us who are early in their publishing careers. Indie bookstores stock our books, host us for author signings, and help hand-sell our writing before we become household names. Take this message, which I received over the weekend from a bookseller in Canada:
We picked your book up for our store on an order last August….. I remember reading the promo for it and thought it sounded good but it sat on the shelf. We are a little independent book store in a small town in Ontario (Canada)….. so sometimes a book will go unnoticed. The other day I needed something to review and picked up your book. WOW…. Well done !!
I found the story opened well, you developed the hero, made him likable but with a dash of mystic…. then dropped in the conflict and created a reason to follow him on his journey. The ending was well balanced with completion and yet…. what happens next? We have book 2 on order and we will be promoting this book more over the summer.
This bookseller not only took a chance on my book, but kept it on the shelf for several months where larger bookstore chains would have pulped it and gotten a credit from the publisher. It might seem unremarkable to the support of a single independent bookstore, but it makes a real difference. I can name several bookstores that have supported me in my author career:
- Left Bank Books in St. Louis, Missouri, hosted me at my first-ever author signing and has sold more of my books than anyone else. They’re a fantastic part of the community, too.
- Main Street Books in St. Charles, Missouri, hosted me on Indie Bookstore Day last year and continues to stock my books for people across the river.
- The Book Loft of German Village in Columbus adopted me when I moved to Ohio. I’ve done a couple of events with them already, and have a book signing scheduled for July 2nd.
- Brilliant Books in Traverse City, Michigan hosted me last June while I was in town on vacation. I look forward to seeing them again this summer.
These bookstores have some wonderful people who not only helped sell my books, but made me feel special just to be an author. They are, without a doubt, my favorite thing about publishing so far.
The Island Deception in Paperback
I’d be remiss not to point out that today marks the paperback release of The Island Deception, book #2 in my Gateways to Alissia series with Harper Voyager. I think this book might even be better than the first one, so I hope you’ll check it out. No matter what, I encourage you to find an independent bookstore and support them with your business. You might as well do that right now.
Seriously, go. Tell them Dan Koboldt sent you.
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