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I’ve added a link here to Sandra Beckwith’s post from March, which encourages people who are stuck at home in lock-down to read more books. I think this has definitely been the case over here in the UK, as Waterstone’s have recently announced record profits. However, as Waterstone’s are the UK’s last national high street bookseller and have an obvious monopoly, this might have something to do with it!

Thanks to Sandra Beckwith for the image

What’s happened to all our bookstores? There does not seem to be any in our region other than Waterstone’s. There are a few musty old bookshops dotted around East Anglia, but none that would be interested in selling modern fiction.

My books are on the Waterstone’s system via Nielsen and Gardners, but self-published authors are largely unknown. It would help a struggling author like myself if there were other outlets available to get books in front of the public. All my paperbacks can be found on Waterstone’s computers if anybody asks for them, but are they on the actual shelves I wonder? Hmm… this is the problem that self-published authors face; how to get their paperbacks/hardbacks seen by readers who are usually only bombarded with traditionally published books in Waterstone’s. How can readers purchase any self-published books if they never see them on any shelves in bookstores?

With this in mind I decided to make an Internet search to see if there were any independent bookshops in the UK open to displaying self-published books. I found 16 indie bookstores dotted around the 4 nations. I omitted the one that did not have an email address, and sent a message to the rest enquiring as to whether they would be kind enough to display any of my books.

One message bounced back, and so that left 14. Out of all the emails I sent here are the two replies I’ve received so far, and I’ve added a little comment underneath each one:

“Thanks for your email. Unfortunately space on the shelves is limited and so we’re not able to stock every book we come across, but thank you for getting in touch. I hope this isn’t too dispiriting. If your books are available from the main distributors we’ll be able to order them in for people on request.”

My comment: If people do not know anything about my books because they cannot see them, then how can they request them?

“Is the book on Gardners? If so we’ll be happy to have a look and consider it for our stock.”

My comment: Ah, at last! Somebody is interested! All my books are on Gardners, and so I have sent them a link.

So you see, it’s not good enough for a self-published book just to be ‘on the system’ of a well known bookstore if the author or book is not widely known – it has to be physically there on the shelves for readers to see it. I’ll update this post if and when I receive any more good news or further replies.