How Authors Can Get Indie Booksellers to Support Their Books
And Help Secure Indie Next Nominations — Part 3 in the Indie Next List Series
This is mostly about being a good literary citizen. Yes, the angle here is that these are things an author can do to help land Indie Next nominations, but on the whole, this is about building strong relationships and supporting indie booksellers, which in turn helps open the door to some of these booksellers possibly reciprocating that engagement by supporting the effort to get your book on the Indie Next List.
It’s a good way to approach your author outreach overall — slightly idealized, I know — but especially for those out there who think of marketing efforts as drudgery (because they “just want to write!”), integrating support and goodwill towards others into your efforts, whether it’s booksellers or fellow and aspiring authors, is a great way to round-out your campaign.
In Part 1 of this series, I shared what the Indie Next List is and how it works.
In Part 2, I provided details on the things publishers do to build and execute Indie Next campaigns for their books.
And here in part 3, I am sharing the ways authors can do their part to help land their book on the Indie Next List. I'll get right to it:
— First and foremost, support your local indies, the stores right in your town/neighborhood. Be a regular, buy books, attend events, subscribe to their newsletters, promote their programming, and get to know the owner/manager/staff. Take full advantage of the fact that on any given day, you can walk into these stores and have in-person conversations with the booksellers and actually get to know them. Establishing this kind of relationship is going to be very helpful when it’s time to start building the campaign for your book — asking for early reads, bookseller blurbs, event booking, and yes, Indie Next consideration.
— If you’ve had books published before and gone on tour, or been involved in readings at bookstores, makes sure to compile and keep updated a list of all the bookstores you’ve had events at and the booksellers you’ve met, so that you can mail galley copies of your forthcoming book and personalize a note with the context of your connection to the bookstore.
— And speaking of the galley, that is step one, right, because before a bookseller is going to nominate a book for Indie Next, they’ve got to read it. A very common practice is to include an author letter, personalizing the experience of the book and sharing some insights about who you are. Take the initiative and write this letter, letting your publisher team know you’d like it included in the galley. Sometimes it’s actually printed in the actual galley, other times its printed out and slipped into the mailer. Every little bit of personalization helps.
— If you have existing, strong relationships with booksellers, get them a galley as early as possible and ask them for a blurb. Bookseller blurbs help the publisher sales team — it’s a vote of confidence from a key contingent that telegraphs a very positive message to this important audience of booksellers, and can strengthen sell-in and the Indie Next campaign.
— Know the Indie Next nomination deadline for your book, so you can plan accordingly. The deadline will be about two months before your pub date month, but know the actual deadline date by looking here.
— Be aware of the Independent Bookseller Association that represents your home state, and stay abreast of its events, conferences and activities, especially its Spring and Fall trade shows. Know the deadlines for panel submissions and advocate for yourself with your publisher to be submitted for programming. This is an impactful way to meet and forge connections with booksellers not just in your hometown, but from all over your region of the country. Nothing beats in-person, face-to-face interactions, and this is an incredible opportunity to do just.
— Have an understanding of Edelweiss and Netgalley — these are two significant industry platforms where booksellers can submit their Indie Next nominations. Seeing what’s happening for your book on these platforms gives you a window into bookseller feedback and momentum.
— Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day (takes place annually on the last Saturday in April) — shout out your favorite stores and make sure to swing by your local bookstore to do some shopping. Share the excursion on your socials.
— Ditto for Indies First, which is an American Bookseller Association (ABA)-backed national campaign to support indie bookstores on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, in conjunction with Small Business Saturday. Many bookstores have really great programming to commemorate both Independent Bookstore Day and Indies First — see how you can support it and get involved.
— And I wrote a whole post about the buy links that you should have on your book product page(s) on your website — it’s really important to put a strong focus on indie booksellers, especially if you are working hard to establish bookseller relationships and going for Indie Next. You certainly can’t list EVERY independent bookstore, and I wouldn’t recommend that, but you can be crystal clear that you are encouraging your readers to support indies, and put a spotlight on select bookstores that you have connections to.
In summary: only so many books get an Indie Next pick (in fact, 25 a month, out of the countless titles that get published week after week after week). It’s very competitive, and the main driver of an Indie Next campaign is going to be the sales reps on your publisher team. That being said, as an author, you can support the effort. And even if you don’t end up securing enough nominations to be an Indie Next pick, none of this is for naught. At the core of an indie next campaign is building bookseller relationships and creating awareness and support for your title. Keep in mind: Just getting a bookseller to order copies of your book to be placed on their very limited shelf space is a major accomplishment — even in the bookstores that are right in your neighborhood. All the more reason to understand the dynamics and the nuance of the Indie Next program, put a plan in place, advocate for yourself with your publisher, and commence with working your plan.
A ROADMAP TO BUILDING UP YOUR WRITING CAREER
Over the course of the month of September The Forever Workshop ran a really great course roadmapping a myriad of ways to build a writing career. It was led by writer and editor
, who I’ve had good fortune of connecting with as part of my literary career because he accepted and edited one of my flash fiction pieces (“Last Day Cupcakes”) as fiction editor at Okay Donkey, shepherding this story so that it made this year’s Wigleaf Top 50 Longlist, and was also selected for inclusion in the 2024 Best Small Fictions collection. Very grateful to Steve for his skills, dedication, and literary community advocacy.Entries in Steve’s Forever Workshop course included insights on how to land a YA book deal, become an NEA Fellow, grow your career through literary translation, successfully write across genres, pitch and conduct better interviews, and how to freelance book reviews, and he tapped an incredible network of authors — Tolani Akinola, Vida James, Anton Hur,
, Lilliam Rivera, and Alexandra Kleeman — to share nuanced and practical tips on how they accomplished these things. Highly recommend you sign up for this newsletter and check out Steve’s course.Thank you for reading, sharing, and subscribing. And a big welcome to all the new subscribers. I think a good number of you are writers working to better understand the publishing industry and land that first book deal, as well as authors who have books that will coming out in the near future and are gearing up launch plans. Feel free to drop me a note with a top-of-mind question or to share topics you’d like to see explored in this newsletter. I have an editorial calendar mapped out, but very open to suggestions and inquiries.
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ABOUT THE WRITER OF THIS NEWSLETTER
Jeffrey Yamaguchi has taken a lot of photos that capture the Fall season, especially in Brooklyn’s grand Prospect Park, and also written a lot of poems about this particular season. What can I say, it’s my favorite time of the year. Here’s one of those photos, and here’s a poem that was published by Anti-Heroin Chic — “Until It’s Time To Fall.”
My full bio is here.
Learn about the book marketing and publicity services I provide, and how you can work with me.
I’m learning that it takes more to be an author than just writing. Thanks for the education!