Call for Action: Buy Indie Press
This post is an encore presentation. The original, written by Melody Simpson, was posted on 1/22/15 on the Hollywood the Write Way site.
You may have heard that Egmont Publishing has recently announced it is folding. The last of its catalogue to release will be the Spring 2015 line up which means that we don't know what will become of all of the wonderful Fall 2015 (and beyond) debuts that were coming from Egmont. I'd like to think that Random House will find a way to release the Egmont titles that were set to release this year but I don't know how all of that works so I'm going to stop the guessing game there and tell you about what brought you to this blog post in the first place. Soon after the news broke, #BuyAnEgmontBook was created by the lovely Robin Talley (Lies We Tell Ourselves). At which point I realized while going through the feed that Myra McEntire (Hourglass) and Kasie West (Pivot Point) stood out to me as Egmont favorites among so many others. If you have yet to read their work, I'd put them at the top of your TBR list. Later in the evening, I came across a tweet from E.C. Myers (The Silence of Six) which led to me being nosy and looking at the conversation thread where I found Katherine Locke (Second Position) proposing that we as a community come together to show our support for and shed the spotlight on one indie each month. I was so excited, that I decided to jump into the conversation at this point and umm take over the idea. So here's how it's going to work.
The official hashtag for this is #BuyIndiePress.
Each month, I encourage you to put the spotlight on and support the imprints and small presses as detailed below while using the hashtag above. There are four imprints/small presses for each month so there are many choices. By no means is this a comprehensive list of the imprints and small presses out there. Due to time constraints, I thought it fitting to cap it at four a month so as not to overwhelm. I'm not asking you to put the spotlight on all four but at least one would be wonderful.
The Schedule For the Year:
February: Atheneum Books for Young Readers Poppy (Hachette) Razorbill Tu Books March: Algonquin Young Readers Carolrhoda Lab April: Bold Strokes Month 9 Books Orca Book Publishers May: Chronicle Books Quirk Books June: Carina Press Flux SOHO Teen Spencer Hill Press July: Abrams Children’s Candlewick Press Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing Entangled Teen August: Albert Whitman Teen HarperTeen Impulse Adaptive Books September: Holt Peachtree Publishers Medallion Press October: Sky Pony Press Zest Books November: Running Press Sourcebooks Tanglewood Press December: Annick Press
How You Can Help:
1) Pre-order Pre-order a book from the publisher featured that month for yourself or as a gift to someone else. Hardcover, Paperback, Ebook, Audiobook, it doesn't matter. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart, Target, The Book Depository (Ships Worldwide), Books A Million, Powells, Audible, your local independent book store, etc... 2) Buy in Store If the book you plan to buy has already released, go into the store and ask where the book is even if you know where the book will be. The more buzz about the book, the better. Ask for the book if there are no more copies in store. Why? Read here. 3) Read the Book For Free Legally Library - Physical/E-book Copy (Ask a librarian to order the book if it is not there. If there is a copy available but it is out, reserve a copy. The more people who reserve copies, the more copies the library will get. If you are unable to get to your local library, call and ask if they conduct home deliveries.) You can use the Overdrive app to access e-books from your library. Join Audible Get a FREE Audiobook on Audible.com for first time users. If you have an Amazon account, it's easy to sign in! 4) Go to Events Attend the release party or upcoming tour event in your area or request that the author come to your area. May I suggest you take one or two extra bookmarks at an event so you can pass them onto your friends who love to read to spark interest. 5) Spread the Word - On Tumblr, tumble this very post and/or tag #BuyIndiePress, the author, the book, and the publisher when talking about the book. - Take a picture of the appropriate book(s) of the month on the shelf at your local book store or library and tweet with the hashtag #BuyIndiePress. - Read the book in public, in different places and spark their interest. Plant the image of the book in people's minds. - Add the book to your "To-Read" list on Goodreads. - Add your favorite quotes of the book you choose to read to Goodreads. - Review the book on Amazon, BN.com, Goodreads, YouTube, Tumblr, your blog, etc… and Pin your review. - Pick a book to read during an upcoming Read-A-Thon or create a Read Along. - If you’re a blogger, feature the book in a Top Ten Tuesday or Waiting on Wednesday post. Or dedicate a week each month to spotlight books from the publishers featured each month. - Talk about the book in person, on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, etc… after you read it (and again when the paperback releases). - Suggest a book for book club based on what's being featured in the coming months. - Like the Author Page on Facebook & Amazon. Follow the author on Twitter. Ask your family and friends who are fans of the author to do the same. Aside from YA Runs A 5K, I haven't run anything in the book community before so I hope this goes well and feel free to comment or @ me on Twitter with suggestions! Thanks so much for the support.
