Author Advocacy

Just when I thought I couldn't love indie bookshops any more, they've got behind This is Going to Hurt from the absolute start, hosted dozens of hugely inventive events with me around the country, and sold more copies than I could have ever dreamed of. To now be nominated for an Independent Bookshop Week award is the icing on an already truly terrific cake - thank you.

Independent bookstores are literary heroes. They are staffed by booksellers who are articulate, enthusiastic and wildly passionate about reading, each of them ready to go far above and beyond what their job requires as a matter of course to ensure that they get their favourite stories into the hands of as many customers as possible. Their love and care helps create new generations of readers, and brings authors and their audiences together. They deserve to be celebrated every week of the year! I'm utterly delighted that A Spoonful of Murder has been chosen as one of the Independent Book Week Book Awards 2018 shortlisted titles. I know that the love and support I received from independent bookstores from the very beginning of my series has helped it become the success it is today, and given me the chance to write A Spoonful of Murder. I'm proud to have the chance to return the favour and show my support for indies during this year's Independent Bookshop Week!   

I’m so excited to hear The Squirrels Who Squabbled’ has been chosen for this shortlist. Each and every independent bookshop, to my mind, is nothing short of a magical portal to a thousand different worlds and whatever adventure you hope for. They are beautiful tears in the mainframe of reality for you to step through whenever you choose… right there on your local street, whether you are 2 or 102. Not only that, but what makes these places particularly special, is that the moment you cross the threshold, you will be greeted by your very own guide who knows this universe of words inside out – and can point you in a perfect and sometimes unexpected direction - the most fully lit, literary souls to help you along the journey. I do a little ‘hooray’ of joy inside when I encounter an independent bookshop. They have irresistible beckoning power. It’s like bumping into a friend and knowing there’s excellent fun ahead. To be amongst a shortlist of stories picked by such passionate hands is just the highest compliment. It might sound like hyperbole but I think if there were a situation that called for it…this is the one!

Independent bookshops and sellers wave the banner of enlightenment; true warriors against our ever-increasing homogenized landscape. They ensure local authors sit cheek by jowl next to their more established peers. Moreover, in my experience Independent bookshops have the answers to my questions, have put authors and books in my hand that otherwise I wouldn’t have found and have made me feel valued as a reader, a customer and an author. They are an endangered species who must be protected

In the last couple of years I've taken part in some illustrators' window display days, creating displays for my books in independent book shops. Spending a whole day in a shop really brings home the fact that these places aren't just a business. They're friendly, warm and welcoming places where people drop in to browse or buy, to make an enquiry or an order, or just say hello. They contain stores of information and treasure troves of beauty, all in the pages of their quite magical stock.

By far the best place to browse and buy a book is an independent bookshop. And a high street just isn't right without one. They rely on customers walking through the door rather than clicking on a screen and there's no nicer way to while away an hour or two deciding what to buy in these wonderful places.   

I’m really flabbergasted and honoured to be on this shortlist! Indie Bookshops have a special place in my heart as they have always supported my books. Superbat wouldn’t have taken off without them!
 

As an author, I can be struck by the lightning bolt of inspiration, rattle out an outline, marshal through a few hundred pages of narrative, spend three years bent to the drudgery of revision and, in so doing, create a little masterpiece. But none of that will matter if the product of my inspiration and effort never finds its audience. For a book to find its readership, it must first spark the interest of some initial reader who out of enthusiasm, whimsy, or compassion, feels compelled to pass the book along to a like-minded reader who, some days hence, will pass the back along to another. More often than not, this magical chain reaction begins with a reader who is in the employ of an independent bookstore. And that is why, as a reader and author, whenever I prepare to drink from a glass of wine, I raise it first to the booksellers of the world!  

I sometimes wish that I still lived in the UK especially when visiting all the wonderful independent book shops on my promotional book tours. You can feel the enthusiasm, creativity, hard work and endless love of books the moment you set foot in the door. Each single book shop is unique and has their own wonderful way of sharing their love of reading!
 

Independent bookshops are where you go to meet the beautiful people. The people, front and behind  counter, who love  the world of books and their local community. Oh, and who care about authors . I did my first ever ‘book talk’ at an independent bookshop, Rossiters in Ross-on-Wye. So, thank you, Andy and Carol. And all other independent bookshop owners.

I am delighted that Cogheart has been nominated for the IBW Book Awards. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many friendly independent booksellers on my travels. They’ve helped me organise school events and book sales, and I love how engaged they are with their local schools and communities and how their knowledge enthuses young readers. As an avid reader myself I’ve received numerous stimulating recommendations from them and they often highlight intriguingly different books to the mainstream stores. 

Independent booksellers are heroes in our time! Suffering several hard knocks, many have not only kept going, but recharacterised themselves as oases of intellectual and physical comfort, adding coffee counters, open fires and soft chairs, where books can be browsed in perfect peace. I salute them all!   

Thank God for independent bookshops and everything they do, their expertise, championing of great books and incredible ways of bringing literature, reading and other worlds into communities. I wouldn't be here without the support of extraordinary bookshops, especially independent ones, championing my work, inviting me to read and doing everything they can to ensure that great books don't get lost. I also like it when they tweet entire novels to Piers Morgan.

Independent bookshops are the best places in the world as far as I’m concerned. I remember once going into my local independent bookshop to ask whether, perhaps, they knew of a book about crosswords in literature or perhaps Jane Austen. Ten minutes of intense, informed discussion later I had the perfect present for my father, and I also seemed to have picked up an obscure post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel and a story book for my dyslexic child. Independent bookshops contain the universe: the book that will change your life is in there.

Whenever I walk into a bookstore and see a shelf with a hand-lettered sign reading Staff Picks, I start feeling hopeful.  And if actual names are thumbtacked under the selections (Nicky's favorite!), I know for sure that I'm in the right place.  Living, breathing salespeople who really do read what they're selling!  Now, that is a proper bookstore.

I'm really delighted to have a book on the IBW Award shortlist. Independent bookshops play an essential role in our communities and are massively important to authors and illustrators. Running them involves an awe-inspiring amount of dedication and commitment. Thank you independent booksellers!

We are so lucky, in the UK, to have such a thriving network of independent bookshops. Anyone who lives, as I do, far from a big city, can testify to their power to energise a neglected high street and act as much loved community hubs. Enthusiastic hand-selling, reflective of a bookseller's informed tastes, trumps online algorithms every time!

I am a big fan of independent bookshops. I like the way they each have their own character, with buildings ranging from cottage-y to cavernous, with window displays by local artists or creative staff members, and with stock reflecting the tastes and passions of their owners and customers.  But one thing they almost all have in common is the knowledge, dedication and enterprise of their staff

I feel strangely drawn to bookshops, and struggle to resist entering. Indie bookshops are somehow even more alluring. (Famous last words: “I’ll just be a minute…”) For me it started when I was a boy. I have strong childhood memories of discovering books in both libraries and bookshops, many of which are still treasured possessions - a hardback edition ofThe Wind In the Willows, for example, illustrated by EH Shepherd (that one has the printed price of 85p on the dust flap - pocket money well spent!). So I’m genuinely thrilled to hear that WARNING! This Book May Contain Rabbits has been shortlisted for an IBW Award. Now I’m a grown up with boys of my own, and I still head straight for the children’s department to admire and discover something new in this wonderful world of picture books which I inhabit. So next time you’re passing an indie bookshop, feel the pull and go with the flow. You never know what you might find. (WARNING! These shops may contain passionate booksellers.)

The care with which independent bookshops choose stock and then push their best loved reads into the hands of customers means that easily sidelined titles rise to the surface and quality books find homes. Books are a business, of course, but great booksellers know it's about a love of reading too, and it's thanks to these people that the right books get into the hands of the right readers. 

When anyone asks me about independent booksellers my mind immediately pictures - not a sales outlet - but individual people and places - Pritchards, Booka Bookshop, Mostly Books, Muswell Hill Children's Bookshop and so on - places where I've had great conversations and pleasant hours, and been introduced to new and amazing books that I'd never before heard of. If I buy online I find what I'm looking for. If I go into my independent bookshop I sometimes find things I had never dreamed of