Why booksellers are your new best friends
Let’s nerd-out on books for a bit.
We’re celebrating all things books in this newsletter, exploring that beautiful, blurry line between readers and writers. Hear from booksellers, learn about reading as a writer and catch up on all the brilliant new stuff we’ve got going on at Jericho Writers this week. We’re also trialing popping your success stories in newsletters, alongside other stuff you might find interesting – let us know what you think!
COURSE: Apply for The Ultimate Novel Writing Course 2021-22
Places are filling up fast! No other course gives you this level of feedback and guidance on your manuscript. If you’re serious about writing a publishable book this year, submit your application now for either the UK/Europe or the International course.
DOWNLOAD THE PROSPECTUS (UK/EUROPE)
DOWNLOAD THE PROSPECTUS (US/INTERNATIONAL)
This week at Jericho Writers:
VIDEO COURSES: Writing for Young People and Amazon Ads (Member exclusive)
Did you see that we’ve recently added TWO brand-new video courses to the Jericho Writers membership? Check out Writing for Young People with Melvin Burgess and Amazon Ads with Nicholas Erik – available now.
MEMBERS – VIEW ALL VIDEO COURSES
EVENTS: Summer Festival events happening this week (Discounts for members)
Join us for A Bookseller’s Tale this evening with Martin Latham; the brilliant Debi Alper on Psychic Distance on 28 July; Writing What You Don’t Know with Naomi Ishiguro on 29 and the second shortlisting Friday Night live event this Friday. Don’t miss a word!
BLOG: Reading like a writer
Bookstagrammer and Jericho team member Elsie Granther dropped part two of her ‘Reading Like a Writer’ blog this week, this time focusing on dialogue, setting, and voice.
SUCCESS STORY: Our own Comedy Women in Print!
Congratulations to Self-Edit Your Novel alumni Jane Ayres and Emma Williams (also FNL shortlisted!) for making the longlist of the Comedy Women in Print prize alongside some HUGE names. Smashing it!
Why booksellers are your new best friends
Readers have varied their reading habits in the last decade or so, choosing to switch-it-up between physical print books, eBooks and audiobooks. This is wonderful news for writers, as there are now even more ways to get our words in front of readers – opening opportunities like Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP); Digital First publishers and even direct to audio.
That being said, large traditional publishers still dedicate a huge amount of focus to the sale of physical books through bookshops. Because no amount of marketing ever quite replicates the success of genuine reader-recommendation – booksellers offer that all-important in-person hand-selling direct to readers. Get a bookshop chain behind your book, and you’ll see sales of physical books shoot up nicely.
This is where we authors come in. When it comes to traditional print publishing, there’s not a lot the average author can do to make a serious dent in sales – but we can make friends with people who can. We can drop into our local bookstore, chat to the staff and activate our bookish-nerd powers. And that’s something all of us can do now, before we’ve even written a word. Because when it comes time to announce your print book, booksellers will be your new best friends.
And hey – even if you end up self-publishing, or in a digital-only deal, you still get to meet the most marvelous people.
Speaking of marvelous booksellers – do check out the fantastic Fox Lane Books who holds copies of all Summer Festival books.
Do you have a bookselling bud? What are your favourite bookshops around the world? Share your recommendations in the Community here.
Sarah J
Plus, don’t miss:
Literary agent one-to-ones (10% member discount)
We’re running one-to-one calls with literary agents and book doctors throughout the summer. Anyone can book one of these – just choose your expert and book a time to suit you.
Mentoring (10% discount available)
Get expert one-to-one help as you write and edit your manuscript with your choice of award-winning mentors.
New Community Book Club (Open to all)
Each month, we’ll be hosting a live meeting with the author of the chosen book for that month, chatting to them about their writing process and asking your questions.
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