Whatever happened to bookshops?
Back in the Stone Age when I was still a working girl my go to lunchtime destination was a bookshop. Some of you might remember them. Rows of shelves labelled by genre. Special displays where the latest releases by popular authors were given pride of place. Comfortable corners where you could browse for half an hour and leave with a new treasure under your arm.
Most of them have disappeared now.
It’s all about evolution isn’t it? Ebooks arrived and reading habits changed. I used to pop into the airport bookshop before a flight to find something to read on the plane. Not anymore. These days I carry an entire library in my pocket.
I used to poo-poo the idea of reading on your phone, roll my eyes, mutter about small screen… and then I… you know… actually tried it, and found it was just fine. Pete had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the digital experience. Now he’s a total convert. Like me, he enjoys being able to choose his font, adjust the text size, and carry hundreds of books without needing a bigger suitcase.
When ebooks first arrived, Amazon was a wonderful bookshop. You could browse by genre, author, subject, and tags. As you browsed and bought books, it learned your tastes and suggested other books you might enjoy. For readers of niche genres, it was a revelation.
Not so much these days.
The recommendations are increasingly dominated by paid advertising. They’ve made it difficult for me to find the kind of books I like to read. That is, well-written books with a story. Yes, it can have sex – it’s a very human thing, after all – but it has to be more than a bunch of sex scenes held together by a sketch of a plot.
I’m not the only one who feels that way. Many indie authors have become increasingly frustrated as online retailers change algorithms, alter rules, pay us less, and make it harder for readers and writers to find each other.
A different kind of online bookshop
So we’ve decided to do something about it. A group of us have opened our own online bookshops and linked them together under a banner called Books in Your Pocket.
It brings back some of the magic of browsing through a bookshop. Take a look, go on an adventure.
You’ll find books by Pauline Baird Jones, E.G. Manetti, S.E. Smith, Carol Van Natta, all among my favourite authors. And, of course, you’ll find my books there, too. The collection will continue to grow as more authors join us.
The big online stores still have their place. You’ll still be able to buy our books through Amazon and the other retailers if that’s your preference.
But when you buy direct, you often get a better deal.
We can offer discounts, bundles, sales. And we can give a better product, such as illustrated editions, or extra bonus chapters that are not available anywhere else.
For example if you download The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy (it’s FREE) from my store, you’ll get a bonus chapter not available elsewhere, and you’ll get a 20% discount on the next book, The Iron Admiral: Deception or The Complete Iron Admiral, which has both stories (each with their bonus chapters) plus an extra bonus chapter.
You’ll get an epub which can be read on most ereaders. And if you’re devoted to your Kindle, simply use send to kindle.
So that’s what I’ve been doing for the last few weeks. And yes, Fireglass will be arriving in my store on 30 June, exclusively for a little while. And you’ll get a bonus offer if you buy from me.
Funny how things come full circle. We started with bookshops. Perhaps we’re building new ones.
