Member-only story
How to Support Authors With Books Out During Social Distancing
It’s a rough time to be a debut author.
It’s a rough time to be an author with a book coming out. People are distracted; in-person events are cancelled; indie bookstores are, in the main, not allowing browsing; and even Amazon is “de-prioritising” books.
When my book came out last year, I had been writing seriously for a decade. This was the moment I had been waiting and working for all those years. I can’t imagine how it would have felt to have that snatched away from me — knowing that publishing moves on fast, and if I didn’t seize the moment when my book came out, I would have missed the narrow window in which I could make an impact.
So I really feel for these authors, and even more so because I know that there are some gems among the books being published, and they deserve our attention.
How to find out about new releases in this period
Because bookstores are, in the main, only open for curbside pickup and delivery/shipping, we aren’t able to go in on Tuesdays and browse the shelf of new releases or pick up the latest Indie Next newsletter, which previews books to look out for in any given month. That means it can be harder to stay on top of new releases.
