January Indie Book Review Suggestions
For those of you who missed it on Twitter, I’ve decided to do a special event this January. Maybe it will be a tradition like our Halloween antics, or maybe it will be a one-off if nobody likes it. Either way, we’re trying something new! Actually in truth I wanted to do this last year, but life got away from me and since I never publically announced it, I just scrapped the thing. Hence today’s blog, as I want to be accountable for it this time, as well as get suggestions from you readers.
Suggestions of what you ask? Why indie books, of course! Come on, you read the title before clicking, you knew where this was going. As part of the New Year, I want to give some love to fellow indie authors who are turning out great work and deserve some more eyes on their writing. To that end, I’m going to spend the next few months reading indie books, and the four I like the most will be reviewed throughout January on this blog. Plus, I’m going to feature that book for the following week on the adspace on here, so even those who don’t read the blog will have a chance to see it and perhaps find a new favorite book. I know my scope is limited, but I still want to do my part to celebrate the indie writing community.
That said, there are a lot of indie books out there, and while I can sift through them one-by-one I feel like it’s better to take recommendations from people with exceptional taste, like the ones who read this blog. So, either by e-mail (NovelistDrew@gmail.com) or in the comments, let me know some of your favorite indie titles. If I pick it up and love it, they might make it to January’s big indie celebration.
There are a few rules for suggestions, just to narrow things down and make sure the attention goes to the books who need it the most:
1. I’m only looking for indie, or maybe very small press, books. There’s great stuff picked up by major publishers all the time, but that’s not what January’s celebration is about.
2. I know a lot of writers follow me on here, so I hate to say this; however, I feel it’s necessary: please don’t suggest your own books. We all love our work, it’s why we make it, and I totally understand that. But there’s ample self-promotion out there already. For this, I want to hear from people who read a stranger’s book and loved it enough to tell other’s about it.
3. It’s fine if there are multiple format options out there (print, audio, digital) but they must have an ebook on Amazon to be considered. That’s partly because I think digital sellers will see more benefit from this kind of promotion, and partly because all I own is a Kindle so it has to be on Amazon.
4. This last rule isn’t even a rule, really, just a general heads up. Since the goal of this is to give attention where it’s needed most, I’m more likely to give precedence to great books with few reviews/low sales ranking versus those that are already doing well. If you suggest a killer book and it doesn’t end up on the January promo, it might be because it was already doing so well I didn’t think it needed the boost.
That’s it for the guidelines, so start telling me what you’d like me to read. I can’t promise I’ll get to everything, but I’ll do my very best. And if you don’t have any to recommend, why not go try a few unexplored indie books yourself? Heck, take some recommendations from those who do leave comments. There’s a lot of great work out there, and I look forward to celebrating the indie spirit with all of you in January!