This is an email call I sent to members of a NJ writers association:
Our books are listed on Amazon and B&N, available on Kindle, Nook and iPad, but we find it impossible to get a foot of space on the shelves or get a book signing in a bookstore.
Why? Because we "don't have a publisher."
In order to overcome the barriers which the independent writers now face in the publishing industry, a group of us has started a free membership group: www.indiePENdents.org. Our Working Group is now developing ways to take self-publishing into the mainstream, and open the door for our works into bookstores and libraries.
In a separate group discussion on LinkedIn last night, I proposed an interim action: to set up a table in front of Barnes & Noble store in Princeton where our books will be on display (and if legal for sale) with posters indicating the absurdity that B&N sells them on their website but not in the store.
We could distribute leaflets protesting the second-class citizenship assigned to independent authors by the industry and call ourselves OCCUPY PUBLISHERS, BOOKSTORES AND LIBRARIES.
We must start somewhere, so exerting pressure on B&N is a good beginning. We must work on opening the gates to us, and breaking the barriers now standing between independent authors and the reading public.
Readers today are not given the chance to choose or not our books because they are kept from their sight. Tomorrow, that will change if we start acting toward that goal.
If you are interested in participating, please email lastexile@yahoo.com. We could then meet to discuss this action at a Panera of our choice.
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