On this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Dan Holloway previews the upcoming London Book Fair and highlights the launch of ALLi’s new Indie Author Bookstore, a showcase for books by ALLi members. He also reports on plans for Barnes & Noble and Waterstones to return to public markets, Spotify’s introduction of audiobook charts to boost discovery, the continuing decline of mass market paperbacks, and new data showing podcasts overtaking talk radio in the United States.
Listen to the Podcast: ALLi Launches Indie Author Bookstore
Show Notes
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About the Host
Dan Holloway is a novelist, poet, and spoken word artist. He is the MC of the performance arts show The New Libertines, He competed at the National Poetry Slam final at the Royal Albert Hall. His latest collection, The Transparency of Sutures, is available on Kindle.
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Read the Transcript
Dan Holloway: Hello and welcome to what is the last Self-Publishing News before London Book Fair. Always an exciting time of year, and one of those times when we think: where has the time gone? We are here again.
Next week I will probably be able to record some news from the fair in time for the podcast. I very much hope to be there, certainly for the Indie Author Lab, which will be at the very start of London Book Fair at Kensington Town Hall, where ALLi will be hosting a fabulous adjacent event full of ALLi experts and all sorts of fascinating panel sessions, with the chance to work through manuscripts with mentors. There will also be a strong ALLi presence at the actual London Book Fair itself. So do come and speak to us — I very much look forward to seeing anyone and everyone there.
ALLi Launches the Indie Author Bookstore
It's actually quite a quiet week in the news before the fair, although ALLi obviously has big news of its own, and that big news is the launch of the Indie Author Bookstore. This is now live on the ALLi website. It is a fabulous showcase for books by ALLi's indie authors — beautifully arranged, beautifully shelved, easy to navigate. That sounds like a puff piece. It is a puff piece, but it is also true. I very much recommend you check it out.
For anyone looking to discover great indie fiction, it's a wonderful way to make discoveries. And it is also an incredibly useful tool for indie authors who want to get their works showcased.
Waterstones and Barnes & Noble Prepare to Go Public
That brings me to the first of a couple of interesting smaller pieces of news this week. And that is that the Waterstones and Barnes & Noble chains of bookstores are thinking very seriously about going public. These are bookstores that were taken out of public ownership — they were certainly bought in 2019 by Elliott Management Group, the private equity firm.
In the case of Barnes & Noble in particular, it was very much a failing enterprise at that point. It couldn't make up its mind what it wanted to do — it was opening cafes, closing cafes, trying to make money from the Nook. It felt like a bit of a mess. They put James Daunt in charge, as they did with Waterstones, and the rest is history. Whatever one thinks of James Daunt and the fact that he is ubiquitous at book fairs everywhere and has been for many decades, he has turned both shops around, given them a clear identity, and now they're going back into public ownership to be traded on the stock market once more.
There's a fascinating piece by Mark Williams that makes the point — and other pieces have made the same point — that this is an interesting success story. We have these two behemoths, but they are standing opposite and in contrast to Amazon, providing an alternative for people who want to buy from big chains and want somewhere on their high street where they can buy books. Barnes & Noble and Waterstones are providing that, and it is great to see their success. Whatever else one thinks, it is certainly great to see bookstores thriving.
Spotify Introduces Audiobook Charts
We also have some Spotify news this week — we seem to have Spotify news all the time. This time it is their introduction of audiobook charts. They are marketing this as a discovery feature, with separate charts for the US and the UK, to help people find new books when they want a new read. The way they phrase their approach in their press release is that this is the latest step in their continued investment in audiobooks. So it is not a one-off thing — it is part of the wider effort they are making to bring people into their audiobook offerings. This follows on from the introduction of Page Match, which we have looked at previously.
The End of Mass Market Paperbacks
And finally, this is a story I talked about last year: the end of mass market paperbacks. Being based in the UK, I wasn't initially a hundred percent sure what this meant, because to me mass market paperbacks just means paperbacks. But these are the pocket-sized books you find on vendor stands, newsagent stands, in the magazine sections of grocery stores. They are credited with bringing fiction to the masses — an affordable alternative to the larger format trade paperback.
But they really haven't been selling well, down to only a few million a year. They are almost impossible to find, and they are no longer going to be produced or distributed. So it is the end of an era as mass market paperbacks disappear from the high street. Sad, in its way. But you can still find plenty of trade paperbacks in places like Barnes & Noble and Waterstones — and of course at the many resurgent indie bookstores you will find everywhere.
Podcasts Overtake Talk Radio
And there is one more story. Since this is a podcast, it is a story about podcasts — and that is that this year, for the first time, people in the US are listening more to podcasts than they are to talk radio. The podcast format is growing, and I am delighted to be part of it. I am hoping that at some point I will learn how to present in a way that is worthy of the listenership as the appetite for such things continues to grow. Podcasts overtaking talk radio — who would have thought it?
I will leave you with that. I very much hope to see many of you at London Book Fair and at the Indie Author Lab on the 11th of March at Kensington Town Hall. Thank you very much, and I'll speak to you at the same time next week.
