Waterstones

For a lot of self-publishing authors, getting their books into big-chain bookshops can seem as impossible as hitting a space station with a sling-shot.

There is something of a validation in walking into a bookshop, especially a big-chain branch, and spying your book on the shelf. It’s something we crave as indie authors. But as indies, with corporate structure and head office guidelines, that shelf can often seem a million miles away.

But is getting our books into big chains as impossible as we think?

HOW I DID IT

I’m a fantasy author of The Emaneska Series and my books The Written and Pale Kings are permanently stocked in some 20+ Waterstones stores across the UK. I hold regular signings and events at a large number of branches across the South and the Midlands – around twenty so far in the past year.

I’ve just finished one