Initiative offers self-published authors broader reach

Local Books initiative offers self-published authors broader market reach

9 September 2014

Rotorua-based independent publisher BMS Books has launched a Local Books initiative to offer self-published authors the opportunity to extend their reach into broader markets.

BMS director and publisher Mike Smith says the concept of Local Books is based on giving self-published authors better access to the marketplace through the imprint BMS Books, which publishes its own books.
“We have established this service to help writers and independent publishers who produce only short runs of books. Feedback tells us that many of these books struggle to reach the market their work merits.

“As such, we see Local Books as offering them an opportunity to place their books in front of a wider audience.”

BMS believes this will also help booksellers and other distributors by providing them with the infrastructure to more easily make such books available to customers in the marketplace.

“Booksellers are often reluctant to take on self-published books as the authors are largely unknown and arrangements for sales and marketing can be too difficult. We aim to simplify this process for booksellers as well as providing them with sales and marketing collaterals to help boost marketing.”

BMS Books takes responsibility for ensuring the content of the books it is making available under the Local Books scheme is of a sufficiently high standard to go to market.

“The reception from books distributors and retailers suggests they welcome the need for a new way of handling self-published books. Local Books stands are present in stores in Rotorua and Whakatane.
“Writers have already signed up to or shown interest in the Local Books initiative, so we are marketing and distributing self-published books in a number of areas in New Zealand,” Mike Smith says.

ENDS

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