Mark Leslie Lefebvre brought to my attention another nifty indie bookseller in Ottawa, Collected Works. The Ottawa Citizen article sums up the bookstore better than I could, so I’ll leave it to you to click through. While you’re at it, take a gander at Collected Works’ website. Pretty decent. Informative, interactive, even has a link to an online shopping cart. Wonder how they feel about indie publishers? I’m going to find out. For now, I’d…
Over the years I’ve heard a lot of huffing and puffing from independent booksellers about their pitiful lot in life, about mice trying to survive in the presence of mammoths, about lack of customer support, of government support, of financial support. I’ve listened carefully to the arguments, considered, researched, and I’m still of the opinion very few independent booksellers get it. What do I mean by get it? I mean it remains most independent booksellers…
We pitched an idea to Indigo this week. It’s a beautifully elegant, but simple solution to environmental and economic considerations: The Virtual Event. Environmental Impact As part of Five Rivers’ commitment to reduce our carbon footprint, and increase our environmental support, we’re looking for an alternative to the traditional book signing and reading which sees an author travel to a location and meet face to face with fans and potential buyers. Recently, we did a…
As many of you know, Amazon recently announced its intention to place a physical footprint in Canada by applying to the Department of Canadian Heritage to ‘open a new Canadian business’. Since then both independent and chain booksellers have made loud protests against the global giant further increasing its Canadian presence. Publisher’s Weekly reported: Heather Reisman, CEO of Canada’s dominant chain Indigo Books & Music, has said the foreign ownership rules in the book industry…
By way of introducing the team here at Five Rivers, we thought you might find of interest interviews we recently conducted. First in the lineup is Kelly Stephens, our Editorial Assistant. Kelly undertakes a great deal here at Five Rivers, from coordinating author events and assisting in the maintenance of our blog and upcoming Facebook Fan Page, to acting as our front line for submissions and editing manuscripts. Q: When not leaping tall buildings as…