Local Authors
There are many authors and illustrators in Hitchin and the local area – such a talented bunch! If you are local to us and would like to consider our shop for a launch party or to hold an event with us, please do contact us via email. We are happy to hear from both Children’s and Adult book authors/illustrators. Terms and conditions apply e.g. a minimum sales on the day amount to make events viable. We can send you these, please ask. We work in partnership with local authors: we support you and need you to support our shop. When this relationship works, great things can happen. If you are already a customer of ours, we’d of course be delighted to hear about your book!
Deciding whether we can stock your book depends on how your book is published, so read on for information that will help you decide whether to approach us. Please read this guidance ‘Getting your book into a High Street Bookshop’ from our friends at The Booksellers Association, and follow their advice on how to get your book stocked in an indie bookshop such as ours.
If you need further advice on getting published, we also recommend these titles which you can purchase from us (click on the title to purchase):
Writers and Artists Yearbook (one published per year)
Children’s Writers and Artists Yearbook (one published per year)
Traditionally published authors
Congratulations on publishing your book with an established publishing company. This usually makes it easier for us to stock your book especially when we can obtain it through our main wholesaler, Gardners or direct from one of the main publishers. However we are a small shop and we make stock decisions based on our values and ethos. Contact us by email in the first instance, so we have time to think about your proposal, and deal with it within our working day. Please don’t visit unannounced as we often don’t have time to chat or the right staff member may not be available.
If you would like us to consider whether to stock your book, please follow the guidance from the Booksellers Association.
We love working with authors and illustrators to hold events for both adults and children, to create window paintings, hold launches, readings and signings, have children’s activity and craft sessions and much more. Let us know what you are interested in and we can take it from there!
Non-traditionally published authors (self-published)
Congratulations on publishing your book. We know this isn’t an easy option and it will be the result of a lot of hard work. Publishing in a non-traditional manner usually makes it harder for us to stock your book. Please follow the guidance from the Booksellers Association carefully to give your book the best chance. We are a small shop and we make stock decisions based on our values and ethos. Contact us by email in the first instance, so we have time to think about your proposal, and deal with it within our working day. Please don’t visit unannounced as we often don’t have time to chat or the right staff member may not be available. Please also take the time to think about how you can support us as a business alongside asking us to support you by stocking your book – it should be a two-way relationship with mutual benefits. We are not publishers so can’t give advice on writing a book and getting it published, but you are always welcome to do some research by looking at the books in our shop.
We do not stock any books published by Amazon and do not purchase book stock from Amazon.