This week in The Book Forge I’m talking to author, Sunday Times bestselling ghost writer, and fellow substacker Anna Wharton. Anna and I have connected over our similar substacks – in hers, The Book Room, you can follow her progress as she sets up a ‘real life’ book shop. We decided to have a chat about the publishing industry, the money involved for both authors and retailers, and what needs to change to make it not just fair, but viable.
What followed was a really consciousness-shifting discussion about what actually matters in life, and how our shopping habits can not only reflect what we value - but also keep what we value alive.
As Anna puts it during our discussion:
“If you are willing to acknowledge the time and the effort and the craft that has gone into a book and pay full price for it, you are actually contributing to this eco-system that not only keeps books being published by publishers, it keeps independent shops there, and it keeps writers writing. Customers choosing to do that is quite a big act that they’re not even aware of.”
Subscribe to Anna’s substack The Book Room
Browse and shop for books at her website The Book Room
We mentioned:
My recent substack on author earnings
Anna’s recent substack on her worst ever trading day
When I Hit You by Meena Kandasamy
How to resist Amazon and why by Danny Kane
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