Authors Create Award to Celebrate Indies

In time for Valentine’s Day, authors M.J. Rose and Randy Susan Meyers have created the AuthorBuzz Indie Love Award, which is intended to honor independent bookstores for consistently sharing beloved titles with their customers.

Both Rose and Meyers are releasing books on February 12 from Atria/Simon & Schuster, but due to unresolved negotiations over terms Barnes & Noble has significantly reduced orders on Simon & Schuster titles, they said via e-mail. In the past, when both authors ran into similar issues with Amazon that caused their sales to suffer, “Independent bookstores were there,” Rose and Meyers said. “And now, once again, we are counting on them. We want them to know that they can count on us also.”

The idea for Indie Love came from a “click moment,” when they both realized their appreciation for indie bookstores. “We quickly moved from a momentary paralyzing fear, to saying – almost simultaneously – ‘Thank God for the Indies.’ And it struck us how much we can count on them.”

Rose and Meyers have compiled a list of seven February and March titles of various genres that will also be affected by the stalled negotiations. Every indie who sells a combined 28 copies will receive a tin of treats from the Dancing Deer Baking Co. (while supplies last). The bookseller who sells the most copies will win a $500 American Express Gift Certificate.

Booksellers who wish to participate are asked to keep track of copies sold and e-mail tallies to authorbuzzco@gmail.com by April 10, with the subject “Indie Love.”