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Weekly Write-Up: 29th April 2020


Welcome to the SPF Weekly Write-Up, where each Wednesday we collect together the self-publishing news of the week so you don’t have to.

This week: people are reading more books under lockdown, Amazon donates to an indie bookstore fund, and our Bestseller course is now live.

More People Are Reading!

Hallelujah! It only took a global pandemic to make it happen!

A new survey from The Reading Agency has found that almost one in three people in the UK are reading more – classics and crime novels in particular. The demographic with the greatest increase in reading habit appears to be those in the 18-24 bracket, with almost half of those asked saying that they’re picking up more books than ever before.

The reasons seem to be that books offer a new (for them) form of release, and that they now have more free time to read them.

You can read more over at the BBC, here.

Amazon Donates to Bookstore Fund

In a move that has surprised many in the publishing industry, Amazon has donated $250,000 to a fund in aid of bookstores affected by the coronavirus crisis.

Amazon originally made the donation relatively anonymously, but was revealed as the mystery donor as speculation grew – hardly surprising, given that the fund had amassed $130,000 otherwise.

Perhaps this will help mend bridges between the retail giant and smaller brick-and-mortar bookstores. You can read more about it here.

Limited Time Offer: How to Write a Bestseller

Just a reminder that we recently launched our brand new craft-focussed course, How to Write a Bestseller. Put together and presented by bestselling author Suzy K Quinn, it covers everything you need to know to give your book the best chance of grabbing a reader’s attention from the first to last page and launching to the top of the charts.

Also, there’s $100 off for early adopters, but be quick – the discount will only be active for the next couple of days. You can enrol in the course here.

Tom Ashford

Tom Ashford

Tom Ashford is a professional copywriter, author of numerous dark fantasy and sci-fi novels, and the Head of Content at the Self Publishing Formula Blog. His books include the Blackwater trilogy and the Checking Out series.

He lives in London with his wife, in an apartment that doesn’t allow pets. Find out more about Tom here.
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