First Issue of Indie Picks Is About to Drop: Don't Be Left Behind

It’s hard to believe after all these months of planning and work [mostly by Editor in Chief Rebecca Vnuk] the first ever issue of IndiePicks Magazine is about to be sent out. What is IndiePicks? Well it is a game changer in the way libraries can identify books to add to their collections.

As I said in more detail in this post back in August:

This magazine is going to be a game changer for libraries in many ways and not just because I will be writing for it.

One of the biggest problems libraries are facing right now in terms of collection development is the fact that the Big Five dominate the publishing market and therefore the review space. 

As we all know [but surprisingly most authors do not know], most libraries require that a book have at least 1 review from an “official” source in order for it to be added to their library’s collection. People like me and Robin Bradford [among others] argue publicly that it is time for this rule to change if want our collections to truly reflect the best of what is being published today- especially in terms of diverse titles and genre representation. This rule is why I try to mention as many small press horror books as I can in my columns and on the horror blog so that you can at least have some kind of argument for adding them to your collections. It has helped some of you add independent horror, but for others, you still need that official review. 

My travels throughout the country have shown me that for many libraries, this rule is not going to budge any time soon. Most public libraries are small, single branch operations where they can barely keep up with the Big Five books let alone have time to seek out reviews of independent books on their own, no matter how good these titles may be.But, a library collection focused magazine which will hand deliver these independent titles to you just like our other trusted review spruces do for the larger publishers, this, just about any library worker, anywhere in America can easily add to their repertoire.... 

...I cannot wait to see how Indie Picks makes our library collections better by allowing us to add titles that are more representative of what our patrons actually want to read regardless of who published the title. I am also excited for the implications this magazine will have as a RA tool- a topic I will explore in detail after we have a few issues under our belts.

Well guess what? The first issue can be seen by you using this link...right now....a few days early! 

I cannot tell you how proud I am of being a part of this venture. As I said above, this is a cause I believe in. There are so many great books out there being published by smaller presses and we library workers have no idea they exist. How can we? We are so busy and the small presses don't have the budget to market directly to us. You can read the full post I wrote about this issue [the above is just an excerpt] here.

I am proud of our entire team. This first issue is professional, with thoughtful reviews and articles that I know can help library staff and patrons right this minute. And, we can only get better from here on out. In fact, we are all already busy handing in the copy for issue two-- due before the print issue hits the stands.

Please support us so we can keep up this great work by showing the first digital issue to those who have the power to get a subscription for your library. Details at https://indiepicksmag.com/subscribe/.

Specifically, my reviews are awesome- and I'm going to say so myself. No seriously, I thought long and hard about including titles that were well written, come from trusted publishers who put out a solid hard copy product that will stand up to multiple checkouts, and will appeal to a wide range of readers. You can head over to the horror blog to see my specific reviews with added content, or click here for the free link to the first issue to see all the reviews.