Today I want to highlight an absolutely amazing campaign that begins today! #StandByIndies is a great way to support a small publisher, your favourite independent bookshop and get a great book as well. What’s not to like?
20 April – 10 May 2021
After preparing #StandByIndies for more than a year, picture book publisher Book Island has finally launched their brand-new campaign.
#StandByIndies supports and upholds indie shops and stockists through pre-sales of their forthcoming picture book READY, STEADY, SCHOOL! by award-winning author and illustrator Marianne Dubuc.
Here’s how it works:
1) Between 20 April – 10 May, customers can pre-order READY, STEADY, SCHOOL! with a limited-time discount, along with a free sheet of fun stickers, from bookisland.co.uk.
2) On the product page, customers nominate an #IndieChampion. This could be any independent UK brick-and-mortar bookshop, gift shop that sells books, or indie online bookseller. The shop will then receive £4 from the sale of that book.
3) Customers can choose to collect the book from their #IndieChampion for free, or pay £3.20 for delivery, and expect to receive it sometime in mid-June when the book is published.
4) Immediately after 10 May, Book Island will contact each nominated #IndieChampion individually regarding how many nominations they’ve received and how much they are owed.
Essentially: CUSTOMERS get a discount, INDEPENDENTS get supported, and we ALL bypass the online giants for a while!!
With #StandByIndies, we offer customers a new way to support both independent shops and independent publishers. Nominated indies will receive money immediately after our campaign, and Book Island is able to support independents whilst gauging how much interest there will be in a particular title before release.’
Greet Pauwelijn, publisher at Book Island
About the book:
READY, STEADY, SCHOOL! is a bumper-sized search-and-find book for pre-schoolers by bestselling author and illustrator Marianne Dubuc, translated by Sarah Ardizzone.
Follow gender-neutral gnome Pom on a fascinating adventure around different animal schools – see rabbits learning how to read, frogs creating beautiful artwork and foxes playing sports! But where will Pom decide to go to school next year? Could Pom’s school be a mix of all of that? Packed with detailed illustrations, this picture book invites endless browsing.
Here is picturebookmaker Marianne Dubuc telling us a little bit more about the book:
I love the details in each spread; here one of my favourites:
READY, STEADY, SCHOOL! is available to pre-order from bookisland.co.uk from the launch of the #StandByIndies campaign from TODAY , starting at a discounted price of £12.99. After 10 May, the book will be sold at the RRP of £14.99.
Bristol-based indie publisher Book Island are known for their beautiful picture books which are hand-picked from around the world. Since January 2021, the company no longer supplies Amazon.