Stevie Szabad, Author

The river is thawed. Spring is in the air. And…

I’ve finally solved an indie author problem that this past year has made even worse. (Only one problem this past year has made worse? Sheesh.. I could write a book about what has been bad about this past year. Oh, I did! More about that later.) No, this particular problem for independent authors is the big one: how to sell books.

Pre-pandemic, selling my books wasn’t easy, but with large bookstores first of all, being open, and second, allowing author signings, I made enough sales to continue funding my writing avocation. I got two books published that way, even enough seed money left over to get a third in the pipe. (Again, more about that later.) But online sales with Amazon barely provided enough monthly royalties to buy fancy upgraded coffee brands from the grocery stores this past year, much less than the wine and steak restaurant meals I’d been used to treating myself with from in-person sales days. The problem confounded me.

I considered selling and mailing my books directly from my website. I even set up a payment app for buyers to use. But delivery costs always stopped me from following through – I’m a reader myself and if I don’t want to pay that much for a book (20$ plus shipping), why would I ask others to do so? So I didn’t.

Like an itch that couldn’t be reached to scratch, I kept on the lookout for solutions. And then, one day, a little post on my local writer’s Facebook group caught my attention. A local (as in Ottawa, Ontario) online shopping site was hunting for more product to add to their store, how about indie author books, please and thank you, anyone interested? I jumped on it. Application, uploaded pictures, descriptions. Check, check. Done. It was the solution I’d been waiting for. My two memoirs, “Camp Follower One Army Brat’s Story”, and “First We Eat. Food, Life, and More Stories” by Michele Sabad, are now both available for ordering and delivery from ottawahandmade.com Added bonus? Check out their catalogue of unique and handmade items for sale and that can be delivered together with my (and to be fair, others’) wonderful books. Please let me know what you think of ordering online from this great site, and if you’ve read this far, I’ll tell you that my books from there come personally signed.

As for my upcoming release, “Lost Year A Pandemic Diary 2020”, stay tuned. Cover reveal coming within the month.