It's an exciting time to be working with the businesses we work with. People are really waking up to the importance of supporting small businesses and the wonderful things that they do. I feel like readers are getting braver and a lot more of us are a lot more willing to break out of our comfort zones and see what's going on with independent publishers, and there are so many of them doing such amazing things that of course I was full of enthusiasm to support the Republic of Consciousness Prize which had its inaugural year this year.
The prize was founded by Neil Griffiths to support independently published books, and the fund is split evenly between the author and the publisher. The prize fund was raised via raffle - each £10 donated gained an entry into the raffle, and winners were announced in February. Completely unprecedentedly, I won first prize! This has never happened to me before - I never win anything usually - and this prize is pretty much the most fantastic prize a bookworm like myself could ever hope to win.
Because I want to share the excellence and as always raise awareness of these wonderful publishers and this fantastic prize I thought I'd do a little round up post highlighting the brilliant stuff that I've won, and of course with a little giveaway at the end, so keep reading!
Firstly (and after I'd forgotten all about it!) I was surprised with a massive box of books - the shortlist for the prize. I haven't started any yet, but they're an even mix of novels and short story collections and I'm actually going to pick up Light Box later today I think. The box included: Counternarratives by John Keene (Fitzcarraldo Editions), Forbidden Line by Paul Stanbridge (Galley Beggar Press), Martin John by Anakana Schofield (And Other Stories), Treats by Lara Williams (Freight Books), Light Box by KJ Orr (Daunt Books), Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine by Diane Williams (CB Editions), Born on a Tuesday by Elnathan John (Cassava Republic Press) and Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (Tramp Press).
As if that wasn't enough I've also won a ridiculous amount of subscriptions! I had a lovely email from And Other Stories the other day saying that my two book subscription will be upgraded to a six book subscription as I'm already a subscriber, so I'm excitedly awaiting more wonderful books from them! I also won a 7 book subscription from Fitzcarraldo Editions (exciting as I've not read many of their books yet), a 6 book subscription from Irish publisher Tramp Press, a 4 book subscription from Galley Beggar Press, and the first 3 editions of CBe's Sonofabook literary journal, as well as three books from the first two years of Dodo Ink, the first one of which arrived yesterday and looks fantastic (and I LOVE their postcard - it's definitely going on my bookshelves!).
I am SO excited, I'm sure you can imagine. Book post is amazing, and having this many additional indie books in the house on top of what I already buy myself and what's sent for consideration for the box is just beyond my wildest dreams. Of course we love to share the love, and so we have a little giveaway for you! Fill in the Rafflecopter form to win your choice of either a two book subscription from And Other Stories or two titles from the shortlist as pictured above (use the arrows to access both rewards).