Indie Books Holiday Giveaway Event

Over at A Word Please, the marvellous Darcia Helle is holding an Indie Books Holiday Giveaway with over 76 titles (including a number of my books) from 47 authors.  I know you all like giveaways, so I thought I'd include a little link here and let you know that the event runs throughout the month of December and is open worldwide.  Do drop by and enter - you only need to fill in a form at the site.  What's an "Indie book?"  It's a book published by a publisher that is "independent of the major conglomerates that dominate the book publishing industry. Independent book publishers include small presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses, e-book publishers, and self-published authors."  (that's from the Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group (IBPPG) website).   Because they tend not to have shareholders and high sales targets, Indie publishers often have more flexibility to be creative, innovative, and can work more quickly over longer periods of time than the conglomerates.  They are often more author friendly (especially for authors who aren't celebrities) and tend to be more focused on quality than on names or sales, and keep keep the whole industry more honest and reader/author friendly.  Of course their promotional budgets are smaller, so you might not see them in Walmart or your local supermarket, but rather in good bookstores (the kind that focus on books) or in shops like Amazon or via publisher sites.  Why not do something a little different this year and seek out smaller press, independent titles for gifts and your own reading.  You might be quite suprised at what you can find and you'll get that nice glow from knowing that you're supporting the book world in maintaining an all-important diversity.