Our Local Author Community

Our community is our lifeblood, and it’s fair to say that between buying a bank and moving our stock, to helping us keep our doors open during lockdown, that we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the support of our customers and the wider October Books community. A key component of that is our local authors!

We have always supported local talent, and provided some much needed exposure in terms of shelf-space, events, and promotions to help. However, this isn’t a charitable move - our local authors have, over the last two years, comprised a larger and larger portion of our sales. Between Don Jon, S.E. Lister, Denise Baden, Yarrow Townsend, Ally Hayes & Wendy Stokes, as well as countless others, local authors comprised a staggering 60% of last year’s best sellers! 

In many ways, this figure is indicative of the staying power of the relationship October Books has built with its community over the last 40 or so years. It’s one thing for us to support local authors, but it's a real sign of community spirit and engagement that our community responds to local talent so fervently. 

Looking at the figures for this year, the picture is even rosier for our local authors, with as much as 13 of our 20 best sellers coming from within Hampshire! If you’re a local writer who is looking to get their book out there, please let us know - we would love for you to be a part of our wonderful community! To express interest, simply email us and tell us a little bit about yourself and your work, and we can take it from there. So long as your work lines up with our ethos, there’s nothing standing in your way!