In The Spotlight: Nicola Ormerod
There is an event happening on TikTok on the bookish side in June where Indie authors are giving their e-books to readers for a TBR takeover. This event was headed by Nicola Ormerod a fellow indie author who wanted to bring the spotlight to an often dismissed type of author.
I had the opportunity to speak with Nicola about this event and her reaction to its success and the plans for future events.
What inspired the Indie June TBR idea?
I haven’t been on Tiktok very long, I only joined up about a week before this event launched. One thing that kept popping up was the people TBR lists for March and they were all mainstream books. I just had a thought that it would be awesome to see a TBR list made entirely from indie and self-published authors. I put a video out just casually asking if anyone thought it was a good idea from a reader/author perspective and the response was amazing! Within two days I had to close author submissions, I was shocked at the positive response from both readers and authors.
What was your process for finding authors?
There was very little process! Within 2 days of posting the video, I had over 30 authors and 50 books signed up. We then had a further 15/20 authors sign up to be a mystery book choice. People have been great sharing, stitching, and dueting the videos and I always post any information about the TBR on Mondays.
Did you expect it to get so much attention?
Never in a million years did I think a passing video would attract so much attention. It’s so great that indie and self-published authors are getting some good exposure and readers are getting free books!
How many authors total signed up? Where they excited about the TBR takeover?
We have around 45/50 authors signed up, we had a lot of authors in the mystery book choice too. We have had over 500 inquiries on Tiktok, and we have had back close to 200 TBR lists from readers. It is amazing and very humbling that people are willing to read nothing but indie/self-pub books on their June TBR.
Why do you feel this is important for Indie authors?
I’ve been an indie author for around 15 years and the hardest part is getting the book out there after its release. This event is giving those authors a platform to get reviews and ratings that they work so hard to get. Tiktok has been, by far the best platform, with the most positive response to my books. It is great for reader/author interactions.
Do you plan on making it a yearly event?
We have another event planned for November. The author sign-up will be July 1st and catalogs will be sent out mid-August. Should the November TBR prove to be as successful we are looking at making this a twice-yearly event. One for summer reads May/June and one near Xmas for Xmas exposure for books.
Overall, this project has reached many readers, some of whom may have never considered indie authors. Are you hoping this will change the stigma around indie authors not being “as good” as traditionally published authors?
There are some really talented people out there who are self-published or with independent publishers and they need to be heard, their stories have been told we just need to give those stories a voice, a platform to reach out and grab potential readers. People need to give indie/self-pub authors a chance, we want to give them the inclination to pick up something they might have overlooked. Some readers have chosen a few books to read but quite a few have challenged themselves to read the whole list.
If you are interested in future Indie TBR events you can reach out to Nicola via email at:
Or via her TikTok:
@nicola_ormerod_author
Nicola Ormerod lives in Glossop, Derbyshire, UK with her two boys. She is the founder of the Indie publisher, Vamptasy Publishing, and the other of a number of novels, including Captive Heart and Red’s Robin.
About the Interviewer
Nena Orcutt is an aspiring author, who thinks too much, Listens to a lot of music. Needs coffee to function. Who thinks Bukowski was a wise man and Hemingway was a genius. And feels romance isn’t dead. She is working on her debut novel “The Crow and The Butterfly” Making her home in Music City she’s ready to conquer the writing world and leave her mark.
