Authors

New Policy: Accepting books from Independent Authors (October 2024):

While we want to encourage all writers and authors in their endeavors, our business model cannot accommodate accepting individual books from individual authors. We buy our books primarily from established publishers, with whom we have a history, and we know they have been vetted for quality and sales potential. As our business has grown, we no longer have the time to vet independently published books or administer the process of selling them. This is the job of agents and publishers, not of booksellers. We will not carry self-published books, print-on-demand books, or take books on consignment. We never stock books published by Amazon, Createspace or IngramSpark.

It’s not that we don’t want to support local authors! It’s just that we believe that being an author is a professional, not avocational activity, and that includes participating in the curatorial process that traditional publishers facilitate.

Please do not drop off books or mail them to us, we cannot return them. Please do not ask our staff to take a look at/read your book. We are all already very busy trying to keep up with the books that are coming in from our regular partners.

Occasional exceptions to this policy are made for non-fiction books about Pittsburgh or Western Pennsylvania.  We will not make an exception unless we can see that the author is an active shopper at and supporter of Riverstone Books —this shows you are actively participating in the ecosystem needed to keep independent stores like ours in business. For authors wondering about the possibility of holding an event in the store, please see our posted Events page. Queries to us about events must address all the questions and issues listed there.