Last-minute gifts and the holiday season.
It’s very easy to go and buy gift cards. I’ve done it many, many times.
The problem with gift cards is that while they’re imminently practical they’re often impersonal.
That’s not to say that they can’t be amazing. I always appreciate gift cards to places I frequently shop. However, when possible, despite this being the last minute, please support local artists, small businesses, indie-authors, and the like.
Everyone deserves to celebrate the holidays
The big box retailers of the world want your money. But given profit margins, they are doing largely okay.
Local artists, small businesses, indie-authors, and the like, however, work on much more razor-thin margins. Every single sale that they make is important and helps them to also celebrate the holidays.
Yes, this might come across as self-serving (and to some degree, as an indie-author myself, it is). But that doesn’t make it any less true.
Sure, you might pay more when you buy from a small business or local artist. However, that’s not going into the pockets of faceless CEOs, shareholders, or the like. It’s going directly into the pockets of the workers.
Hell, with indie-authors, eBooks tend to cost less than what you pay for traditionally published authors. That’s part of how we stay competitive in a crowded market where we are not in competition with one another – but still trying to get noticed and make sales.
When you support local artists, small businesses, indie-authors, and the like, you are helping them to do better, get more exposure, and hopefully also celebrate the holidays. They work just as hard as anyone else and any sales they can get, especially this time of year, improves their ability to celebrate the holidays (at least, from the retail-frenzy aspect of them).
Support local artists, small businesses, indie-authors, and the like all year
This is an ongoing challenge for all of us. Especially online.
For indie-authors, we’re often tied to one of those big businesses – Amazon. Many an indie-author are self-published because of the ease of using KDP and turning their work into eBooks with very little cost on your part (save editing and cover art, and some can do the latter themselves).
There are new and increasingly helpful tools expanding the range of indie-authors. Draft2Digital opens the way to a much wider distribution beyond Amazon. However, that also gets tied to big businesses like Walmart and Apple.
Still, buying from indie-authors helps us get ourselves out there, no matter the time of year.
Local artists often go to farmer’s markets, craft fairs, flea markets, and such, to get seen. Most, however, can still be found online (it is almost 2025 now – if you have a business and are not online, you are not just missing out – you’re kinda cutting off your nose despite your face). A Google search will help you find them and their work so that you can support them.
Small businesses are easy to spot. They might be only online, or have a small storefront or two, in total. This can range from retail to yoga studies to restaurants and so on. While there is comfort in some of the chain stores and restaurants, don’t neglect the small businesses, because they often offer more personal and helpful services.
This all matters because the independents often are harder to find in the sea of the known and connected. You’ve probably seen commercials for McCormick spices, but not that one-of-a-kind spice shop in that cute downtown area.
Your support keeps the lights on and the ideas flowing, no matter the time of year.
Thanks for reading. As I share my creative journey with you, I conclude with this: How are you inspired to be your own creator – whatever form that takes?
Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.
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