When Rachel Drury fell ill she wrote a book. When Amazon proved unsuitable for selling it, she set up a new website dedicated to Irish authors. Here she tells her story.

My life took a sudden turn in 2016 when I was diagnosed with a condition called ulcerative colitis. Up until that point, I had worked full time as an engineer in the renewable energy industry but when the diagnosis came along, so did a major change in my working life and lifestyle.

As I continued to work following the diagnosis, I began to find that going to work was becoming a major source of stress in my life and I was in and out of hospital trying various treatment options to get the condition and my weight under control.

In 2018, I made the difficult decision to leave my full-time employment to focus on my health and to figure out how I could adjust my working lifestyle with my ongoing health condition. By 2020, and as my health improved, I began to write about aspects of my life that had changed, and this became the start of writing my first book Powered to Fall, Empowered to Rise. I used this opportunity to reflect on how living with an illness had impacted my life and changed my perspective on what was important to me. It was my hope that the book would help others who were also going through a difficult time in their own lives.

I decided to self-publish my book through Amazon, and within two weeks I was holding the book in my hands and sharing it with family and friends. Unfortunately, the time of publishing my book coincided with the introduction of Brexit, and Irish customers soon faced difficulties purchasing my book online.

When my book was no longer available to buy from Amazon, I started to look for an alternative online marketplace in Ireland to sell my book. I was keen to find something Irish owned and when I didn’t find one, I set up buythebook.ie which became Ireland's first online marketplace for books.

Once the website went live, I began looking for other Irish authors to come and join Buy the Book. I knew that I could offer them a personal service and I knew there would be others facing the same Brexit issues with Amazon that I had. I became passionate about creating an Irish alternative to Amazon for authors, and I began reaching out to others to share my idea.

It wasn’t long before Irish authors joined Buy the Book and we began to host online calls to share ideas on how we could market our books in Ireland. As the author community started to growand we began to actively support each other, I realised that Buy the Book was becoming much more than just an online bookstore. It was becoming a place where authors were finding support and encouragement from their peers.

As more authors joined Buy the Book, I wanted to give members full control for selling their books directly to their readers. With the help of my fiancé Des, we developed a new website which we launched in October 2021. Authors can now create their own account, manage their orders directly and get paid automatically with Stripe.

It has been one year since I decided to set up Buy the Book and we are now proud to host over ffty other Irish authors on our website with books on Irish Interest, Health and Wellbeing, Parenting, Fiction and Children’s Books. What had started out as an initial setback with Amazon has turned out to be a great opportunity for Irish authors to come together on an Irish owned marketplace and to become part of our growing author community.

For the Irish reader, Buy the Book is the perfect place to shop local and to shop Irish. There is also the opportunity for the reader to request a signed copy of the book, leave a message for the author or connect with them through social media. When a customer buys a book from us, they are supporting a small Irish business, and Irish authors who retain up to 90 per cent of their book royalties.

Some of the authors listed on the site include Dr Mary O’Kane, author of Perfectly Imperfect Parenting, Patricia O’Flaherty author of Baking with a Touch of Magic, Liam Cahill author of The Forgotten Revolution and Emma-Jane Leeson author of the Johnny Magory series.

The website is unique as it offers readers a chance to find books they might not otherwise find in traditional bookstores, and they can request a personalised signed copy of the book or leave a comment for the author. The website also offers readers the chance to leave a review or contact the author directly by message.

Buy the Book offers support and encouragement for every author after they have published their book. It has become more than just an online bookstore as our online community grows, and that is what I am passionate about. Helping others and learning from each other. I would encourage anyone who is thinking of writing a book, to go for it.

There are so many options available today to publish your book and there is nothing more rewarding than holding your own book in your hands and sharing your story with others. I believe that we all have a story to share and that in coming together we can be stronger than going it alone. Ní neart go cur le chéile.

Visit buythebook.ie

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When Rachel Drury fell ill she wrote a book. When Amazon proved unsuitable for selling it, she set up a new website dedicated to Irish authors. Here she tells her story.

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