I’m delighted to welcome Ryan from Your Paper Quest to Linda’s Book Bag today. Ryan and Steve got in touch a couple of weeks ago to tell me about a brand new subscription service for readers who would love to discover independently published authors (who can sometimes be tricky to find).

I was so interested that I simply had to invite Ryan onto the blog to explain more about Your Paper Quest and I’m thrilled that I am able to tell you first hand about my experience of the subscription too. More about that later, but first let’s find out more about Your Paper Quest.

An interview with Your Paper Quest founder Ryan Haidar

Hi. Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Ryan. Thanks for answering my questions. I was intrigued when you got in touch to introduce Your Paper Quest. Could you tell me a bit about it please?

Your Paper Quest is a UK-based, book of the month subscription box, exclusively featuring books from self-published authors. Our goal is to help self-published authors get more exposure whilst helping readers read a bit outside the box. We’ve been working on YPQ for over a year now but have been live since August, we just delivered our fourth subscription box and are currently preparing our fifth! Although we can only accept subscribers from within the UK, we accept submissions from anywhere in the world.

This is a different kind of book box service. What do readers and authors get out of it?

Readers get two self-published books a month, along with bookish bits, and an invitation to join our virtual book club where they can meet other subscribers and ask our authors questions.

Why self-published books?

The downside with self-published books is that there are a lot of them, and although this is also a strength, it’s remarkably overwhelming for someone to know where to start. Our goal is to find the best self-published stories and introduce them to our readers; this way they can not only experience new stories, but new authors as well to help find writing voices that truly work for them. One of the things that makes us unique as a subscription box is that our themes change every month, we focus on stories that are accessible and enjoyable regardless of genre. This serves as a taste-breaker for readers to be introduced to new genres.

I have sampled one of your subscription packs and I’d definitely never have found the books without it.

For our featured authors, we know how many scams target them, and we want to make a difference and show that it doesn’t have to be that way. Not only do we pay our authors to be featured, but we also print and distribute the books to our subscribers on their behalf (don’t worry contracts are in place to protect everybody’s IP). This greatly reduces their burden and makes for a seamless process. We also provide authors with an opportunity to engage with our subscribers through our monthly interviews. Every featured author participates in a 35ish minute interview about not only their featured story, but also about their experience as a writer and what else they have written. We then post these on YouTube and share them to our followers and beyond.

And very interesting those interviews are!

Your Paper Quest is run by you and Steve. Please could you introduce yourselves?

Hello! I’m Ryan and I am the founder of Your Paper Quest. I grew up in Oregon in the US, moved to London for my masters a few years ago, and have been working on YPQ ever since. For someone who hardly read growing up, I would have never imagined that I’d find myself here today, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. That being said, when I’m not reading or working on YPQ you can find me (hopefully) lost in the woods somewhere.

And Steve?

I’m Steve, curator at Your Paper Quest; I am also Steven William Hannah, indie author and semi-colon enthusiast. Ryan found me on Twitter posting these massive self-published culling threads where I’d take the first chapters of 300+ indie books and talk about the ones I really liked and why I dropped the others. That turned out to be exactly the kind of thing that YPQ needed and here we are!

I love the way partnerships and friendships can arise out of social media Steve.

Why is your focus on indie authors?

There are so many reasons as to why we’ve decided to focus on self-published and indie authors. For the past 150ish years, the traditional publishing industry has essentially not just had a monopoly on shelf-space in popular bookstores, but to a much greater extent, has had a remarkable influence on deciding the stories that have helped to shape human thought for generations. Through our experience, we know that there are a plethora of amazing stories out there that just don’t get the recognition that they deserve and our goal is to better connect these stories with readers interested in reading more than just the twenty most popular books on a table in Waterstones. Another reason is to help bring more credibility to the industry, the number of scams out there targeting self-published and indie authors is demoralizing to say the least. We’re growing a business where everybody wins, and want to show that self-published and indie authors bring a lot more to the table than what they’ve traditionally been given credit for.

I must say, I’ve encountered some fabulous books from indie authors. So, tell me Ryan, how do you select the books featured?

Sourcing the books is like many streams feeding into a big river. I find books in our submission box, on the internet, from competitions, and cover art threads all over the place. Then I randomly select books from an absolutely gigantic pile of indies and scour them for signs of promising stories. I look for unique voice, style, the kind of thing that generally appeals to readers regardless of genre. It’s a lot of fun, I still really enjoy finding great books. Also, I get to find some truly bizarre things amongst that pile, so I feel like I’m unearthing lost texts or something sometimes.

It sounds like being the Indiana Jones of the book world. How exciting!

Other than books, what else is in a subscription package?

Aside from two self-published books, our subscription box itself features bookmarks tailored to each story as well as an accompanying note from the author. A Your Paper Quest subscription also comes with an invitation to join our virtual book club. This is where readers can not only meet other subscribers and discuss the books, but can also ask questions for the authors, which we include in our monthly author interviews. Subscribers are not just receiving books; they’re being welcomed into our reading community.

How brilliant. Where can readers and writers find you?

The best place to reach us is directly through our website. This is where readers can subscribe and where authors can submit their stories to be featured. We are also on most social media platforms @yourpaperquest. Twitter/X is where you’ll find most of our day-to-day, and our Instagram is full of unboxing links and reviews. More than anything please don’t hesitate to reach out, we’re always looking forward to hearing from readers and writers alike!

Thanks. And is there anything else we should know about Your Paper Quest?

We’re a small business trying to find our way in an ever-growing oligopoly of a world. We want to help the little guy; we want to work towards getting rid of the stigma against self-publishing. Some of the best books we’ve ever read are self-published, and we hope that that will start to be the case for others too.

I couldn’t agree more. Thanks so much – both for being interviewed and for sending me November to sample. Let me share my experience:

Unboxing a Your Paper Quest Subscription Pack

Now, before I show you what I received in November’s subscription pack, I have to apologise for my useless photography and I really would suggest heading to the My Paper Quest Instagram page for a much more professional look at subscriptions!

Firstly, I had an envelope that had a hand written reverse.

When I opened the pack I found two paperback books by new to me authors, both of which were embossed inside with a gold Your Paper Quest seal of approval, with letters from the authors, book related bookmarks and an opportunity to join an online Bookclub with interviews with the authors and a chance to discuss the books with others.

The books were The Master of Demise by Nadija Mujagic and Safe and Sound by Rachel Bowdler. I hadn’t heard of either previously, but both sound terrific.

As I said, my photo skills are execrable, so here are more professional details about the books:

The Master of Demise by Nadija Mujagic

Mitch Wegner had it all: a prestigious career as a professor, a loving wife, and a reputation as a brilliant academic. But when a student takes his own life and Mitch is blamed, his life quickly spirals out of control. As his marriage falls apart and his job is put on the line, Mitch finds himself descending into a dark and dangerous world.

Haunted by his past and fuelled by his own narcissism, Mitch makes a series of increasingly desperate choices that lead him down a path of violence and betrayal. When another person on campus mysteriously dies, Mitch becomes the prime suspect, but the truth behind the killings is far more twisted than anyone could have imagined.

In this gripping psychological thriller, author Nadija Mujagic takes readers on a heart-pounding journey through the mind of a man consumed by his own ego and the dark secrets that he thought he had buried. With twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end, The Master of Demise is a chilling tale of obsession, revenge, and the terrifying consequences of our actions.

Safe and Sound by Rachel Bowdler

As the lead singer of popular pop-rock band, Gen Y, Ruby Bright has always hidden her struggles with fame and oppressive management behind flashy outfits and feigned confidence for the sake of the fans, but when her tour bus crashes and her best friend, bandmate, and, according to the public, boyfriend, is killed, she loses her only pillar of support and everything is turned upside down. It’s only made worse when her security team believe that a crazed stalker who has been sending cryptic letters for over a year is at the root of it all. The elevated threat to a grief-stricken and recovering Ruby leaves them no choice but to send her to a secluded safe house in Cumbria, where she can be protected twenty-four hours a day until her best friend’s killer is brought to justice.

When entitled celebrity, Ruby Bright, walks through retired witness protection officer Shea O’Connor’s doors, though, Shea is less than impressed with the new guest seeking refuge in the farmhouse she now offers out to people in need of security – especially when cabin-fevered and traumatised Ruby proves a challenge in every aspect. As Ruby navigates her grief through reckless behaviour though, Shea begins to realise that she may have more in common with the pop star than she once thought. Nobody is more surprised than her, then, when an unexpected connection begins to develop between them.

All sense of security is broken when Ruby receives a new threat from her stalker. When Ruby is taken from the house by her security team, a chilling discovery is made. With Shea the only person Ruby can truly trust, the two embark on a thrilling game of cat and mouse with the people trying to take Ruby down — but can Shea fix past mistakes and protect Ruby, or are the people behind all of Ruby’s recent misfortunes too powerful to stop?

In the interests of honesty I also had a look at a well known online shop to see how much buying the books without the £18 monthly subscription to Your Paper Quest would be. It would have cost me £2.98 more without the extras like the bookmarks, author letters and access to author interviews and the online bookclub that Your Paper Quest provided. I’d call that a win!

Take a look at Your Paper Quest to see if it appeals to you too – here’s the website.