Biblio Distribution cutting publishers

[Cathy C]

I figured I'd post this here instead of the Self-pub forum, since this also applies to small press books.

In the July 11th Publisher's Weekly (page 8 for those who subscribe), I saw an article that Biblio Distribution, a National Book Network program to get small press books into the bookstores, has decided to cut nearly half of the clients from their list. Apparently, when the program started up about three years ago, they took on all of the small presses, including self-publishers with only one or two books in their line. Apparently, they've decided that's not profitable and as contracts renew over the next 12 months, they will be dropping their client list from 900 to 500. Three that were specifically named as being cut are Inland Press, Slawson Communcations and Atrium Publishing.

If you're with a small press or are self-pubbed, you might consider looking for alternatives pretty quick to getting your book into the stores. Just FYI.

[victoriastrauss]

It'll be interesting to see who else they drop. Biblio carries a number of vanity publishers.

- Victoria

[Jamesaritchie]

I figured I'd post this here instead of the Self-pub forum, since this also applies to small press books.

In the July 11th Publisher's Weekly (page 8 for those who subscribe), I saw an article that Biblio Distribution, a National Book Network program to get small press books into the bookstores, has decided to cut nearly half of the clients from their list. Apparently, when the program started up about three years ago, they took on all of the small presses, including self-publishers with only one or two books in their line. Apparently, they've decided that's not profitable and as contracts renew over the next 12 months, they will be dropping their client list from 900 to 500. Three that were specifically named as being cut are Inland Press, Slawson Communcations and Atrium Publishing.

If you're with a small press or are self-pubbed, you might consider looking for alternatives pretty quick to getting your book into the stores. Just FYI.

I don;t think this comes as any shock. It had to happen. It also would not surprise me in the least to see the same sort of thing happen with other book distributors. Too many books are being published, and there's simply too little shelf space to accomodate them all.

[Cathy C]

I agree. But it will be a hard blow for the self-pubs and small presses who try hard, put out a good product, and are already struggling to get books to the readers. Sigh... :(

[Jamesaritchie]

I agree. But it will be a hard blow for the self-pubs and small presses who try hard, put out a good product, and are already struggling to get books to the readers. Sigh... :(

Yes, and I hate to see small presses have such trouble. Some of them publish excellent books. But there really is a funnel effect problem in publishing right now. So many books by so many publishers are being shoved into the wide end of the funnel that it's impossible for the narrow end to handle them.

The reaction from publishers has been to cut ever more midlist writers, but this isn't helping because of the massive number of mid-size publishers, small press publishers, and self-published novels out there. Something has to give. Bookstores are making moves by putting greater restrictions on what books from which publishers they accept, and now distributors are starting to make moves in reaction to this.

I've never thought lumping self-published books with small press books was a good idea. It's just a fact that the majority of self-published books are pretty bad. Some are so bad they aren't even literate. This taint rubs off on the good self-published books, and also on small press books when the two get lumped together.

I don't know what the full answer is, but shelf space in bookstores is limited, and it's already at the point where many books get no shelf time, and most others many get only three weeks to sell. Bookstores are going to have to start placing greater restrictions on who they let through the door, and distributors are going to have to start placing greater restrictions on who they carry, or a lot of very good writers who simply can't quite make the bestseller lists are going to be out of a profession.

I think a lot of us were hoping some remedy would be found at the publishing level, but in truth the bookstores are probably the only ones with the power to make needed changes.

I could definitely be wrong about this, but I think self-published novels, and many small press novels, are going to become internet dependent, of fold up, and will become even less of a presence in brick and mortar bookstores. The top small press publishers will likely always have a place in bookstores, but right now there are just too many books by too many publishers for anyone to possible handle them all, and for most of them to stand any chance at all of earning money, even if someone does take them in.