I'm curious what approaches or techniques have worked for folks getting their books on physical store selves. How did you start the conversations with booksellers? If you publish via CS or LS, do you have the stores order directly from them? Did you sell the first few on consignment? What discount did you give? Were the stores primarily local to you, or have you had success getting them in far-afield stores? What approach worked with B&N or other chain stores - any special hoops to jump through?
Bookstore placement tips & tricks
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Typically you will be asked to give a 50-60% discount.
If you are selling direct to bookstores then you're unlikely to get inot the big chains - publishers have sales reps and distributors who convince the stores to order the books and to get them to them.
Also, you'd most likely be looking at sale or return - which means that if the books don't sell then the store sends them back to the publisher. For a small or self publisher this cost will be crippling and could well end up putting them into debt rather than making money.
You may have more sucess with smaller and local stores.
Or I know that some presses pool thier resources. I believe O'Brien is one of them which pair up to provide a bigger possible catalogue etc.
If you are selling direct to bookstores then you're unlikely to get inot the big chains - publishers have sales reps and distributors who convince the stores to order the books and to get them to them.
Also, you'd most likely be looking at sale or return - which means that if the books don't sell then the store sends them back to the publisher. For a small or self publisher this cost will be crippling and could well end up putting them into debt rather than making money.
You may have more sucess with smaller and local stores.
Or I know that some presses pool thier resources. I believe O'Brien is one of them which pair up to provide a bigger possible catalogue etc.
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Your books would probably sell better on Amazon than sitting on the shelf in a bookstore. The Internet has just about finished traditional bookstores. All the ones around where I live have gone out-of-business. They just can't compete.
That's true for your area, but may not hold for others. Most books are still sold in stores, so rather than knocking it down, I'd like to try to compile some best practices in this thread for people for whom it's doable.
Some genres or topics may work better than others, too. For example, I have a NF WIP on a topic of local interest, with proceeds planned to go to a local and a national nonprofit, so I'm anticipating significant interest. I would like to be able to point buyers to a local bookstore if possible, rather than Amazon.
Some genres or topics may work better than others, too. For example, I have a NF WIP on a topic of local interest, with proceeds planned to go to a local and a national nonprofit, so I'm anticipating significant interest. I would like to be able to point buyers to a local bookstore if possible, rather than Amazon.
JournoWriter I suspect your best bet would be to buy the books yourself and sell them at a discount of at least 40% off cover price.
Part of the difficulty with placing CreatSpace/LS etc. print books is that the cost of the book is quite high compared to a similar book printed offset, for instance.
Part of the difficulty with placing CreatSpace/LS etc. print books is that the cost of the book is quite high compared to a similar book printed offset, for instance.
There are still Indigo bookstores around where I live, not to mention the World's Biggest Bookstore. As JournoWriter said, it depends where you are.
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Makes sense. You could also send copies to the non-profit groups to sell. I don't know what facilities they have, but if they have some sort of a store front this could work well. Ditto for any museums, if your book deals with the history of the area, etc.
You might also consider getting business cards printed up with your website and your book's url on Amazon. It's worthwhile making it available as an ebook as well. There's a huge ever-growing readership that don't bother with print books anymore.
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Journo, as others have said, some bookshops are going to expect a 50-60% discount off the cover price, and to have them on sale or return; but others might be happy to take them at a lesser discount, and to buy them outright (but they will want good credit terms).
Don't expect books which have been returned to you to be saleable. Many of them will be too scuffed to send on to another retailer, or to sell direct to your readers.
It's very difficult to get your self-published books into a decent number of bookshops, but a week or two of solid phoning round (don't call at busy times, and make sure you're prepared before you phone) might well do wonders.
Several independent bookshops are now showcasing self published books and many bookshops showcase books from local author: don't forget you can be a local author in a few different locations if you grew up somewhere and then moved on, so use these things to your advantage if you can.
This isn't true.
And even if it were, around 40% of books sold online are first selected in those bookshops you say are finished: so having your books on their shelves is likely to increase your online sales, too.
How many books have you ever bought because you were given a business card with an Amazon link on it?
Adding a link to your book on Amazon to your business card isn't likely to help you: such links look untidy and are tiresome to type in accurately. It would be better to add a scannable code, or the link to your own website.
ETA: if you decide to try to get your book into bookshops by sending round press releases and sales information, remember that you have to include a copy of the book--an uncorrected ARC is fine--along with pricing structure and ordering information if you want bookshops to take you seriously. Follow that mailing with a phone call, once they've had a chance to look at the book. And make it easy for them to get the books: don't expect booksellers to jump through hoops to get it, as it will put them off.
Don't expect books which have been returned to you to be saleable. Many of them will be too scuffed to send on to another retailer, or to sell direct to your readers.
It's very difficult to get your self-published books into a decent number of bookshops, but a week or two of solid phoning round (don't call at busy times, and make sure you're prepared before you phone) might well do wonders.
Several independent bookshops are now showcasing self published books and many bookshops showcase books from local author: don't forget you can be a local author in a few different locations if you grew up somewhere and then moved on, so use these things to your advantage if you can.
This isn't true.
And even if it were, around 40% of books sold online are first selected in those bookshops you say are finished: so having your books on their shelves is likely to increase your online sales, too.
How many books have you ever bought because you were given a business card with an Amazon link on it?
Adding a link to your book on Amazon to your business card isn't likely to help you: such links look untidy and are tiresome to type in accurately. It would be better to add a scannable code, or the link to your own website.
ETA: if you decide to try to get your book into bookshops by sending round press releases and sales information, remember that you have to include a copy of the book--an uncorrected ARC is fine--along with pricing structure and ordering information if you want bookshops to take you seriously. Follow that mailing with a phone call, once they've had a chance to look at the book. And make it easy for them to get the books: don't expect booksellers to jump through hoops to get it, as it will put them off.
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