The Problem: How To Get My Book in Actual Stores

Basically #4 means they want to know what YOUR plan is for promoting the book. Shelf space in a brick and mortar store is limited, and it's not worth their while putting it on the shelf if the book isn't going to move, so they want to know what you're going to do to move copies. For the same reason, they want to know what makes your book stand apart from everything else in its genre. What's the hook?

As for getting into stores in general, you could also try looking into the actual distributors and wholesalers, but I believe they're going to want the same information. Those are the companies brick and mortar stores typically work with when they stock their shelves. That's how Ingram Spark works; they work with Ingram the distributor (note that Ingram Spark is NOT the distributor themselves).

My understanding is there are two issues with getting a self-published book into a physical bookstore: returns and shelf wear. The latter is a result of POD methods; it's (almost?) inpossible to get sturdy enough copies printed when you're self-publishing.

The former is the bigger issue: the store will need a distributor that will take returns of unsold copies. Your best bet here might be approaching local branches and seeing if they'll sell on consignment.

The issue with setting up to offer returns is you can end up making a loss. Most people who do very well with self-publishing will either be selling ebooks/audio books or selling physical copies at events (such as a speaker who tours around and sells the books afterwards). So I'd suggest not viewing book store placement as something that's a mark of success or that most people do to succeed. You'd do better to focus on selling the ebooks.

My case is from another country, and might not be relevant, given that I have only printed books; here e-books aren't much sought yet, especially not national ones to buy. Returns aren't much of a thing here either, in the books world (magazines are another story).

But books sell mainly at literary events. I heard this from many publishers and writers. And some sell online too. (I have them shown online to be ordered, and I am sending the package when ordered). I have a few copies of one of the books placed by the publisher in a known bookshop in the centre of the capital... and guess what: they aren't selling. National authors published with small presses are displayed where nobody sees them, all in a crowd.

If you don't live in a capital/ big city, you'd better talk to the owner of 1-2 smaller book shops, for whom it might count that you are local/ they know you, and they'll order a few copies.

Elenitsa said:

Returns aren't much of a thing here either, in the books world (magazines are another story).

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What I was told (and I've not yet heard anything contradictory) is that in the US market, at least, a ~20% return rate is common. It's not always lack of sales, either; books get beat up when they're on bookstore shelves, sometimes to the point that they're too damaged to sell. Which is where the poor durability of POD books comes into it: books that don't wear well are naturally going to have a higher return rate.

What liz and Polenth said.

When you decide to self-publish, you pretty much forgo brick-and-mortar placement.

What that clause is asking for, specifically trade reviews, is press generated from the book trade, e.g. places like Publisher's Lunch, Kirkus, and the like that review books in advance of publication. These reviews carry significant weight in the industry and they're seen to correlate to large sales. Most of those outlets don't regularly review self-published books, in part because books printed on-demand don't have the potential to sell rapidly in large quantities. Bookstores aren't interested in selling a handful of copies--they're interested in selling books that are going to move in number.

What a trade publisher does is create a catalogue of its titles, complete with press and information for each book. And because the publisher is known, that takes care of the marketing and promotion--the house does it for all their books, often in advance. And while a mid-list title might not sell in massive quantity, the bookstore knows that it will likely sell some, and if it does sell more, the publisher is equipped to capitalize on that. Likewise, if it doesn't, the store knows the publisher can handle receiving multiple truckloads of returns in the rain without hassle; indeed, the store and publisher already have an agreed-upon returns price and process negotiated.

Focus on e-books. Focus on writing another book. Regardless of outlet, what sells books is writing another one, but that's particularly true in self-publishing. A single book isn't discoverable. What you want is to start developing a readership of people who know and like your writing who will come back for more. Have a website. Have a newsletter. Set deadlines for yourself and plan a publication schedule. You're your own publisher.

Like other have pointed out, if you ultimate aim was to get your book into a bookstore then the route that made sense to follow would have been the trade publishing route.

As VeryBigBeard mentioned you either need to keep self-publishing books and develop a presence strong enough to get the interest from publishers who then can get your book in the stores or you need to go the trade publishing route for the next one and submit to agents.

It's very, very unlikely to happen, unless you can convince a local independent store to carry your book to be sold on consignment. As has already been said, bookstores work with sales reps from the bigger publishers and with the distributors who supply books. You can offer print books through Barnes and Noble's Nook Press so that they'll be orderable on line, but they won't appear in stores.

Outside of a few local bookstores who might put a few copies in their Local Authors section, self published books almost never get picked up in brick and mortar stores. Once you sell 100,000 copies and are on the NYT best seller's list, it gets slightly easier.

This is one of the drawbacks to self publishing. You have to accept both the advantages and disadvantages if you choose this route. Find a different way to market your book.

Jeff

I started self-publishing romance last year and just decided to forgo print books at the beginning because I didn't think it was worth the hassle. My books are only available as e-book. I have had modest success. See my self-pub thread here. Personally, I would not be focusing on getting my books in stores as a path to success, but focus more on selling e-books.

I am hoping to put out print books this year, though, mainly so I can do signings, and because a few people who don't read e-books have asked. Also, The Ripped Bodice, a romance bookstore in the LA area said they would carry my print books if I had them. I don't expect this to make much money, but it's something I'd like to do.

It looks like your book might be a paranormal or fantasy romance (does it have an HEA?) so you might try contacting The Ripped Bodice here to see if they will stock your book. They have info here for authors. You might also inquire at local independent bookstores.

But other than that? I would really just focus on e-books. I think in romance (that's what I know), for indie authors, e-books are around 90-98% of sales.

Not to say anyone here does this (being all folks who do their research and are generally nice, understanding people), but as a bookseller I have to deal with hostility from self-published authors pretty regularly. Some Indies do, and that's great, some don't, and they have good reasons (like paperwork, shelf space, and perhaps a desire not to open the floodgates when you get bombed with between 10-50 requests a week). But the rage you can face when you say no can be rather exhausting, and some people hold some pretty intense grudges over it.

Self-publishing is awesome and empowering, but it pays to go in with both feet planted. Also, just because someone says no doesn't mean they're intentionally trying to be a dreamsmasher.

Kevin, who's maybe laying it on thick because he loves self-pulblishing but is a little tired of getting yelled at.

I don't know what to say about this, as it remains a problems for self-published titles. Actually, it's becoming more of an issue for trade-published titles too, even when they are published by "Big Five" subsidiaries.

I find myself going to Barnes and Noble less and less, because their SF and F shelves are mostly limited to new releases with an inconsistent smattering of older titles by really well-known authors. Even the new releases are already heavily towards authors who have already "made it." I used to like brick-and-mortar bookstores as a place to visually scan the shelves and discover new writers, but that doesn't seem to work anymore.

I think there's an endless feedback loop happening here. More and more book sales or e-books or paper books are bought online, so brick-and-mortar stores sell fewer books. Therefore they need to be increasingly selective about the titles they shelve, which will drive even more people to purchase books online.

They will order titles for you, but you already have to know the name of the book and author to do this, and since I can do that via the internet and get them delivered to my doorstep or ipad...

Roxxsmom makes a great point. Even the Big Five don’t automatically have all their titles carried by B&N. I’ve heard of covers changed because B&N reps didn’t like them, and similar stories suggesting it’s not always easy to get placed there, and this is with the resources of a huge house in play.

So, never say never, but I don’t think trying B&N is worth your effort unless the book becomes a runaway bestseller. My local indie has a program where they put self-pub books on consignment. I suggest looking at store websites first to see if it’s an option, and, as Kjbartolotta said, be polite. Which is good advice for all authors, even the ones with huge trade deals, because indie booksellers hand-sell books and can be your best friends. Plus they’re cool people who love books.

But overall, like others are saying, I’d focus on ebooks. If you really enjoy getting the hard copies out there, maybe see if you can book a table at a local genre con.

KittenEV said:

"Step 4: For Store Placement Consideration Only. Please prepare Trade Reviews, Marketing andPromotional Plans for your title(s), as well as a note describing how your book meets thecompetition or what makes it unique. Preferred method would be an additional document (inWord) that encompasses all of the above."

Any understanding on what barnes and noble is asking for step 4 and what I need to prepare for it?

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I understand it perfectly. The problem is that, if you don't, you may have chosen self publishing a little too quickly. What they ask for is basic marketing information. Something you should have already prepared before your book went to press.

Trade reviews are copies or listings of reviews you have received in known and respected locations. Everything from NYT to your local library's publication counts, as do reviews in the major media addressing the publishing trade, such as Publisher's Weekly. What DOES NOT count is Amazon reviews, Goodreads and the like.

Marketing and Promotional plans are what you prepare when you are selling your work. Traditional publishers do this as part of their service, as a self-publisher you get to do it yourself. How are you going to market and promote your work? Print or TV advertising, social media ads, appearances on talk shows and so on all would be included. Trade shows you'll attend, promotional copies you're sending reviewers, etc. Normally these plans are pretty detailed, including your target markets and what your competition is. Most importantly, why your book is better than the competition.

What your book is, along with your expertise in writing the book, are all part of your plan. Naturally, the plan varies with the type and genre of your work, taking your fantasy romance to Sleuth Fest probably isn't going to work but hitting Comic Con might.

In short, you need to sell your work to B&N by explaining how you'll sell your work to their shoppers. Exclusive placements, special ad placements in B&N publications and story displays or collateral are important. Pretty much, telling B&N why your book is best for them and why they should carry it. Which kind of requires knowing why B&N chooses any book.

Good luck.

Jeff

Kjbartolotta said:

Not to say anyone here does this (being all folks who do their research and are generally nice, understanding people), but as a bookseller I have to deal with hostility from self-published authors pretty regularly. Some Indies do, and that's great, some don't, and they have good reasons (like paperwork, shelf space, and perhaps a desire not to open the floodgates when you get bombed with between 10-50 requests a week). But the rage you can face when you say no can be rather exhausting, and some people hold some pretty intense grudges over it.

Self-publishing is awesome and empowering, but it pays to go in with both feet planted. Also, just because someone says no doesn't mean they're intentionally trying to be a dreamsmasher.

Kevin, who's maybe laying it on thick because he loves self-pulblishing but is a little tired of getting yelled at.

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I can second all of this, as a bookstore owner. Our policy is that we will only stock self-pubbed or vanity-pubbed titles from authors who live in our county. Having a guideline like this has reduced the amount of conflict when I say no to people and allows me to not have to make a judgment on someone's book while they are standing in front of me (which literally kept me up at night the first year we were open because it crushed my soul almost as much as it did the author's, I think). I have also started quoting the statistic from 2017 of 1 million ISBNs for self-published books which usually stops any potential argument in its tracks.

Here are some of the very legitimate, practical reasons why self-published books are not easy to get into stores.

--I work with dozens of vendors a month as it is, between publishers, wholesalers, distributors, and sideline companies. In my small store we have between 12k and 15k titles at any given time. Having 100+ consignment authors to deal with quarterly is time-consuming enough***, imagine if we went wider and carried even just a few hundred more self-pubbed books and had a few hundred more vendors to deal with? Impossible.

***Note: the vast majority of these books rarely if ever sell, so I don't have to pay 100+ people every quarter, but I do have to keep careful track of them and much of it is manual work. Which brings me to my next point....

--The vast majority of these books rarely, if ever, sell, despite the fact that we give almost all of them some face-out time in a prominent place in the front of the store. And many of them are in genres or subjects that don't sell well generally in bricks-and-mortar indies. Shelf space is precious. We cannot provide a ton of space for these books. (If it makes anyone feel better, we have had terrible luck with James Patterson (aside from his middle grade stuff) so we don't give him shelf space either. We also rarely participate in the big publisher co-op marketing stuff to give them special displays or whatever. We do our own thing, what works for *our* community)

--I have to make decisions about literally hundreds of new trade pubbed books a week as it is. Most inventory decisions are made pre-publication. And with trade pubbed books, I have access to galleys (in some cases), early industry reviews (Kirkus, LJ, PW, Booklist etc), early bookseller/customer/reader/blogger reviews on edelweiss, Goodreads etc, some idea of comps or previous track record with the author in our store, etc, I can see the size of the print run and marketing plan which says a lot about publishers' expectations on a given title, etc. With self-published books I generally have none of these things.

--Quality - allow me to preface that there are many self-pubbed authors who do an amazing job on their books - good cover art, proper editing and formatting, etc. I have read some of these, I happily hand-sell some of these in my store... But I will be blunt: a large amount of those million ISBNs are going on books that should never have made it out of a slush pile. They haven't been proofread, let alone properly edited. I work 60+ hours a week running my store and I don't have time to do proper vetting of even a fraction of the submissions we get for self-pubbed books in terms of content and quality.

--Price - Many self-pubbed and especially vanity-pubbed books are priced well above comparable books from trade publishers. I can't sell a paperback picture book for kids at $15 when the other ones we carry are $7.99. I can't sell a YA trade paperback for $18 when a John Green or Nnedi Okorafor paperback is $10 or 12.

--Our cost/margins - some people would have you believe that publishers and bricks-and-mortar stores are making a mint off of the work of authors. The truth is that our margins are laughable compared to most kinds of retail. I am in a high-rent town, and it's not like I can just raise prices like a restaurant can or something. Prices are printed on the books, and the margins we get from our suppliers are non-negotiable. Short discounts and non-returnability through wholesalers make a difference, and they are the norm for self-pubbed books that are available through Ingram. As a small shop with almost no staff, every dollar counts so we are left with the very time-consuming consignment system.

--Scum-sucking bottom-feeders - the so-called 'publicists' and 'publishing services' companies that take authors' money and don't do jack-sh*t to help sell their books. The ones who charge hundreds of dollars and promise results and don't even know how to sell a book to a reader or a bookstore. When I get phone calls or emails from those people I want to punch them (I've never punched anyone, for the record). There are so many a**holes taking advantage of inexperienced authors who don't know the industry and those people make me livid.

I could keep going but this is already really long and, now that my potty mouth is emerging, I am afraid I will sound like I'm ranting when I genuinely want to be helpful and give some perspective. I hope it doesn't come across rougher than I mean it. Like Kevin, I get yelled at a lot by people who otherwise have never visited or shopped in my store. I get told that the industry is broken and I'm part of the problem. I get told that I'm a snob. It sucks. Especially since we go out of our way to support our local authors for reasons that have nothing to do with money or 'the industry'. We have developed some great relationships and it is something I am proud of.

So I will add this - personally speaking, I think that, as a way to disseminate art and information, the ease and low-cost of self-publishing is freaking awesome. It democratizes a medium that is otherwise prohibitively expensive or otherwise inaccessible. I wish there was an easier way to find out about and acquire high-quality self-published things that would fit into the niche areas of my store because I am sure they are out there. I don't want to 'protest too much' but I do want to defend those of us in bookselling who aren't snobs about it. Every store has their own methods and reasons for dealing with self-pubbed authors however they do, and some may just be snobs about it, but not all of us.

Last, if you would like me to clarify anything, or if you have any questions for me from this side of the bookstore counter, I would be happy to answer them.

KittenEV said:

But there's always that nagging voice saying, "Why bother write the next one? No one is reading this one."

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Just so you know, you get the same voice if you trade publish. Being an author is hard. It's this weird, unnatural merge of art and brutal capitalism. Some people seem to roll with it fine, but I know an awful lot of authors who feel pummeled by it all the time.

You're not alone. You're starting out, and yeah, you've got a learning curve, but you are learning. And you have written an entire book and published it. Do you know how many people want to do that and never get there? I'm not trying to minimize the hard parts of what you're going through. But you have a great deal to be proud of.

KittenEV said:

For me, next is writing more and getting a trade review hopefully if I can figure out how and it doesn't cost an arm or a leg.

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Good to hear you'll keep writing. That's one of the few things in this industry that a writer can control.

As for getting reviews, for nearly two years now I've been a reviewer for All About Romance (which also reviews genres other than romance, including urban fantasy). We get a lot of requests from the Big Five and the major indies, as well as from self-published authors. Sometimes I look at those authors' books on Amazon to see if the excerpt hooks me, but because there are so many books competing for reviews, I stop reading if there's a problem - cliches, implausibility, technical mistakes, etc. Not an easy playing field for writers, but the only thing to be done here is to improve until those problems are gone, at least from the excerpt.

Re getting trade reviews...that's going to be an uphill battle, I'm afraid. The venues that do them--Booklist, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal/School Library Journal, Kirkus, et al are pretty much only looking at books from Big 5 or other smaller but reputable publishers, though they might review the occasional self-published book from authors who have previously been successfully trade published and are well-known.

However, some of them have caught scent of the blood in the water and now offer play-to-pay reviews for self-publishers...to the tune of hundreds of dollars. But those paid reviews aren't published alongside their trade book reviews, and tend to be looked down on by the people who actually use trade reviews (booksellers and librarians), so there's not a lot of point in shelling out 400-600 dollars for one.

I think you're wise to focus on what you can control--your writing.

Kitten, what you could do right now, and it isn't such a gigantic thing, is to put a link to your book in your sig line here. That way, anyone who is curious can pop it up and check it out. Get in the habit of doing that in interviews, in writing groups and in your social media sources. Just remember that every little bit of tactful promotion will propel you forward.

KittenEV said:

But I just have to dig in and push ahead. I've got 3 reviews, all extremely positive. A sale or two that isn't from friends or family. An ad out. Bookstores may not be an option now, but they may not be off the table entirely depending on what happens in the future. For me, next is writing more and getting a trade review hopefully if I can figure out how and it doesn't cost an arm or a leg. Slowly but surely I'll do this. I will not let this defeat me.

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First, liz monster is absolutely right that you've accomplished something huge.

Second, pull back a bit in terms of your focus on getting your book in brick and mortar stores.

The tricky part in doing that is that bookstores expect a hefty discount (40% is the starting point) AND they expect to be able to return a book that

So the thing to focus on now is racking up sales of the ebook, and, even more importantly, work on getting another book ready to self-publish.

* Biggest way to sell book 1 is to have a good second book ready in a year or so.

Get reviews of your current book from average readers, book bloggers, and non-trade book reviewers.

See this thread and this one and this one.

KittenEV said:

But I just have to dig in and push ahead. I've got 3 reviews, all extremely positive. A sale or two that isn't from friends or family. An ad out. Bookstores may not be an option now, but they may not be off the table entirely depending on what happens in the future. For me, next is writing more and getting a trade review hopefully if I can figure out how and it doesn't cost an arm or a leg. Slowly but surely I'll do this. I will not let this defeat me.

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I have the mythical Publishers Weekly review that didn't require me paying any money (at the time, it was possible to submit the book for review for free... it was some years back, so I don't know what they do now). I technically could try to apply for the book shop thing. I haven't tried it, because it'd be likely I'd make a loss after factoring in the returns.

Rather than seeing it as a distant future goal, perhaps consider that it isn't something that people need to do in the modern world of publishing. Most of the self-publishing successes you read about have never been stocked in book shops. It's not a solid business plan in most cases.

(I'd also add that having a review in a known publication doesn't mean books fly off the shelf either, as most readers really don't care about those reviews. It's just something you can quote on your Amazon page. I get more sales from someone saying they liked the book on Twitter.)

VeryBigBeard said:

Focus on e-books. Focus on writing another book. Regardless of outlet, what sells books is writing another one, but that's particularly true in self-publishing. A single book isn't discoverable. What you want is to start developing a readership of people who know and like your writing who will come back for more. Have a website. Have a newsletter.

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This is what I did. For the first few years and for six books I only made a few hundred dollars each year. But I persevered. For one thing, I can't NOT write. But agents never replied to my queries except occasionally with a brief canned NO response. I figured I might as well self publish.

Slowly the yearly income rose, with a big surge each time I put out another book. Each book was obviously selling all the previous books as well as the latest.

Then mid-July of this year three weeks after my seventh book went live sales numbers began to rise. And rise. And rise. In the second month income went way into the thousands of dollars. They remained that way for three months and then began to slowly trail off. By the time they reach near nothing I expect to have a sequel to that book available. We'll see what happens then.

As before all my previous books began to sell well also.

I am at a loss to explain the success of this latest book. No Oprah-esque figure in the sci-fi world hailed my book. Or ANY figure as far as I can tell by Googling my book. I did no promotion beyond a notice on my web site which has only 145 followers. It just hit a nerve with a few people who told a few people who told a few more people who....

Further, the book unlike the previous books broke three rules I always thought near absolute.

• The main character is a near-Mary-Sue. (She's this way because she was designed by a super-advanced race to be that way.)
• There is little conflict and no main tension-filled through-line. My character meets success after success after success. She's nice, lovable, but a juggernaut. (Until someone threatens someone she cares for, then she's near a demon from Hell. Those conflicts end almost as soon as they're begun.)
• I begin with three short prologues. (Well crafted and an integral part of the story, but I go several pages before my character's viewpoint becomes central.)

cool pop said:

Now I don't care for KU personally and I am not in it but for a new author, it can help get eyes on your work. In KU readers can download the book for free and you'd get page reads but the value in that for a new author is it allows you to test the water. So if you don't see sales coming in a few months after you've promoted and lowered the price, KU might be something you want to try and you will at least get some readers and some reviews. You'll also make a little money too.

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In the beginning I published through B&N, Apple, and Kobo as well as Amazon. They sold very little. So I ditched them and went exclusively KDP. Which makes my books eligible for KU. I've found to my surprise that I actually make a bit more from that than ebook sales.