GETTING YOUR BOOK INTO STORES

QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK A POTENTIAL PUBLISHER

By Debbie Cross

As an independent bookstore owner, I am often confronted by authors desperate to have me stock their book. Recently I received a call from a frustrated author. "I just want a store where I can send my friends and relatives so I don’t have to send them to A_____.com." After a brief investigation, it was revealed that his mystery was published by a well known print-on-demand publisher and I informed him that I would not be able to carry his book because I could not live with the publisher’s terms.

Many new authors may not consider the issue of how the book gets from their manuscript and into the hands of readers. Some may even be only interested in seeing it in print and having copies they can give to friends and family with little concern as to the actual sale of the book. Most, I believe, dream of walking into bookstores and finding copies of their book on the shelf.

How does that book get on the shelf? All stores, especially small independents, use different criteria to determine which books they will order, but it always starts with the publisher. Here are a few questions you should ask about a publisher, and why you should ask it, before you make a commitment.

1. How will my book be printed? Eliminating e-books, there are two basic types of book production. There is the traditional method in which the publisher does an initial print run of the book and puts them into inventory. They may or may not do additional printings if the book sells well. Recently, there has been a huge increase in the print-on-demand (POD) method where the publisher keeps the book in electronic form and can print it cheaply and quickly in small numbers as they are ordered.

Which method is used may affect a bookstore’s decision to buy a book. In our store, we cater to collectors who seek first printings. Since POD books don’t have distinct printings we almost never stock PODs. This represents a very small part of the market so may not be of consequence to most authors.

A larger concern however, is the perception that POD books may not be of the same quality as those printed traditionally. While there are certainly excellent books produced by POD, often they are not properly edited and because of the lower cost in producing them publishers are less selective. All other factors being equal, a store buyer may shun POD books especially by an unknown author.

2. What will be the format of my book? While almost all POD books are trade paperbacks, more traditional publishers might choose to produce a book as a hardcover, a trade paperback or a mass market (pocket sized) paperback. A store that can only stock a limited number of titles might not choose to buy expensive and space consuming hardcovers by a new author. In addition, a large publisher may only produce enough hardcover copies for the library market making it difficult for stores to purchase them even if they decide to do so. Trade paperbacks are relatively expensive, and stores may buy them only if they have other incentives to do so.

Mass market paperbacks are the format in which a store is most likely to take a risk on an unknown author both because of the lower cost and the more convenient handling for returns. Their customers are also more likely to try a new author in this format.

3. How will my book be promoted? It is an unfortunate reality that very few new authors receive much special promotion even from the big publishers. However, general promotion varies greatly from publisher to publisher. Among the ways that they might promote their books are catalogs mailed to bookstores, appearances at trade shows, books or proofs sent to reviewers and store buyers, organizing appearances and book signings, advertisements in trade publications, etc.

Unfortunately, some publishers do very little promotion and expect to sell their books on the strength of their websites or rely entirely on the authors to do their own selling. You will undoubtedly want to do some of your own promotion, but it is unlikely that your efforts alone will succeed in winning orders from bookstores.

4. How will my book be distributed? In the worst case the publisher sells only directly to the public. Obviously this leaves libraries and bookstores out of the loop and severely limits the number of purchasers to those who are willing to make the effort to find and order the book. Most publishers will sell wholesale directly to stores. My store is unusual because we deal directly with many small publishers. Most bookstores, however, do not want to bother with multiple accounts. They prefer to buy the majority of their stock from one distributor such as Ingrams or Baker & Taylor. This simplifies the paperwork, consolidates shipping charges, and avoids minimum orders required by each publisher.

5. What terms does the publisher offer to bookstores? "Terms" means the terms of sale such as credit, minimum quantities, shipping charges, return policies and discounts. These are perhaps more important to store buyers than all the previous issues. These are what determine if a store can make enough profit on a book to make stocking it worthwhile. The first three generally apply only to direct sales from the publisher but the last two will be reflected in the terms the distributor will be able to offer to stores.

Some publishers require prepayment on the first order and will set up credit for future orders. Most buyers can live with this. A publisher who requires prepayment on all orders will find themselves low on the list of preferred vendors. Most legitimate publishers will offer to set up accounts on the strength of references. Minimum quantities will vary greatly. Allowing low quantities and mixed titles encourages sales by lessening the risk to the buyer. Shipping charges eat directly into the profits of the book seller, therefore, lower the rates directly affects the buyer’s decision.

Return policies can be a major issue for book sellers, especially for authors without a track record. Most major publishers allow a book store to return a book for credit subject to certain restrictions such as condition, time limits, and restocking fees. Many small publishers and particularly PODs do not allow returns and will not be likely to attract the business of bookstores.

Discounts are increasingly a hot item of discussion among book sellers. Often POD publishers and other small presses offer only minimal discounts, if any, to retailers. The discount offered on the author’s book which I had to refuse was only 15%. Most stores would expect a minimum discount of 40% and maybe as high as 50%. One buyer said that she would accept 35% for a book she really wanted, but never for an unknown author. This is the first and possibly the most important factor in getting a book into a store. If it is not financially feasible to stock a book, the buyer will not need to make decisions about the quality and sales potential of a book.

You may not want to be bothered about the nitty gritty details of the business of publishing and selling books. Sadly, writing a good book is not enough to make the book sell. Getting the answer to these questions about a publisher before signing on the dotted line is just a start to the process of getting your book on the shelves of bookstores, but the first step is always the most important one.