As I stated yesterday in the Lightning Source post, having your book available wherever books are sold is not the same thing as bookstores stocking your books.

Every major chain has their own submission process, but I’m going to focus on Barnes & Noble in this post. It’s by far my favorite of the large chain stores, both as a consumer and as an author. They have been pretty great to us for signings.

First thing you have to do if you want ANY bookstore to carry your book is to make your book RETURNABLE.

This sucks. I know, but it’s currently part of the rules of the game. Again, it’s why even the Big Boys are in dire straights right now… everything is returnable back to the publisher. Think if you had 100,000 copies printed and only 25,000 copies sold. Everything else was returned. That’s a lot of returns. That’s a lot of lost money.

Make your book RETURNABLE when you set up your title through Lightning Source.  You can choose to have LSI either destroy the books or ship them to you. Either way, you’re paying for the returns. It comes out of your income.

Not only do you have to make it returnable, it has to also be at a 55% discount to the bookstores. Again, this sucks; but it’s necessary if you want bookstores to carry it.

Once it shows up in Ingrams database as returnable and at least a 55% discount, you’re ready to go. (Give it a few weeks to be sure.)

Then you (as the publisher) must send two finished books, a letter of intent, and a detailed marketing plan to:

Diane Simowski
Small Press Dept.
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
122 Fifth Ave.
New York, NY 10011

… and cross your fingers. If you did your job by hiring a good editor, cover artist, layout designer, etc… and the quality of writing and visual presentation is up-to-par, then there is no reason B&N won’t carry your book in their warehouse.

This is the next step… still doesn’t mean it’s on the shelves in every bookstore, though. It means that B&N can get them faster, since they’re in their own warehouse, and that you can do book signings in their stores, the single best way as a micro/indie publisher to get books ON THE SHELF. It is a lot of work. A lot of travel.

When you do a signing, they’ll over buy because they know they can return what doesn’t sell. Yes. You pay for any returns. But returning them to their own warehouse rather than to LSI means that another B&N can then carry them.

Big Boys have two things you don’t:

1. Sales Representatives that negotiate huge purchases for a title or several titles from your catalog with B&N Corporate in NYC.
2. Deep pockets to pay for good bookstore placement.

Oh yeah. They pay for it. They pay BIG for it.

You know that table in every Barnes & Noble that says “New in Paperback”?

Publishers PAY BIG BUCKS to have their books on that table. Same goes for “New Releases,” certainly not every one of the 800 books published on a given day will be on that shelf. Nope. Only the ones that PAY to be there.

Same goes for end caps.

Publishers pay big because they know that 60% of book sales are from bookstore placement.

Period.

You can’t compete with that. This is part of the “cons” of being “self-published.”

The only prominent display in B&N that’s not paid for is the “Bookseller Recommends” section. If you can get in good with one of the booksellers, perhaps they’ll “recommend” your book.

The other way is to have a book signing there. If the CRM (Community Relations Manager) is worth their salt, then they’ll have posters in the window leading up to your event, a display of your books before and after you’re there, and you’ll be mentioned in the calendar.

We’ve done about 100 Barnes & Noble book signings from coast to coast. About 30% of the CRMs really, truly cared and did their job extremely well, which means a successful signing for you and for them. About 40% were just going through the motions, and the final 30% weren’t even there on the night of our signing. So obviously don’t care.

We kept a list.

As for Independent Bookstores, many many many of them will deal directly with the publisher (i.e. you) on consignment or wholesale. Get to know your local booksellers. Also check out IndieBound for a list of Independent Bookstores nationwide.

This is even more work because there isn’t a central office or uniform process.

< —- (Last Post) Lightning Source Distribution

(Next Post) “Self Publishing” Pros & Cons — >

ONLY SIX MORE DAYS!!!!