Marketing and sales are not the same, and one certainly does not follow naturally from the other. The one represents more expenditure of time and money; the other is the first and only source of income to offset costs.
There are two ways to get your book into a real bookstore where people can leaf through it: convince a buyer to stock it or place books on consignment.
Both Borders and Barnes and Noble have small vendor programs that allow you to send them a copy of your book for consideration. You need to identify your audience and explain your marketing plans. In addition, Borders has a form that asks for basic information like the ISBN number, the author’s name and title.
The most important requirement is that you have a wholesaler. If your publisher uses Lightening Source as its printer, you’re in luck. I discovered about a month after my book was released, Lightning Source’s parent, Ingram had purchased one copy, so that it was "in stock" to all the e-commerce outlets who list themselves under Amazon. Ingram is the largest distributor in this country, and on Border’s list of acceptable wholesalers.
Both chains say they respond, but to allow them three months. Barnes and Noble claims it reviews 100,000 submissions a year.
The alternative is commission sales. Typically, you buy the book, give it to a bookstore, and receive 55% of the price when it sells. This is also the arrangement with Amazon’s Advantage program, which is aimed at writers who do not have wholesale distributors.
The problem with commission sales is that you have to make a large commitment to make it pay. I would have to buy at least 100 books to get a discount of 55% and break even. To actually make money, I would have to buy 250 books at one time, and then my profit would be 4%.
If you plan to do consignments, then the quantity discount schedule should be one of your primary criteria for selecting a publisher. You also need to learn about reporting cost of sales and inventory on the Schedule C addendum to your IRS form. With warehouse distribution you only have royalty income which is much simpler to report.
If you contact small specialty bookstores, you probably want to give them the same information you give the big chains, and emphasize the wholesale distribution alternative. It gives a bookstore the opportunity to return unsold books.
I’ve heard authors discuss their consignments in independent stores that support local writers. Apparently, some managers don’t send commission checks, but expect authors to stop in and see if something is owed. Whenever something is not managed with standard procedures, there can be problems with sloppy bookkeeping, or worse.
I’ve heard some authors say they bypass these outlets by buying books in case lots, then carrying a box in the trunk, so they can close impulse sales. This also lets them set the price, although one writer said her publisher agreed to her bulk purchases so long as she did not undersell it.
A potato chip salesman can tell you that getting your product into a store is only the beginning. If you actually expect sales, you have to have your product featured with a prominent location, preferably near the check-out lane where those impulse buys are made.
The preferred method is the book signing or reading which generates traffic for a store at minimal expense and reinforces the image some managers are trying to cultivate that their emporiums are the contemporary equivalent to London coffee houses frequented by Samuel Johnson.
Book signings provide theater for writers. They allow the usually solitary author to dress some rôle, and get immediate feedback from the, hopefully, adoring public. I haven’t seen any publisher offer an actor to stand in an author’s place, to smile and make small talk, sign autographs and coax customers into making purchases, although I suspect there are some who would prefer to pay a stand-in.
Most stores expect the book sales to go through their registers, and most probably operate on consignments. However, there’s nothing to stop you from having a stack of fliers or postcards or bookmarks for people to pick up, which give them internet ordering information or a contact point for you to deliver a book later.
If you’re energetic don’t limit yourself to bookstores. There are always libraries and community festivals and fan fairs where you can take your wares and meet the public who may be more willing to buy something from someone they’ve talked to.
Sometimes it may seem the obstacles between you and your customer are overwhelming. The publishing industry is still controlled by those very few companies who wouldn’t consider your book in the first place.
Remember, you have one thing on your side that those published commercially do not: time. It may take a year to publish your book and another year to get a complete sales structure in place, but your books aren’t being remaindered before you find your audience. They will continue to be available, so long as you pay the annual fees charged by many on demand publishers. You will continue to see royalties appear in your mailbox from new sales, instead of watching profits go to middlemen who handle out-of-print books. You do have a better chance of being read six months after your publication date.
Notes:
Amazon - Advantage program.
Barnes and Noble - Small Press Department.
Borders - New Vendor Acquisitions.
