Distribution
Once you finish your book and
it's printed, what's next? If you
have a niche market that you can contact to sell your book, you are
indeed fortunate. On the other hand, if you have just written a
great novel or collection of poems or a how-to book, how do you go about
selling it?
The two tasks involved
are distribution and marketing. While there is a "kissing
cousin" relationship, these are distinct activities. Marketing
consists of influencing people to want to buy your book.
Distribution is the mechanism that makes your book physically
available at the place and time somebody wants to buy it. There may
be a very close connection between these two functions, as for
example with Amazon.com, which greets you with a list of books you
probably want, and then makes them available to you.
You can sell your book
locally by visiting bookstores, gift shops, and other stores which may
be interested in selling books by a local author. You can get on
talk shows, stimulate newspaper articles, or give presentations.
You can sell your book
using the internet. Start a web site and figure out how to get
listed on the search engines or linked to other pages. Sell
through Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com. They have programs for
starting publishers. For detailed information, visit the
marketing page.
If you have 10 or so books
in print, you can hook up with wholesalers like Ingram and Baker &
Taylor.
If you want your book to
be in the catalogs of bookstores across the country, you may be
considering commercial distributors. A distributor will hold a quantity of
your books (say, 500), get your book listed in databases used by
bookstores, and send out copies of your books when a bookstore or
wholesaler places an order. The distributor will handle money
issues (credit, billing, collections) for the people it sells to, will
store your books, and will ship out your books. Considering the
distributor's fee, wholesaler's fee, and discount to the bookstore, you
will receive around 40% of the list price of your book.
Some distributors will not
handle very small publishers (like ones who are just publishing their first
book), but among those who specialize in such publishers, their main
selective factors relate to the professionalism of your book production
and your plan for marketing your book. They do not generally
accept POD (copier) books, they want a spine with title and author, they
want a professionally printed and bound book. They want a well-edited
book. They generally charge a small set-up fee and a small storage
fee. Most of their fees come through the discount on your book.
If you sign up with a
distributor, it is likely the distributor will require that it be the
exclusive outlet to bookstores for all of your books. Most will let you sell directly to
end-purchasers, as from a web site.
Some large printers
have a division which does distribution, but you can get better
results for the same costs through a company which specializes in
distribution.
Here are some links to
distributors:
www.bibliodistribution.com
www.ipgbook.com
www.btol.com
www.bookazine.com
www.nbnbooks.com
www.perseusdistribution.com/
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