Indie Authors - You need to know this

[Deborah Simpson]

Just today, I received a call from someone who went into an independent bookstore in New Jersey and tried to order one of my books, and more specifically, my first book which was published under contract with a publisher that has an ISBN number with Bowkers. He was unable to order the book from the store as their distributor did not have the book available.

I called the bookstore and inquired further. This bookstore uses a distributor by the name of Baker and Taylor, who does not distribute P.O.D. books. So, my fellow indie authors, even though you have an ISBN from Bowkers and your book is available through B&N, Amazon.com, Powells, etc.. if someone walks into their local independent bookstore, they may not be able to order your book.

Somehow, I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg insofar as researching our independent bookstores and the distributors they deal with.

Fortunately, however, I believe this was a very lucrative discovery for me today. I will now be working with the bookstore on consignment - they will be giving me bookshelf space for my books.

In the interim, I will be contacting Baker and Taylor and inquiring further. I know of at least five other people who will be going to their local indie bookstores to order my book and if Baker and Taylor is their distributor, then that would mean a loss of 5 potential sales.

Does anyone have any information regarding Baker and Taylor? Has anyone else run into this situation? Any advice?

[Yvonne Mason]

Baker and Taylor is located in Commerce Ga. Where I used to live. I do know that Barnes and Noble does not carry any of our POD books either. At least not from LULU.
There are no independant bookstores which carry any of my books here in Florida. there is one store in Sarasota and that is only because he promotes Florida Authors.
I have had several people here contact me and said they went into the Barnes and noble here and they didn't have it and wouldn't order it. So the store lost at least 10 sales for Silent Scream.
They ordered direct from me. So tell me what you need me to do to help you me sweet friend

[Gary Val Tenuta]

Hi Deborah -

My novel, The Ezekiel Code, is published POD by Outskirts Press and part of the publishing package I chose (The Diamond Package) does include distribution by Baker and Taylor. So apparently Baker and Taylor does distribute POD books but it might only be by special arrangement with the publisher. Outskirts Press (www.outskirtspress.com) has 4 or 5 different publishing packages. The two most expensive (Diamond and Ruby) have the Baker and Taylor distribution included but I noticed the less expensive packages do not have that distribution included. So, again, it might be some special arrangement with the publisher that makes the difference. Dunno for sure. Just my guess.

[Melissa Kesead]

I have found that most independent bookstores that I've talked to about carrying my books say that they only buy through a distributor and I've been hard pressed to find one that will deal with self published authors. Let me know what else you find out about this.

Thanks!

Melissa

[Melissa Kesead]

Could you give me the name of the store in Sarasota and/or contact information if you have it? I live in Key West and am looking for places that will promote Florida Authors.

Thanks!

Melissa

Yvonne Mason said:

Baker and Taylor is located in Commerce Ga. Where I used to live. I do know that Barnes and Noble does not carry any of our POD books either. At least not from LULU.
There are no independant bookstores which carry any of my books here in Florida. there is one store in Sarasota and that is only because he promotes Florida Authors.
I have had several people here contact me and said they went into the Barnes and noble here and they didn't have it and wouldn't order it. So the store lost at least 10 sales for Silent Scream.
They ordered direct from me. So tell me what you need me to do to help you me sweet friend

[Gary Val Tenuta]

This is very interesting. I understood from my POD publisher (Outskirts Press) that all of the books they publish are distributed by Baker and Taylor. Hmmm... I'll have to check with my publisher and see what they say.

[Deborah Simpson]

A great resource for finding independent bookstores that support indie authors, is www.indiebound.org. You will find a wealth of stores in your area that will allow shelf space for your books on consignment.

[Oak Tree Press]

As an indie publisher whose books are printed through a POD shop, I am always interested to see discussions on this topic. Some of my authors are met with the same challenges outlined here. Some are deterred and some are more determined than ever to get their books over this hurdle. As the publisher, I have several outreach tasks that I do to support the efforts. It's a constant challenge, but if you keep at it, you will find places that will welcome people wanting your book, and maybe even stock it.

There are a couple of misunderstandings in these posts, however. Baker and Taylor will, and does, distribute POD books. The other big distributor is Ingram, and they too will distribute POD books. Ingram owns Lightning Source, where most of my press's books are printed, so part of the deal is that the book is available via Ingram. B&T is now a partner with LSI, so any book printed there is automatically available via the two biggie wholesalers.

The wrinkle that authors doing their own set up need to be alert to is this: THE TERMS. When you set up your meta data in the various places, do you offer industry-standard terms? Is the discount in the typical range? Do you accept returns?

Another point, is your book priced in the range of most similar books or are you trying to place a 200 page mystery in trade paperback with a Suggest Retail Price of $45?

Is there a bar code on the book with the price embedded in it?

Those are the highpoints....and if you don't meet their standards for these issues, your success rate will likely be low. Individual chains have requirements beyond these...Borders has their own data base which you need to get into, Barnes and Noble corporate must approve every title that is available nationwide, or regionally for stocking. Books-A-Million has their own wholesaler, doesn't buy through Ingram or BT at all.

All of this is to say that, if you self published, don't forget that you are now the publisher as well as the author and you have to step up and do the things a publisher would do for your title. Your role as a publisher doesn't end when the book's production cycle is complete.

At Oak Tree Press, I issue a monthly in-house newsletter to my authors. The COLOPHON's content is more "inside baseball" than promotional. I try to inform the authors of issues in the publishing business, give tips for promoting, re-state company policies and practices and so on. Anyone who is interested in subscribing can sign up at www.oaktreebooks.com

Billie Johnson, Publisher
Oak Tree Press

[Timothy J. Desmond]

Sorry this seems so late to get into this discussion [August '09], I ran into some of this when trying to get my book placed with a San Diego based distributor. During that "turn down" discussion, I explained that Ingrams carries my title. I was told that didn't matter, that their company would not, and would not because of my publisher, which is a POD publisher. Also, while Amazon, Borders and B & N will order my book, I found, [having to be my own point man or promoter] that Borders will not do an event even in my own town or region. I did have much support from B & N in California, who would schedule an event as long as they could return the stock. An interesting thing happened was that they gave the books shelf space after the event. My question is, are all POD books turned down because of higher cost up front for stores? Or is it return-ability policies?

[Mari]

We printed our book through Lightning Source, the division of Ingram, and they handle our distribution. The first time an independent bookstore tried to order "Beaufort Falls," it was not available through Baker & Taylor, and we discovered that while Lightning Source had been quick about setting up the connections through Amazon and, of course, Ingram, we had to fill out the forms and set up the connection with Baker & Taylor, who is their most direct competition. After that, we had no problem with having Indie stores order from B & T, getting their books directly from Lightning Source, just like Amazon and Ingram. My book is returnable by bookstores, a choice that we made. Very few larger and virtually no major bookstores shelve a book that is not returnable.

This was all done in 2007 and I haven't pushed Independent store sales in a while, but that was the way things were working last time we did.

[Timothy J. Desmond]

Only three weeks after Mari's reply so I'm doing better. All this prompted me to call my local B & N Community Relations MGR., who told me the return-ability is one thing abut they also look for availability from Baker and Taylor as well as Ingrams. Other factors are the store calendar and other events going on. But, none of this could get into the B & N in Bakersfield, CA. I forgot about one local Inde bookstore who what not order my book nor do an event at all simply based on my publisher. Look, all of this is part of learning the "business" and the marketing end of bookselling. I find it interesting that my learning over the past five years, comes at a time when the national media and agencies are complaining that internet news, bloggers, and inde writers are not properly "vetted" through THEM. All this and at a time when also the print industry is having a difficult time. An acquaintance, CA native lives in NYC, told me last week, "publishers are hurting right now." I'm not sure if that part of the bookstore problem, may be. Couple years ago I watched a C-SPAN show with a panel of publisher editors discussing this very problem: sagging sales and not knowing what is selling. One said they went out of their office, physically canvassing a few stores to see what was selling. It's like they had no idea.

[Timothy J. Desmond]

Only three weeks after Mari's reply so I'm doing better. All this prompted me to call my local B & N Community Relations MGR., who told me the return-ability is one thing but they also look for availability from Baker and Taylor as well as Ingrams. Other factors are the store calendar and other events going on. But, none of this could get me into the B & N in Bakersfield, CA. I forgot about one local Inde bookstore who would not order my book nor do an event at all simply based on my publisher. Look, all of this is part of learning the "business" and the marketing end of bookselling. I find it interesting that my learning over the past five years, comes at a time when the national media and agencies are complaining that internet news, bloggers, and inde writers are not properly "vetted" through THEM. All this and at a time when also the print industry is having a difficult time. An acquaintance, CA native lives in NYC, told me last week, "publishers are hurting right now." I'm not sure if that part of the bookstore problem, may be. Couple years ago I watched a C-SPAN show with a panel of publisher editors discussing this very problem: sagging sales and not knowing what is selling. One said they went out of their office, physically canvassing a few stores to see what was selling. It's like they had no idea.

[Timothy J. Desmond]

My apologies and please excuse the double reply ...."Only three weeks after.........." I tried to edit and delete the 1st reply and the system would not delete or edit it. Don't know if it is this machine at work or what?