If you’ve been studying the publishing industry for any length of time—reading this blog, industry newsletters, books by myself and other professionals—you’ve probably crossed bookstores off of your list of potential sales outlets for your book.
You’ve been told that it is next to impossible to get your book into bookstores—that your book is liable to get lost among the thousands of others in a bookstore. Is this true? Well, yes. You probably can’t count on bookstore sales to help your book reach the level of success you desire. But I don’t want you to dismiss the idea of selling through bookstores altogether.
What I hope to get across to authors through my nagging and ranting about bookstores is that you should not count on them as your primary sales outlet. Bookstores should not be considered the ultimate last word in book promotion and sales. But do they have a place in the scheme of things where our marketing plan is concerned? Absolutely!
• You want to try to infiltrate the mega-bookstores. At least have your book listed in Books in Print so they can order it if someone comes in and asks about it.
• Apply for Barnes and Noble and Borders’ warehouse programs. (Contact me for more info on this.) PLFry620@yahoo.com.
• Make sure your book is listed in online bookstores—Borders, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, etc.
• Approach independent bookstores individually and ask them to take your books on consignment.
• Contact specialty bookstores related to the theme or genre of your book: mystery, cats, religion, spirituality, cookbooks, children’s, etc.
And then promote the heck out of your book so people are walking into bookstores asking for it.
Ignore bookstores altogether and you will sabotage the success of your book. Use them; just don’t rely on them totally. Consider bookstores an outlet for your book, but also promote it over the Internet, go out and give presentations, do radio/TV gigs, reserve booths at flea markets and book festivals, approach appropriate specialty stores with your book—kitchen stores, gift shops, museum gift shops, toy stores, pharmacies, auto parts stores, etc. Some of my books are selling well in a local “Made in Ojai” store where everything in it comes from local artists, potters, authors, jewelers, etc.
By the way, the gigantic Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is coming up in April. If you’d like to take your book to this spectacular event, you may be able to participate in the SPAWN booth. SPAWN is Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network. It’s an organization that you probably should join, anyway in order to further your freelance writing career or your success as an author. SPAWN has two booths at the festival this year and members can join us and sell their books from our booth for $200 per day. If you do not live in Southern California or you do not wish to travel, we will display your book in the booth. Post it in our beautiful print catalog which we will be giving away to each visitor to the booth. This will be your brochure. The cost for displaying one book and one catalog entry is $55. A catalog entry only is $35.
Learn more about these amazing opportunities by subscribing to our FREE SPAWN newsletter. The next issue will be sent to your email box February 1, 2011. http://www.spawn.org Sign up for the newsletter and receive a FREE ebook, Promote Yourself: 25 Ways to Promote Your Work, Whether You’re an Artist, Author or Small Publishers.
You can also enter our archives and read the January 2011 issue of SPAWNews to find details about SPAWN and the LA Times Festival of Books. http://www.spawn.org Contact me for additional information: Patricia@spawn.org.