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SELLING TO BOOKSTORES

 By

 Gordon Swanson

I am a new author and published my first book last December. I was pretty nervous with my new venture. It’s one thing to yellow pad at home, but quite another to put your writings and ideas out for the public.

When the time came for promotion, I got gutsy and spent over $500 for an ad in an airline magazine. To me it was reasonable, as my book was timely, entitled Becoming Smokefree – Almost Fun! The response was terrible. I had to go back to the drawing board and came to the conclusion that I had to start at home. Wasn’t it odd that it was easier to promote my book to strangers, but not to my own community and in front of all my friends and acquaintances. I was a pretty shy.

I decided to hit the media first. I dropped copies of my book off at the local newspaper (with a readership of well over a quarter of a million) and to five television stations. The next few days were full of high anxiety, as now I feared they would call and want to interview me. And I was the type that would walk 100 feet to avoid TV cameras.

My next step was the bookstores. I thought if I were ever interviewed, people would need to know where they could purchase my book. I went to B. Dalton and Barnes & Noble. It turned out that both had the authority to purchase books that were  local or regional. The question they both posed to me was, “What are you doing or going to do to promote your book?” I told them about how I had delivered books to the media and that was good enough for both of them. One purchased five and the other ten.

But the books just sat there. I looked in one store for over half an hour and finally had to ask an employee where my book was displayed. After I left I figured, “If I can’t find it, certainly no one else will be able to either.” I didn’t want my book sitting in a bookstore gathering dust. I wanted them to sell, and I wanted the store to be glad I had brought them my book. It was time to get more aggressive for this shy, country guy.

I had to get out of the way of my book’s success. I had get over my shyness and reluctance, go back and re-call all of the media three weeks after my first approach and see if they were going to do anything. I didn’t make any progress. But a few days later, the newspaper called and wanted to do an article. We set up a time to do a telephone interview and they also asked to take my photograph. I offered to send them a copy of my driver’s license, but he laughed and said they preferred their own photographer. We scheduled a date for the interview a couple of weeks away.

Then came the day of the article. I opened up the morning paper and in the entertainment section was nearly a full-page article! And to top it off, a large photograph and a wonderfully written article. I couldn’t have asked for a finer presentation of my book.

The results were most positive. Late the next day, Barnes & Noble called.  They had sold the ten I had left them and ordered 20 more copies. Two days later, they had sold out and ordered 40 more. I was unprepared and ran out because the same thing had happened with B. Dalton. Now it was really getting fun to be an author! I became a celebrity among my acquaintances.

I also sent a press release to the North Dakota Newspaper Association. At the cost of $40, my release was sent to about 90 newspapers. Once they get it, it’s up to them to print the releases. I know of some that have. I recently did the same with the Minnesota Association. That will go to around 370 newspapers at a cost of $125. I revised my press release to reflect the book sales at the local Barnes & Noble and B. Dalton stores, which I am hoping will add more sales.

To summarize.

            Bookstores can purchase your books through Ingram, through Llumina, or directly from you. When I sell to them, I act as the distributor.  I buy the books from the publisher at my author discount, then I can sell them to the bookstore at a 30% discount and make 20-25% (instead of the 10% I would usually make from a bookstore sale).  But I do have to wait six to eight weeks for payment.

            Don’t think you need to be a pro-marketer. On my first sale, I asked the manager how to fill out the purchase order because I didn’t know how. She gladly did!

            Do some legwork and promotion planning. Bookstores will want to know what you are going to do to promote your book. They don’t want to sit on dead inventory.

            Get out of the way of the success of your book. That means overcoming whatever is holding you back from promoting your book.

            Look for ways to economically promote your book. Press releases, your own mouthpiece, and a web site are some options.

            Check out my web site for more on by book and to see the news article at www.becomingsmokefree.com.