How to Get Your Self-Published
Print-on-Demand Book into Barnes & Noble
By Joel
Eisenberg
I was
asked the other day how my book, Aunt Bessie's How to Survive a Day Job While
Pursuing the Creative Life-- which has since become the inaugural edition
of a ten-volume motivational series for creative artists-- became one of the
rare self-published POD books to earn Barnes & Noble visibility. Well...
The chains typically won't take a book that is not returnable. What this means
is that if a book doesn't sell, the store doesn't want to be stuck with it.
There are two wholesalers/distributors that most stores do business with: Ingram
and Baker & Taylor. The odds of getting a self-published book with either are
small, except...
There's a printing company called Lightning Source. They are based in
Tennessee and the sister company of Ingram. If you use them as a printer,
your book automatically will be distributed by Ingram. They also work with Baker
&Taylor.
The benefit is that through either Ingram or Baker & Taylor, the books are
returnable. That means many bookstores will take a chance on your title.
The downside: As Lightning Source prints books on a POD basis (print on demand,
which means no inventory or warehouse stock; if someone orders, they print the
books digitally as needed-- the trained eye could tell that there's a miniscule
lowering of print quality, most
people cannot), they may not be your best choice if your book includes photos
and graphics, and most stores have a prejudice against carrying them. Also, POD
is more expensive than traditional offset printing.
But ... if your self-published POD book is not picked up by Barnes & Noble
corporate (the dream, as it saves plenty of time), you can still get it in the
stores. How? By calling the stores individually, or hiring a salesperson to work
on commission. This is what I do. Though several hundred Barnes & Noble stores
still need to be called (ugh!), the book has been ordered by nearly 100% of the
stores individually contacted.
Here's the spiel. First, you give them the book's title or ISBN number. Then,
as the bookstore staff person is looking it up in the computer, say, "Though it
is POD, it is through Ingram and fully returnable with regular terms." If you do
that, nine times out of ten Barnes & Noble will at the very least "short
order" the title, that is, order two or three to see how it goes, before they
place a larger order. This is assuming, of course, that you can sell the virtues
of your title.
Shouldn't be a problem, though, if you add, "Could you just short order a few
and see how it goes?"
You'll be surprised at your results.
It's an
intriguing system. Though my book contains contributions from such luminaries as
Clive Barker, Carolyn See, Stuart Woods, Brad Meltzer, Father Andrew Greeley,
Laurell K. Hamilton, Larry Hagman, and nearly seventy others who explain their
experiences dealing with one of the most difficult of all creative conundrums,
this appears to have had minimal effect on my store orders. Ditto a host of
glowing reviews. The stores were more interested in whether or not the book was
returnable. Go figure.
Furthermore, book discussions and signings are an awesome way to get into
stores. Never underestimate the passion of your audience. Get them excited,
develop a rapport… whenever possible, incorporate a question and answer session.
At a recent Encino Barnes & Noble signing, a spirited debate transpired
between a Fox producer who emphatically does not believe a creative artist
should ever work a day job, and a comedian whose electricity was just turned off
because he couldn't afford the bill. He's worked unapologetically in a porn shop
to make ends meet.
About
thirty other people wandering the store came the way of the signing to witness
the fracas, which ultimately resulted in an estimated twenty more books sold. As
a result, the store very nearly sold out of the books ordered. This in turn
resulted in a recommendation letter from the CRM (community relations manager)
who organized the event, which then led to numerous other signings, speaking
engagements, and now a possible radio show: "You're Too Smart to Go Down Stupid:
Maverick Career Strategies for Creative Artists."
You never
know.
Joel
Eisenberg is the president of Topos Books (www.toposbooks.com).
He is a screenwriter, teacher, and author of the "Aunt Bessie" motivational
guides for creative artists, presently available through
Amazon.com and many bookstores.
