Tips for Authors – how to get your book in stores

Tips for Authors – how to get your book in stores

So you just slaved for months or perhaps years on your masterpiece. You have painstakingly combed over each and every word, sentence, paragraph, and page. Now where do you go from here? The obvious answer is an eBook on Kindle, a Nook Book on Nook, and other digital formats on Smashwords.

That is all well and good, but you want more, don’t you? If you’re looking for some tips or advice to make your new novel available in retail stores than please read on. I will do my best to offer some words of wisdom based on my own experiences.

1. I first suggest you start small. Work with stores that are local to you. If you can meet the owner or manager in person that may be your best bet. I wouldn’t try any huge, chain stores or national stores to start. They honestly don’t need you at this phase and your track record probably won’t impress them. You may end up just wasting your time. It can’t hurt to try, of course, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Small, independently-owned stores are your ticket.

2. When you go into a local store, I highly suggest you have professional looking business cards to give out. Also have at least 6 samples of your work available. Some stores may buy them outright or else work on commission. The key to this stage is to build rapport and come across as a professional business-person (whether or not you feel like one). Your goal is to impress the person you are talking to. If they ask you for samples you don’t want to be empty-handed. I have had same-day results by doing this. I shouldn’t need to say this, but I will just in case: make sure your cover looks professional. Run it by friends, family members, or even strangers first to be sure. Just because you think you are a wizard at Microsoft Paint or Adobe Suite doesn’t mean that your pixelated image of a moose on skis looks good to anyone else (and please don’t make a cover with Microsoft Paint, I hope my sarcasm wasn’t lost on you there).

3. Come up with a serious pitch for your book. Make your pitch short and to the point. Make sure you sound professional. Don’t stammer and stutter when they ask you about your book. You should memorize the genre, page-length, retail price, and the intended audience age-range because those questions will likely be asked. You should also know a ball-park figure of recent sales, and if you have reviews to back it up it I would advise mentioning them. If you have no sales, I advise you stop here and wait until you get some. You don’t want to rush your novel to a store only to get rejected because of impatience. Bear in mind that business shelf-space is valuable and the owner will want to know that you have a product that should sell. Sales may be tough at first, but try promoting your book online until you’re ready to bring it to a store.

4. Have a consignment agreement ready. You will need one for stores that do not buy copies of your book outright. You will want to google a consignment agreement if you don’t know what one is, or just click that convenient link and view some of the pages that pop up. Some stores will already have an agreement, but some may not. You want to be clear on the terms. After all: what happens if they only pay you when your book sells, but a customer rips some pages out of a copy they have on their shelf? If you do not specify, you may lose money. You want to hold the store accountable and also protect yourself.

5. Offer them discounts. If you can sell them multiple copies of your novel, let them know you want to do business with them and give them incentive to stock or push it. You won’t make very much money this way, but at first you need to be more concerned with getting noticed. Once people know your name and your work, then you can raise prices.

6. Offer to cross-promote. You can help some small, independent stores perhaps as much as they help you. They, too, have Facebook Pages, Twitter Accounts, Linkedin, and many other social media sites. You can promote them on your own pages and also if you setup a local signing. Most businesses are glad for a chance at anything that gets customers in the door, especially given the tumultuous economy.

7. Pick stores that make sense. A hardware store isn’t in the book business. Enough said.

8. Lastly, prepare to be rejected. Even under the best of circumstances you are going to get “No’s.” I have experienced occasions when I was hardly given the time of day. It feels like…. well…a brown and unpleasant substance, to put it mildly. Just shrug it off and look elsewhere.

I hope all you aspiring or present authors out there have found this guide helpful.

 

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