From my recent social media posts, you may have noticed that my book has been accepted into a couple of bookstores! I’d like to share some insight about the process for those who may be curious.
Note: If your physical book is self-published by Amazon or CreateSpace, then some bookstores may not accept it for consideration. Instead, I self-published with IngramSpark.
Independent bookstores / gift shops each have their own process for acquiring new books. Across different cities in the Bay Area, I basically use my two legs and walk into these stores to try to pitch my book. I introduce myself and ask them if they would consider reviewing my book as a possible fit for their store.
Some stores have a policy that they don’t work with independent authors individually. I’ve gotten rejected quite a few times like this. One time, I walked into a bookstore just ONE hour after their staff decided to discontinue their local author program. I couldn’t believe the timing. Oh well.
No hard feelings though, it’s understandable. They have tried working with local authors in the past. The problem is the economics. These stores barely broke even by taking on books from local authors, so they just can’t make it work despite their best intentions. Instead, they work with big publishers that have a larger catalog of books.
If the store does agree to review the book, then you either leave them a copy or they review it on the spot. If they decide it’s a good fit (woohoo!), they will either purchase a couple of copies upfront at wholesale price or it’ll be a consignment agreement.
Consignment is when you provide them with the inventory of books (several copies) and they put it on their shelves. If a consumer buys the book, then you’ll get paid at some later pay cycle. If the books don’t sell through, then you don’t get paid. There may be a fee to cover the overhead of entering the book into their inventory system.
So the consignment program is how I got on to the shelves at Books Inc in Mountain View! The above image is the first 5 books I handed over to them. 🙂 It’s a 3 month trial basis, so we’ll see how the books do.
More details on the Books Inc Consignment Program here. The application form is online too. Each location of Books Inc in the Bay Area handles consignment differently though, so I’m going to try to pitch the other locations to see if they’ll carry it too.
Once your book is carried by the store, then you can also discuss with them the option to do a storytime or in-person event. Speaking of which, my storytime event just happened last Saturday, June 9, 2018 and I had a great time. Hooray!
Hope this was helpful, good luck!