Books-A-Million
Can anyone share any success they have had with Books-A-Million? Does BAM utilize a preferred distributor? How can we get our books into the BAM stores?
Thanks in advance for any insight!
Sincerely,
John McClure
Signalman Publishing
Tags: BAM, Books-A-Million, distribution, distributor
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gail J. Kump on -
Dear John,
BAM works with all the major book distributors. One of the good companies for single book publishers is ATLAS Books. They are now headed by Tony Proe, a long time sales representative in the Mid-Atlantic states. I would not recommend them unless Tony Proe were part of that organization. Google ATLAS Distribution or Book Masters Distribution. One and the same. Good luck. -
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Permalink Reply by John McClure on -
Excellent! Thanks a bunch, Gail.
--John -
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Permalink Reply by Steve Novak on -
"I would not recommend them unless Tony Proe were part of that organization." This is not an endorsement I'm comfortable with. This tells me the organization itself performs poorly, only being held together because of one person. When that person leaves you're only left with a poorly performing organization.
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Permalink Reply by Gail J. Kump on
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I do not know enough about Atlas/Book Masters to have any opinion. What leans me towards them is the integrity and honesty of Mr. Proe. He would not work for them if he thought they were in any way unprofessional. If anyone has a contract from Atlas/Bookmasters I would love to vet and give you the strengths and weaknesses before you sign. I offer that to our forum group on any contract you receive. Thanks for asking me to clarify my thoughts Steve.
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Permalink Reply by Leticia Amador on -
Hello Gail,
I received one of Atlas/Bookmasters unreasonable and unconscienceable contract. I can see why John has been losing money with them. Yes, I would love to know about their strengths. Leticia
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Permalink Reply by John J. Fox III on
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Gail, I can't imagine what your good charm stories w/ AtlasBooks must be but I am not happy w/ them and have been using them for almost seven years and they are draining me of money!
John Fox
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Permalink Reply by Gail J. Kump on
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John, send me your amazon page link. I may be more helpful when I see the book itself.
Gail -
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Permalink Reply by John McClure on
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Here's our latest, Gail, "The Gaelic Letters" by R. Thomas Roe.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0984061444/
Thanks!
John -
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Permalink Reply by Gail J. Kump on
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This looks excellent. Great reviews. You can make your landing page much more robust. See my message earlier.
When you are 8 months away from publishing your next book, let me know.
How many have you shipped? How many have sold thru the cash register? More books or e-books bought? If you want to have this conversation off line contact me:
gjkump@gmail.com -
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Permalink Reply by John McClure on
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Thank you so much, Gail. I sent you an email. Your suggestions regarding making the Amazon landing page more robust are excellent!
--John -
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Permalink Reply by Leticia Amador on
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John I would like to know what Amazon program you have. I am planning to go into Amazon. Have you been satisfied with it. How do you get an Amazon link page? Yours is really good. Leticia
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Permalink Reply by Alex Dawson on
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ATLAS books (BookMasters) is absolutely not recommended to anyone. They are indeed a predatory entity out to gouge every last penny out of a publisher and writer/publisher. Their idea is always to get a publisher to print up as many copies of their books as possible, and then do absolutely nothing to help move them. In fact, they'll do everything in their power to run interference -- mess up your chances of selling your books.
Distribution? ATLAS books idea of distribution is more or less being part of Amazon Advantage ... and passively allowing the books to remain in their warehouse (which is to their advantage as they are charging you rent), and that's it. Let me make it clear: They don't really "distribute" books: they simple make them "available." Very passive. Biblio, on the other hand, had regional booksellers -- real salespeople who were out there SELLING titles. (Biblio was not a book manufacturer, only a distributor; and this is an important distinction.)
ATLAS BOOKS or BOOKMASTERS took over many naive publishers (myself among them) who were with Biblio; ATLAS, being the predators that they are, purchased out these contracts from Biblio. Here's a horrible fact that I need to emphasize: There are no real "booksellers" at Atlas. Each publisher is assigned a salesperson, which at first seems impressive, until you realize (after a long time) that the salesperson is there for one purpose only: to sell services to YOU. You, the publisher, are his means of income. Let me make this clear: ATLAS -- BOOKMASTERS -- is a vanity press -- in the worst way. They make they're living shaking down, gouging publishers. It's horrible, it truly is, but true.
Nowadays, a publishers must think P.O.D. ... because the killer is printing and warehousing.
But with a Vanity press like ATLAS books, it's much worse. Atlas Books will charge you $40.00 alone for access to your online sales reports (they call this "clerical"), their webpage - Then they will charge you high warehousing fees; then they will charge $5.00 for each unit returned, then restocking fees, plus charge you shipping, plus other miscellaneous fees, on and on. You're guaranteed never to see a penny. Sound like a nightmare? Is is.
Want out of their contract? That'll cost you 10 months of warehousing + a "return" fee charge for every book sold (plus the other fees) + you will still be charged a "clerical" fee (which is the $40.00 per month) even though you will be cut-off from access to your own online stats! It's truly shocking. And how is this even legal?
So, please listen. I hope some of you good people can learn from my terrible experience with ATLAS Books -- BookMasters. Please AVOID ATLAS Books at all costs.
The future of small press publishing is with P.O.D. -- then ebooks (Kindle and ePuB versions). -
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