HT Find a Distributor

Patricia Sullivan added a discussion to the group Book Marketing

As a small publisher I am not having any luck getting a distributor. Is it even possible? Do I need a certain amount of money to invest or a specific number of books before a distributor will take me seriosly?

Deaar Patricia,

A book distributor looks for several clues as to whether they want to sign a publisher to a contract. Marketing defines these clues as the four P's: price, packaging, promotion, publicity. Did you go to your local bookstore and determine what category your book belongs in?

Were the books predominately in hardcover or paperback? What was the average price of those books on the shelf and are you competitive? Was your jacket art as classy and appropriate for the genre as the big New York City publishers such as Penguin, Random House, HarperCollins, Simon and Schuster... Is the book a POD title? Established distributors can detect a POD book and will uniformally pass on this format. Your answers to these questions will give the distributor hopeful pause if you got it right or, the submission will be rejected.

After the pause, the distributor will determine if the author has a platform for promotion, i.e. does the author blog, tweet, lecture, are they reknowned in their field, do they have a Facebook and Linkedin page?

How many of the author's "friends, network, followers" will buy the book? These relationships, both familial and professional, are the foundation of your sales. Nurturing these relationships is where the hard work comes in and only you can do that work.

Having said all that, and there is so much more to share,my advice:

Do not involve a distributor at this point in the process. Yes, stop looking and submitting. Figure out who your reader is, where do they hang out on the web, where do they shop, what church do they go to, what music, book, movies do they enjoy additionallywhat organizations would be interested in your views, speak at any opportunity (even at the local Girls Scout meetings), write constantly within the online social networks and learn how important links are.

This work will take months, if not a year, of daily attention from you reaching out to your followers. Find them, befriend them, be helpful to them, share yourself honestly with them and let them discover your book and purchase based on the high regard they hold you in; a trusted voice in the screech of daily voices.

The only book account I would begin with would be Amazon. They will add any and all content to their database regarding your title. Direct all of your online social networking followers to Amazon for purchase. Make sure that your book's landing page on Amazon is robust with content. Yes, you can do this all on your own with perseverance, patience and a not-very-steep" learning curve which is why I suggest Amazon initially. And always travel with several cases of books in your car!

Lastly, in a year or so, when you have sold hundreds of books (600+) through Amazon and the back of your trunk a book distributor will be very interested in presenting your title to B&N, BAM, Target, Costco and others they sell to. Until then you must maintain your passion for your message and get out on the web and out in your community to share that passion with like minded spirits. Good luck and I hope I answered your question to the best of my ability. Others may disagree and I would love to continue the conversation with one and all.

Tags: amazon, distribution, networking, social

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Patricia Sullivan HYPD Publicati on January 20, 2010 at 4:52pm

Thanks for the advice. I am on track with several of your suggestions. However, we have not quite sold 600 books yet, but we are very close. Thanks to Scott for starting this group. Distribution is a major concern when publishing and potential authors want to know their book will be accessible in all of the major locations.

One question for planning purposes - is there a minimum budget acceptable when I am ready to pursue a distributor again?

Thanks again for your input.

Permalink Reply by Gail J. Kump on January 20, 2010 at 6:21pm

Some distributors will charge a "set-up" fee due upon signing. For your publishing company any charge above $500 would be unjust and I advise you to steer clear. No reputable distributor will ever ask you for money up front except for the set up fee. The link below will get you started on selling The Struggle of Love on the Amazon site. I look forward to seeing the book for sale on Amazon and will follow up to advise you on how to make the page more "robust".
http://www.amazonservices.com/content/sell-on-amazon.htm?ld=AZFSSOA
The picture you posted of yourself is a wonderful marketing choice as it exudes authority, trustworthiness, integrity and approachability; all traits consumers are looking to for advice, wisdom and practicality.

Permalink Reply by Patricia Sullivan HYPD Publicati on January 20, 2010 at 6:57pm

Thanks Gail -

The Struggle of Love is listed with Amazon.com. I welcome your feedback. Look to hear from you soon....

Patricia

Permalink Reply by Theresa M. Moore on February 22, 2010 at 12:46pm

Excellent advice, Gail. Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Donna Scrima-Black on March 25, 2010 at 1:30pm

HI,

I just published a book and started my own website to sellit. I also got onto B&N.com (I hadn't read your advice about Amazon.com : ) and the problem that arises is they only order one book at a time.. When the book is sold, then it no longer appears on their website or in their search engine. Hence, I've contacted my B&N Rep and she increased the order to 5..(she said it's because I'm a new author and they don't want to take too big a risk) One of the staff at B&N asked me to get my book into Ingram or else this will continue to happen...any thoughts?

Additionally, I just sent a proposal to Babies R Us since my book is about Motherhood..Their Marketing Director said, "I'm sure you have your book in Ingram, right?" to which I simply answered, "No, I'm distributing it so I have more control" and he said, "Oh, Okay." I was so worried he'd tell me to forget it, but he didn't. So, we'll see. I'm not sure what to say when I'm asked about where my books are stored because I don't want to discourage sales by saying in my "laundry room" LOL. Any advice?

Finally, I had my book printed by Gorham. Does that make me a POD..I ordered 500 copies for now..My impression of POD is that a book is ordered one at a time??

Many thanks,
Donna

Permalink Reply by Gail J. Kump on March 28, 2010 at 3:03am

Dear Donna, Ingram would like you to work through a book distributor before they stock your book. Two I recommend are Atlas: Contact Tony Proe and Midpoint Trade Books: Contact Laurie Little. Disclaimer: I worked prev. for midpoint. Good luck

Permalink Reply by Theresa M. Moore on April 16, 2010 at 3:24pm

Uh, Ingram will distribute your books if you sign with Lightning Source, their printing supplier. But you have to be a serious publisher, and you have to have at least 10 books in your catalog before they will carry you. You can still use LSI to print your books, but you will have to foot the bill for setup fees, catalog listing and the cost to print for each sale. Also, you have to use a credit card or get a line of credit with them. No PayPal accepted. Checks only delay the process somewhat. It's the cost why I don't use them anymore, and you have to purchase ISBNs. If you have less than 3 books ready, buying a block of ten numbers will not make sense. This is why so many of us choose to use print on demand publishers willing to attach numbers to your books without a fee. However, if your books sell well and you meet a certain threshhold for capitalization you should switch as soon as you can.

Permalink Reply by Steven Kern on April 19, 2010 at 11:32am

Hey everyone,

I hope that you can get a publisher to pick you up! Have you thought about fulfillment in the meantime? I can help with storage, shipping to individuals and publishers even Amazon.com.

I would be more than happy to tell you more and help in any way that I can. We have had some great success with our current clients and I will gladly do what I can.

Thanks,

Steven Kern
steven@dwmailllc.com

Permalink Reply by Jackie Barrow on April 19, 2010 at 6:28pm

Wow! What a helpful answer!! I just joined this website and have just started looking into getting several small books printed, published, distributed, etc. for an organization I run called The "Take Care of My Kids" Foundation, Inc. And, your article was very helpful . . . thank you!!
Jackie Barrow
jbarrowlaw@yahoo.com
By the way, my first book is called "Mud Pies!" and it is a combined story and coloring book for kiddos! It has a soft Christian message. Another one that is almost ready is called "Grandpa's Treasure!" :) And, a third one that is still in progress is called "Hound Dog's Easter!" I am hoping to find a very reasonably priced printer so that we can get these out to as many kids as possible.

Permalink Reply by Leticia Amador on February 22, 2011 at 1:34pm

I have signed up with a book distributor charging %55 of book price. When a book seller such as Barnes & Noble places an order, does the book distributor charge any additional percentage?