I'll Be the Shoe

Comment

Comment by Andrea Campbell on September 9, 2007 at 1:20pm

WoW!
Robyn,

Thanks for your story. You know in this business, everything you do, I think you need to add "months" of time and aggravation to do it. (That's what makes us singular, authors who publish - - no one wants the headaches.)

I know right now I am in the design stage and getting files ready for a printer. I don't want to send out RFQ (Request for Quotes) yet, because the costs are only good for a limited amount of time. Plus, if I changed things, the bids could change too.

Anyway, thanks for writing. I think in some ways this is inspirational. Nothing is as easy as it seems and if you go in with realistic expectations, you're probably better off.

Good luck with the rest of your journey.

By the way, did you know your authors can sell those CD's at: http://www.Teachbits.com

Best,
Andrea

Comment by Robyn on September 8, 2007 at 7:42pm

Judi, great information.

I'm just going to jump in here and let you guys know about some of my interesting experiences so far.

As I mentioned to Andrea, we are a publishing company located in Canada. We published the first book without a distributor and the second and the third all within the last year meaning July 06 to now. Plus, we have always direct marketed and sold our Educational Resources which are all CD's to schools and some forward thinking parents.

The three authors though all the time throughout they were asking for us to get distributors but they are all doing fantastic. But I'm nothing if not Mathematical. I thought through the problem on the first and that was I had only printed one thousand books. Her books were too high to start cutting in a bunch of layers. On the second one, I did that publishing rather breezily. I accepted it and it was out a short six months later. The third one, well she had to wait three years much like the first author. Still, all of them at some point, including ones coming out have asked me to get a distributor.

I knew that I had to get the company producing and getting out there without a distributor but last June, I thought about it and figured if it wasn't exclusive it wouldn't hurt anything. I was comfortable cutting in Mr. Middleman. So then, I was rejected. Seriously.

No real reason given. That made me really ticked off so being who I am, I thought...well, this summer I invented a Summer Camp that ran for three weeks and before that a Publishing Company, then why can't I be a distributor too? So I put up a website one day when I was a little bit mad and that's at http://stargazerdistributing.com/ if you want to have a look. And I started taking on a few products.

But that's not all that happened. I had spent some time submitting to the small press department in Barnes and Noble. And they actually sent me a letter saying they wanted one hundred books. Would I be so kind as to hire either a distributor or Wholesaler with this letter promising such a large order? They couldn't deal with me otherwise.

Well, it's Barnes and Nobles. I'm over the moon. But the paper they've sent with it gives me four options for a distributor and a wholesaler sure wants a whole lot more money such as Biblio. So off I send the four packages. One is destroyed in the mail. Not a good omen. The second one is rejected by Ingrams. All I have to do is apply to any of their fifty subsidiaries. I point out to them that it makes no sense because for the amount I'd earn from Barnes and Nobles, I would have blown it in books and postage already. I even emailed them my ire in a balanced way.

"Our decision stands..." They further suggested that I phone each one of their subsidiary distributors. Well, ya know, none of them are on Barnes and Nobles list.

There are two left from the possible options.

But then it occured to me. We're in Canada. The first press coverage we had of our juvenile mystery writer called us a 'foreign publisher' throughout and I was laughing. To me, forgeign is pretty strong for a country to the north. Foreign is Europe or something.

But now it has occurred to me that we're not going to get in with the other two probably because they think the books won't be supplied in time or something.

I have heard that some companies piggyback on other companies and I may well do the same. They just pay a modest fee to cover it.

It seems to me that small publishing companies should stick together. I already get a lot of guidance from Wintertickle Press as they are mostly in Educational Resources as well. But it's almost like you need one central website and leads out from all, plus massive marketing and publicity for that website so that everybody goes and sees what's new.

Robyn

Comment by Andrea Campbell on April 13, 2007 at 11:11pm

Deal.

Comment by Judi Lake on April 12, 2007 at 11:35pm

Andrea, we all have to start somewhere -- actually, if i didn't have the mentors i had over 20 years ago, i don't know where i'd be -- i have always been extremely fortunate in life meeting very generous 'teachers' -- you can thank me simply by embracing your excitement, staying focused and... maybe send me an autographed book when you're ready, deal?

Comment by Andrea Campbell on April 12, 2007 at 10:37pm

Judi,

You are my new best friend.

I am printing what you've sent me as we speak so I can read it over and add it into my thinking and planning.

How can I thank you for all your attention? (I'll think of something.) I appreciate your candor, your promptness and your support.

Comment by Judi Lake on April 12, 2007 at 9:55am

Hi Andrea -- yes, your excitement comes through the pages.. in fact your page is burning... (smile) - Since I am not good in the area of editing what I say (i tend to go on and on...blame that on my grandmother...) I will just submit a pretty good article on this subject below however, bear in mind, as I tell everyone, it is important that you develop a strong marketing plan with projections.

This article was written by Jacqueline C. Simonds and will probably help others as well:

Authors and publishers need to be clear on how they'll get their books into the hands of customers--but many don't understand distributors versus wholesalers, and what each can do. I thought I'd pitch in with definitions, advantages, disadvantages and other thoughts.

Distributors: There are many different companies out there. Bigger is not necessarily better. Smaller doesn't necessarily mean friendlier. And neither guarantees solvency. Many distributors have folded in the last few years. One small press pal of mine had 2 go out from under her. She had to pay to get her inventory back. Ask questions. Better still, ask their current clients if they get paid on time.

Try going with a distributor who knows more about your market. For instance: If you have a travel book, find someone who carries travel books. They charge 25-35% of revenue earned. Some figure this off list price (a mistake, from my pov), others off actual revenue (what is earned after the wholesalers or bookstores take their discount).

If your marketing plan is aimed primarily at the book trade (bookstores and libraries), you might consider getting your book with a distributor. Start looking for one *before* you go to press.

If your marketing plan is primarily aimed at areas other than the book trade (back of the room sales after speeches, kitchen stores, etc), then you should probably skip distributors and look at vending directly to wholesalers (see below).

Advantages:
Some of the bigger distributors can get your book into B&N, Borders, Costco, etc. But you had better do a lot of marketing to support that effort, or those books will all come back.
It's hard to get attention as a 1-2 book press.

Distributors help you leverage your title by being part of a larger organization.
Distributors (or most) get you into Ingram. Many bookstores will simply not order a book unless it is listed with this company. See more below about Ingram.

Distributors can send your book to the pre-publication review magazines. This apparently helps. Almost all the titles we've sent to Publisher's Weekly, etc. have been reviewed by at least 1.

Books on Amazon are listed at the favorable 20-30% off, which Amazon usually doesn't do with Advantage products.

Distributors warehouse, pick, pack, ship, accept returns, bill and send you the check. This leaves you time to MARKET the book... and plan more titles for your growing company.

A good distributor will work with you. They will help make sure there are enough books in the system for events (let them know 2 months in advance). They can provide feedback when you try different marketing tactics.

Disadvantages:
Most are exclusive, meaning you have to let them sell your book to the trade. Some get grumpy about selling off your own website.
They DO add to your cost per book.
They do a little marketing--in that you are 1 (or a few) book in their line. But YOU have to do the heavy lifting marketing-wise.

If you have done a digital print run, your cost per book is already too high to work with a distributor.
This is one more layer between you and your ultimate customer.

Wholesalers: Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Quality Books and many other smaller companies take orders from bookstores and libraries and then order from the distributor or directly from the publisher. They want a 55% discount.

If you refuse to discount and/or only let them have a smaller discount (say 20%), your book will be special order and these wholesalers will not stock it. Booksellers are notoriously nervous about ordering a book that is listed in Ingram, B&T, etc. as special order. For some books and marketing plans, this isn't a problem. For a traditional market plan (targeted to the book trade), this is an invitation to fiscal disaster.
Getting your book into B&T and/or Ingram will get you stocked on Amazon, and probably at the 20% off discount. However, Amazon is now buying titles in the wholesalers' databases directly. It's not clear if Amazon is discounting new titles acquired this way.
Ingram is the 6000 lbs. gorilla of wholesalers. It doesn't accept books from publishers of less than 10 titles or whose income *from Ingram* is less than $25,000 a year. (This figure will probably be raised to $30k next year.) This makes life very hard for the new or struggling small press. Most bookstores won't bother with a book that isn't listed in Ingram. It's not fair, but it's the way things are.

Baker & Taylor is more open to small presses. They have programs through SPAN to sign up. Be aware that unless there is significant ordering, B&T will not stock your book. They will list it in their database and order when there is activity. They have the most hair-trigger returns program I know of (books can often come back 2 weeks after shipment when you are a 1-2 book publisher). This is because they are terrified of You owing Them money (returns are charged back to you).
NOTE: B&T underwent a reorganization of their accounts payable office recently and it has been nothing short of a disaster. If I tell you we're on a first-name basis with our AP person (Accounts Payable), you should take that to mean we call on a very frequent basis--and it's not a friendly chat. You might require pre-pay. I don't know what this will do to your order status.

Advantages:
You get the orders from the wholesalers and have a good idea where your book is selling per region.
You lower your cost per book by cutting out the middle-person (distributor).

You know what quality you ship out and what condition the returns are in (if the wholesaler says you shipped a case of torn books, you can straighten them out).

You can ask your buyer to order extra copies because you are doing an event (caution: don't over order. Be very conservative, otherwise they just come back and the buyer won't believe you next time). Make sure you do this at least 1 month in advance.

Disadvantages:
When the orders are just a few books a month, it doesn't take much time. But if you start to have strong sales (which, of course, is due to your hard marketing), you'll spend more time shipping. At some point you have to evaluate where you can delegate or outsource some work, so that you can get crucial tasks done.
You are the one responsible for calling up and finding out where the heck the check for invoice **** is.

All those books will take up your parking space in the garage. Otherwise a storage unit is in your future.
And always remember!--Getting into distributors, wholesalers and bookstores is not the important part. You have to create demand for your book--which means you have to figure out how to create customers!