One of the things we hear most from authors is this question: “How do I get my book in bookstores?”
Most indie bookstores are happy to talk directly with authors.
Chains tend to work with distributors – a distributor is a business whose sole purpose for existing is to try get books in bookstores. However, they’re not subcontractors. You don’t hire them the way you’d hire a plumber. The distributor will judge the merit of whether they believe they can get your book in bookstores. They’ll also need ready stock, which means you need a substantial print run for them to distribute.
Also, bookstores aren’t Facebook marketplace. They’re not happy to sell anything. They’ll also judge whether they feel they can sell a book. This might vary from store to store. For example, you’ve written a werewolf horror. Northland QBD might take ten because they sell a lot of horror, but Plenty Valley QBD might decline because that’s not something they sell much in their area.
As an aside, bookstores tend to work on consignment. That means you get paid when they sell the book. If they haven’t sold the books after an agreed amount of time, the books are returned to you. So if you printed 500 books in anticipation of sales, and they only sold 150, you get the 350 books back.
This is a quick recount of the process, because getting books in bookstores isn’t as easy as many think.
There’s also a greater reality at work here, too.
Just because your book is in a bookstore doesn’t mean it’s going to sell in big numbers.
Lots of authors have this misconception – all it takes to get a bestseller is getting your book in a bookstore. That’s it. Their job as an author is done.
Let’s break this down logically.
Here’s the first question to answer: have you been in a bookstore?
Second question: just how many books are in a bookstore? Hundreds? Thousands?
Who gets the prime real estate? Let’s say we’re talking fiction. The books that get the front-and-centre treatment are authors who have a readership and could sell their laundry lists. That means you’ll see Stephen King, Lee Child, Jodi Picoult, Liane Moriarty, etc.
If you don’t have a track record of sales, why would a bookstore sit your book among that esteemed company? You’re taking up room that an author with a good sales record could occupy.
Likelier, you’re going to be lost in the masses among the new releases on some table, or filed spine-out, alphabetically.
Now why are readers, en masse, going to randomly file into a bookstore, locate your book like they’re on an Easter Egg hunt, and buy it in meaningful numbers?
You’ll sell some. That’s likely.
But bookstores are filled with books, many of them better placed than yours. Are you expecting by some magic that consumers will ignore everybody else’s and migrate exclusively to yours? Why? Because you have a great book? Do you know how many authors think this?
I’m different, you think. You would be surprised just how many authors believe this. It’s great to have confidence, but you’re not alone, and wish fulfillment gets you nowhere.
Now let’s look at the online retailer: going to Amazon and typing in “horror novel”, I get fifty-five hits. First is Bram Stoker’s Dracula. At least in a bookstore, he’d be filed in some classic section. Here, he’s competing directly with you. Next comes John Langan’s The Fisherman, Nick Cutter’s The Troop (with the byline of “TikTok’s favorite horror novel”), a deluxe hardcover version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and then E.B. Hudspeth’s The Resurrectionist.
Scrolling down, I’m already exhausted.
Now Amazon’s search hits are cultivated to my browsing habits, but this will be largely the same return for most people.
Your book is a grain of sand on the beach.
So is this whole blog aimed at disheartening you?
No.
But it is designed to awaken you to the reality that having your book in a physical or online bookstore won’t automatically result in huge sales. I’m sure somewhere in the world, some random has gotten a good return, but this would be the exception, not the rule.
The truth is you have to create awareness for your book, and yourself as an author, and connect with readers. If you can do that, if you can create a buzz around yourself and your work, then consumers will go find your book, wherever it is.
If bookstores are getting inquiries from people asking for your book, they’ll order copies in. They want that business, after all.
But the truth is nobody ever finds something they’re not looking for.