By BookBaby Author Joe Yamulla

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

As a self-published author, you may aspire to see your book listed for sale at a local bookstore or a large brick-and-mortar retailer like Barnes and Noble. The digital marketplace may be where the bulk of books are sold, but there is still tremendous value in being present in physical retail locations. After all, Bookstores are central hubs to diverse reading communities that are excited and passionate about supporting authors — particularly local authors.

In the video below, BookBaby Bookshop Manager Joe Yamulla speaks with BookBaby President Jim Foley about how independent authors can get their self-published books into bookstores. Although there are several factors at play, one point is clear: independent authors must develop personal and meaningful relationships with bookstores to have their books displayed and sold there.

Publish a quality book

Joe Yamulla: What should self-published authors be doing and thinking about if their goal is to have their books sold in local bookstores?

Jim Foley: Well, the first thing, of course, is the quality of the book. The book must be professionally published — like what we produce here at BookBaby.

This means the book should be professionally edited, professionally designed, professionally formatted, etc. This is essential for any published book in any format, but it’s doubly true for physical books in bookstores — especially independent bookstores.

Joe Yamulla: I agree completely. We’ve touched on this before — there is such importance to a truly professional publish. If your book is to stand a chance, you need a legitimate, professionally designed cover. When it comes to bookstores, it matters even more. These bookstores are strictly in the business of selling books. An amateur-looking cover has no chance of even being noticed. You must put your book in a position to succeed and you cannot survive a poorly designed cover or a book that has not been edited. It’s just not going to have a chance.

So, in addition to having a quality book that has been professionally published and looks great, what are the practical steps that an author should be taking?

Make personal connections

Jim Foley: Well, it depends on who the author is and if they have a reputation and fans who will create a demand for the book — nationally, regionally, locally — all these things matter. It looks a little different for everyone.

If you’re a first-time author and you have none of those things, it’s going to be hard for you to make a case for a bookstore to put the book on their shelves. They want to hear about why the book is going to sell in their store.

So, there are the big box stores like Barnes and Noble or Books-A-Million. And then there are the mid-level, big regional stores like Powell’s Books and others. Then there are the small, independent bookstores — there are like 1,500 of them around the country — and those businesses, in a lot of cases, are a labor of love. They have the operator of the store running the business alone and working all day. They have few people working in the store. They love books. These stores host writing groups and truly are a community. They have limited amounts of money to invest in their inventory, so every book on the shelves represents real dollars in inventory and revenue potential.

At BookBaby, we talk to bookstores all the time. And the general feedback we get from bookstore owners is that they are overwhelmed with requests from strangers to sell their books.

They say, “Jim, can you imagine? These authors never spend a dollar in my store, have never bought a book. They don’t participate in any of the community events we do. But they are demanding and want me to sell their book. And I have to say no, and I try to do it politely.”

It’s hard and it’s a distraction for them. So as an author, you need to have a realistic understanding of the marketplace — who the target stores are and a compelling case about why they should carry your book.

Joe Yamulla: That’s a great point. Bookstores aren’t just going to take a risk on a random stranger’s book. So, even before your book is published, even while you’re writing or before you’re writing, you need to form a genuine relationship with that bookstore. You must show your support to them before they show their support to you.

Purchase books from their store. Support their business events and their community. Refer friends and family to shop there. If you show a genuine interest in the people running the bookstore and the business, you stand a much better chance at getting your book in that store.

Authors are oftentimes so fixated on their work, but building relationships is important. Even for traditionally published authors from smaller publishing houses, it’s no guarantee to make it in bookstores and it’s one of the biggest challenges an author must overcome. Building relationships is an essential first step.

Support your local bookstores

Jim Foley: Yes, it’s critical. And it’s a great community to be a part of, right? Especially locally — I think every author should support their local bookstores. Show up, introduce yourself to the people who work there. You can even offer to make a special deal with the bookstore, like giving them 10 books for free just to get interest!

They can sell them, make 100 percent profit on the book, and you can leave little postcards in each book that encourages readers to share it with friends. By doing this, you can start building interest locally. For example, say something like, “I’m Jim Foley, a local Philadelphia author. I really appreciate you reading my book. If you love my book, please give it to a friend and pass it along.”

Joe Yamulla: For indie authors, particularly, when it comes to earnings and royalties at the beginning of their journey, most of it is not going to come from brick-and-mortar sales. A bookstore presence is a great way to get your face out in the community and connect with new readers. But people do sometimes have the wrong idea about this being the path to profitability — that’s not really the case.

Jim Foley: True, you’re more likely to sell significant quantities online. But then, a surefire way to get yourself stocked in national bookstores is to have the receipts that prove your book is selling and that it is generating demand.

What I mean is — get traction online first. Sell loads of eBooks. Sell loads of copies through print on demand with various online retailers. When that happens, you have credibility. You can take these receipts into a store, talk to the book buyers and store managers, and say, “I’m working hard. I’m marketing my book. It’s a hit and people love it. Look at all the reviews I’m getting and my sales numbers. I think I can sell in your outlet.”

Distribution options

Joe Yamulla: So, now let’s say you did everything right. You have a killer book. You have strong relationships with local bookstore managers, and they agree to get your book in the store. Now the bookstore needs 50 copies. How does that process work for a self-published author?

Jim Foley: There are two main ways to make this work.

Number one, you could sell on consignment. That means you have your own personal inventory of 50 books on hand at the store. They don’t have to pay upfront — which is good, because it’s really low risk for the bookstores.

Number two, distribute through wholesale networks. Every bookstore buys books from wholesalers. As a BookBaby-distributed author, your book is available in all the wholesaler catalogs. We offer you through the Independent Publisher’s Group, Ingram, you name it. Our books are in all the big wholesaler catalogs, which means they’re available for sale to the bookstores.

Pricing your book

Joe Yamulla: There are a couple of other items that authors should be aware of if they want to have the best chance of selling in local bookstores. I’m curious what comes to your mind, but to me, you want to ensure that your book is priced appropriately. Do market research. Look at books within your genre. Look at similar books and see what they are priced at.

Jim Foley: Definitely. And I don’t advise discounting your book. In fact, a lot of times I think that authors tend to undervalue their work. And sometimes books can be too far out of line with what the market value is for that type of book. We could do another video on pricing strategy for books, because pricing is an important component to bookselling.

Joe Yamulla: So, looking at the big picture, what is the true value of being in a physical bookstore? If you’re an independent author, what is the main reason you want to push for this?

Build your author brand

Jim Foley: Well, it’s for the whole process of your brand building, right? You want to have a legitimate author brand — and we talked about having a good relationship with local bookstores. As an author, you want to walk in and have them know you. Because that grassroots, word-of-mouth advertising for your book is important and is how growth happens. So, there’s that component of it.

And if your book is hyper-local — let’s say it’s about the history of Philadelphia baseball — you absolutely want to target local bookstores. If there is a local feel, local vibe, or regional vibe to your book, it’s very important to target those stores and buyers in the area. Then, if you’re fortunate enough to become a best-seller and you have the potential to be a best-seller on a national stage in the big box stores across the country, go for it! And congratulations because I know a lot of work went into making that happen.

That is the top of the pyramid, a very small percentage of books get up there. It takes a long time to build up to that kind of possibility. You’re probably talking a few years unless you have an absolute outlier of a best-seller out of the gate that everybody is talking about. But that’s not the reality for most people in the beginning.

Joe Yamulla: Yes, out of the gate, as you’re building your brand, I think it speaks volumes to be sold in bookstores. If you can achieve that and have your book on a bookstore shelf, you can use that material in your own personal marketing. Go to the bookstore where your book is being sold and highlight it. It gives you a sense of authority that speaks a lot about your work. It says that this store believed in the book enough to invest in it.

It’s a powerful way for an author to stand out as an authority figure and subject matter expert who is succeeding in his/her genre space.

Check out more great videos on the BookBaby YouTube channel.

Related Posts
Why You Need an Editor for Your Book
Book Cover Design: From Concept to Completion
Why Does My Book Need Interior Formatting?
Book Pricing for Authors
What Is Your Author Brand?

This BookBaby blog article How to Get a Self-Published Book into Bookstores appeared first on and was stolen from BookBaby Blog .