Terry Whalin is a California-based writer and acquisitions editor with years of experience in his field. I follow Terry’s work and religiously read his periodic newsletter. Appreciatively, Terry is very supportive of my writing on the DyingWords.net blog as well as sharing Kill Zone posts on social media.
Recently, Terry Whalin published a short but highly informative piece on the difficulty of getting indie work introduced into bookstores. Terry’s insight rang home to me, so I contacted him and asked permission to share the article on the Kill Zone. He graciously agreed, and here are Terry’s thoughts.
Why Self-Published Books Are Rarely Inside Bookstores
By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)
I’m involved in a couple of online writing groups and no matter how many times you say it, there seems to be a broad misconception about self-published books. These books simply don’t appear in the brick-and-mortar bookstores.
Please don’t misunderstand me. These self-published books have their place in the market—particularly if you have a means to sell the books to individuals or companies. For example, if you speak often and would like to have a book to sell in the back of the room, you can easily get a self-published book to use in these situations. Just don’t expect to sell your book to bookstores.
Recently a well-meaning author celebrated his first printed book, which was self-published. He was holding it in his hand—always exciting. He was plotting a strategy to get his book in as many bookstores as possible and asking for help from other authors in the group. If you are going down this path, it shows a clear disconnect with the realities of the market.
Here’s a bit of what I told him. “Congratulations on your book release and I celebrate with you—but after more than thirty years in this business and over 60 books in print—and working as an acquisitions editor over the last twelve years—I am going to have to give you a bit of a reality check. You will struggle and find it almost impossible for brick-and-mortar bookstores to stock your self-published book. It’s one of those messages that the self-publishing places don’t tell you (they want to get your cash and get your book in their system).
“Yes, your book is listed on Amazon.com (easy for anyone to do) but getting it into the bookstores is a completely different story. I’ve been telling writers for years about the ease of getting a book printed—now getting it into the bookstores and ultimately into the hands of consumers, that’s a different story.
“Retailers dislike self-published books. Every retailer that I’ve talked with about this issue (and I’ve invested the time to talk with them) has countless stories about the difficulties of these books. They have re-stocking problems and problems with the quality of the products (typos, editing, etc.).
“Here’s the real test for you: go to your local bookstores and ask them if they are carrying any self-published title on their shelves. Go to the big box stores like Barnes & Noble or Books A Million as well as your mom and pop smaller independent bookstores. The answer will surprise you. I will be surprised if you find a single self-published among any of the thousands of books.”
“We can’t say it often enough—the bookstore market is a closed system—that deals with distributors and large and small publishers. It’s why we work hard to get our books into the traditional publishing marketplace. It’s why you go through the effort and hard work to create an excellent book proposal or book manuscript or novel, then sell that idea to a publisher. Then your book is available in any bookstore—and can have the possibility of sitting on those bookshelves.
“It’s a free country and you can feel free to expend the effort and energy to market to bookstores and try and place your book. From my experience and others, it will be frustrating and likely not sell many books. I believe your marketing efforts are better served in other markets (outside the bookstore).”
No matter what I write, several of you are going to take the leap into self-publishing. Here’s several action steps if you go this route:
- Work with an experienced editor to create an excellent book.
- Work with professional cover designers and people to format and produce a book where every detail looks like something from one of the big five traditional publishers. This means including elements like endorsements and words on the spine of the book (including a publishing logo on the bottom of that spine). Many self-published books are missing key elements which become striking signals they are self-published such as leaving off the barcode or doing this code improperly (without the price).
- Keep working consistently to grow your audience. As I’ve mentioned in the past, work daily on your platform and reach your audience. You need to try new avenues to market and sell your book.
- Continue to learn all you can about publishing. Get a free copy of my Book Proposals That Sell and study the publishing insights in this book.
- Never give up on your book. As the author, you have the greatest interest and passion for your book. This statement is true no matter whether you are traditionally published or self-published. Always be looking for new opportunities to write or speak about your book.
This last point is something I try and model with my own books. For example, I continue to promote and use the radio interviews I recorded for Billy Graham biography which has been in print for about ten years. Each author needs to be actively telling new readers about their books—whether they are carried in the bookstores or not.
Bio — W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s recent book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. Also get the free 11th Publishing Myth chapter.
To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. As Jim Cox, Editor-in-Chief of Midwest Review wrote, “If you only have time to read one ‘how to’ guide to getting published, whether it be traditional publishing or self-publishing, Book Proposals That Sell is that one DIY instructional book.” Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Kill Zoners — What’s your experience as an indie trying to get your work into bookstores? Feel free to share. And thanks to Terry for sharing this piece. Hopefully he’ll drop by to engage in the comments!
Nice to see you at TKZ, Terry.
Indie bookstore owners have told me their normal way to order is via a distributor like Ingram. If they can’t use that normal channel, it’s more effort than is worth their time. And understandably they will not order from Amazon b/c that’s their direct competitor.
Chains also are limited to ordering from specific distributors. If it doesn’t show up on their computer system, they can’t order a book.
I’ve had good success with local retailers b/c of personal relationships developed over years. But that’s very limited number of book sales.
As you wisely say, “Each author needs to be actively telling new readers about their books—whether they are carried in the bookstores or not.”
Debbie,
Thank you for this comment. It’s great booksellers can order the book but having it inside the bookstore takesw additional work from someone. Possible but often takes author effort.
Good morning, Terry, and thanks so much for your advice about bookstores. I’ve never considered approaching a bricks ‘n mortar outlet as I stick to e-formats, but your article made me wonder about little practical matters like getting a self-pubbed barcode on the jacket align with the book store’s scanning and pricing structure. So much I don’t know about the print book industry…
I have had more than one bookstore tell me they don’t want the price on the barcode because they marked them up. Since mine had the price, they had to create a barcode sticker to put over it. Which is more work for them.
Garry,
Thank you for the introduction here and this article. Ebooks are great but overall the market is 80% print and 20% ebook. Each of us as authors have to work at our relationship with booksellers.
Terry
Very much appreciate the article, insights, and action steps. For myself personally, I’m not sure getting into bookstores makes as much difference to me as it might have 15 years ago. My life is so chaotic & I’m always so pressed for time that, much as I love books, I rarely have time to go to a physical bookstore. Makes me sad to say it but it’s true. I head to Amazon or some other online retailer to find my books. I’m probably not the only one whose trips to the physical bookstores have decreased.
BK, thank yoou for this comment. I don’t get to physical bookstores as often either but it’s something each of us need to consider doing from time to time. Introduce yourself to the manager and give them a copy of your print book for their back table. It’s called a meet and greet in the business and the relationship could be important in the days ahead for you and your book.
Terry
Living in a very small town, we don’t have many stores, much less bookstores. There’s one indie used book/consignment shop that opened in the next town. I can put my books there, but I have to buy them to provide them. The owner gives an 80-20 split, which is pretty good in consignment land.
I agree with BK about decreased trips to brick and mortar stores. It’s about 40 miles to the nearest dedicated bookstore for me.
The vast majority of my sales are from e-books, so I’ve accepted that my books will never be in the window of a Barnes & Noble.
Terry, thanks for this comment and sharing your experience.
Terry
Terry’s right. Even when I brought my traditionally published books into bookstores, the first question they asked was, “Is it self-published?” Since I said no and they could order through Ingram, they carried my books. I did have one mom and pop shop tell me they wouldn’t carry my Grafton County Series because the publisher wasn’t one of the Big Five. Definitely an unfair system, but it is what it is.
Sue, thank you for this comment and it’s great how you are continuing to work at your relationship with these booksellers.
Terry
Great to see you here, Terry. Clear-eyed and wise advice. I agree about understanding the reality of not getting self-published titles onto book store shelves.
As a self-published author, I make my mysteries available in print on Amazon via their KDP Print option, and use Draft 2 Digital Print to make them available online at Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound and my hometown’s Powell Books. I’ve had copies purchased online from all three. I sell around 25% of my mysteries in print, while my fantasy novels are mostly sold in eBooks.
Public libraries are a place where print editions of self-published books can and often do appear. I worked for the public library here in the Portland area for many years before retiring in 2019, and we often bought prints editions of self-published titles.
So that’s a market to keep in mind as well.
Thanks so much for today’s post!
Dale, thank you for this comment about libraries–which is a great and often author neglected market for books. As authors we have to be consistent in our reaching these markets with the benefits of our book–but also strategic. It’s a tricky balance for every author.
Terry
Excellent post, Gary, and thanks for sharing Terry’s viewpoint. When I visit my local Barnes & Noble, I see more people sipping in the coffee shop instead of shopping in the book area. This makes me curious about how many sales occur through traditional stores as compared to those from online retailers (i.e., Amazon, Apple, etc.). Do you or Terry have insights comparing online to physical stores?
Grant, thanks for this comment. Distribution is an important aspect of publishing–online and brick and mortar. As authors, we have to take regular action and build relationships with retailers–whether online or our local bookstores. It is definitely a journey for each of us.
Terry
It’s good to see you here on the Kill Zone, Terry, and thanks for the information about bookstores for indies.
My self-pubbed books are on IngramSpark. Therefore, they’re available for bookstores, but there’s a catch. Most (maybe all) bookstores won’t order books from Ingram unless they’re returnable. (There’s an option on Ingram to make your books returnable, but if you check it, the publisher is responsible for paying the wholesale price of the returned books plus the shipping fee.)
You can understand why the bookstores want this. If a store orders a hundred copies, but only sells a few, they don’t want to be stuck with the rest. Most (maybe all) traditional publishers mark their books returnable, but as an indie publisher, I don’t want to take the risk of losing money, so I don’t have that option checked on Ingram. Therefore, I don’t sell many books there. On the bright side, our local independent bookstore keeps copies of my books stocked on their shelves. (They order them from Ingram.)
Kay,
Thanks for this comment and bringing up about returns–which is a big issue for every publisher–and something that has been a part of the business since the great depression. If you handle returns, sometimes they return in an OK shape to put them back in the market. Other times they come back in such terrible condition, the only alternative is to destroy them. Another part of the risk in publishing and working with bookstores. I’m glad your local bookstore is carrying your books. Keep fostering and building that relationship. It’s an important part of the business of publishing.
Hey, Terry. Thanks for the benefit of your knowledge, which is massive.
Even in my trad days, it was sometimes a real challenge to get books into stores. Years ago, didn’t many stores go to the “one and reorder” model? IOW, they wouldn’t order several, but just one, and when (if) that was bought, they’d order another. What’s your experience on that?
Jim, Thanks for this comment and question. Bookstores have limited shelf space. Brick and mortar bookstores are cautious about ordering many copies then have to return them if they don’t sell. Years ago when I worked at another publisher, the VP of sales would tell me when he returned from a trip to visit with bookstore owners. They would listen to his pitch of our current catalog, then order two copies of each title (TWO). He was discouraged because these bookstores wanted one to show and one to sell. It was not what he was trying to get them to do but each bookstore makes these decisions. It’s why as authors we need to be fostering our relationships with our local stores.