How to Sell Your Self-Published Book to Local Book Stores

Local bookstores can present a great opportunity for you and your book to gain exposure and sell more copies. But how do you get a bookstore to carry your book? If you're wondering about that, then this video is for you. Hey there, I'm Julie the book broad from Book Launchers. We're your professional self publishing services team helping you write, publish and promote a nonfiction book that will help you have a huge impact on your readers. And done right, we'll will also help you grow your brand, build your business and make you money. The best part? You yes, you keep all rights and royalties. Seeing your book on the shelf of a bookstore is one of the greatest moments for an author. There's just something so cool about your book in a store. I'm not a huge fan of self publishing authors pursuing widespread bookstore distribution. I did some math on it. I'll link to that video explanation at the end and it's kind of scary. But I do think getting some local bookstores or key location stores to support your book can be amazing for you and your book. But you might not know how to go about doing it. Here's what you do. First, plan your sales approach. Traditional publishers have an on the ground sales team who will go to the store and pitch the books they want to promote. So you have to be your own on the ground sales team. Head into the store with a sales sheet on your book, including details of your promotional plans, including local media, and any events that you might be doing locally to generate interest in your book. Remember, the store really only cares about whether your book will it doesn't matter if your book is great or not. They have a limited shelf space and a small margin. So what they want to know is will it sell? So your job isn't to convince the bookstore manager that your book is great. Your job is to show them that you're going to send hungry book buyers in there to pull out their credit card and buy your book. And hopefully buy other books while they're there. So now you're probably wondering, what do I put on a sales sheet? Well, it should include details like your media exposure, awards your book has received, events you're doing in the area, bestseller lists if applicable, or really anything else that might make your book noteworthy. Our clients have used the media kits we prepare for them to sell the books to stores. You can also pitch an event or see if they're hosting authors for bookstore events like book readings or Q and A sessions, in which case you can also offer up your own contact list, your client list, your email list, social media, or really any other way that you can help them promote that. My recommended strategy is to do an event in the store like a book signing or a Q and A that's also coordinated with local media and your own promotional strategy, because most of the time that's what's going to make a store interested. Tying into an awareness month, if applicable to your subject, can work wonders too, especially if it's an awareness month the bookstore already wants to promote. Most bookstores will stock books for the event. They'll have you sign copies that they'll sell later as autographed copies, and if your book sells, it could become a permanent listing or at least a longer term listing. That's what I did to get widespread bookstore listings. I had about 10 different bookstore events across Canada and pushed sales hard. It worked and seven years later a lot of bookstores I did signings in and some I didn't are still carrying my book. The second step is to discuss listing and wholesale discounts with the store. Once they're interested, now they got to buy copies. If you're set up through Ingram, then your bookstore can order from them, but they want more than a 15% discount on your book in order to sell it, so you have to discuss what they need. Most bookstores require a 40% discount, which means setting your Ingram wholesale discount at 55, but you may be able to strike a deal in between since you're going to do a lot of work to drive traffic to the store. Alternatively, many bookstores may offer to do a consignment deal where you get paid after your book sells. Whatever you agree on, bring them a review copy of your book along with your sell sheet or media kit so they can see it. Finally. Fulfill your promise. When your book gets listed, your promise is that you're going to sell those books. Just holding a book signing isn't enough to bring people in the door to that bookstore to buy books. You have to have a marketing plan to sell books during the event and even after. My bookstore appearances did much better with a radio piece in the morning or the day before. I also emailed people on my newsletter list in the local market and suggested I also emailed people in the local market and suggested they come by and say hello. Posters around the area can help, but remember, if you're not famous, you have to sell the hook of the book and the benefit you offer. When someone speaks to you, it's not about you and the reader getting to meet you because they don't know who you are keep that in mind, because the people who are going to come out and see you are much more limited than the people who want the expertise you offer or the tips you can share. If your local sales do well, you may find yourself faced with the opportunity and decision of selling books across the chain of bookstores that you're in. But before you do that, make sure you watch the video at the end. All right, now I'm curious. There are some really smart and savvy YouTube viewers here, so let's chat about how you get local bookstore distribution and sell through. Because again, the sell through is the critical part. So let's talk about getting your book into the store below. And when you comment the day a video is released, you get entered to win some sweet noboringbook swag like our mug where coffee, tea and hot chocolate are all proven to taste better. Or our oh so soft journal for writing down all your important book ideas. New videos come out every Tuesday and Friday. Make sure you catch every one by subscribing to the channel and turning those notifications on. Now you must watch this video right here on Bookstore Distribution before you get into this because I did the math on what it can cost to be listed in bookstores and it will make your jaw drop. And this video right here is from Robert Workman on a cool strategy he used to get his book into airport bookstores across the U.S. both are really awesome videos and I've got the coffee on for you, so I'll see you there.