Sales and distribution are crunch time for the self-publisher. After all the effort and no doubt money you’ve invested, will your planning pay off? Will your marketing work? Will you sell any books? Will you be able to fulfil your orders?

In this section we will consider the different means by which you might sell your books and in turn fulfil your orders.

DIRECT SALES

Direct sales offer self-publishers perhaps the most realistic opportunity to sell reasonable numbers of books. For starters, it is manageable: self-publishers are usually trying to sell only one book at a time; we will have a supply of them handy (probably piled high in the spare room!); and the ability to dispatch them immediately.

Secondly, it is in our own control. As you will see in the sections below, once we start to sell books via wholesalers and retailers we must do so by their rules, at their terms, and there is virtually no scope for negotiation on either. Direct sales, in contrast, allow you to create and manage a sales strategy that is right for you.

Many ideas for direct sales have already been mentioned in the chapter on marketing. Direct sales opportunities fall into the following categories:

• mail order
• event-based sales (talks, book signings, village fetes etc.)
• speciality outlets (shops and other venues relevant to your book, e.g. museum shop for a local history book).

BOOK WHOLESALERS

Book wholesalers interface with book retailers on your behalf. They will store your book and accept and fulfil orders from the book trade. They have sales teams, produce sales and marketing support materials, have computerised ordering and inventory systems, and much more besides – visit the websites listed below to view the full range of services.

Most booksellers prefer to deal with a wholesaler rather than a small, unknown publisher, so it is advantageous to approach a wholesaler to see if they will stock your book. You should expect terms of around 55 per cent – i.e. the wholesaler will take 55 per cent of the cover price (which includes the retailer’s cut). Wholesalers are selective about who they take on, so be prepared to sell your book and yourself (and your business systems!) when you approach them.

Gardners Books Ltd
1 Whittle Drive
Eastbourne
East Sussex
BN23 6QH
Tel: 01323 521555
www.gardners.com

Bertram Books
1 Broadland Business Park
Norwich
Norfolk
NR7 OWF
Tel: 0870 429 6600
www.bertrams.com

Bookspeed (Scottish wholesaler)
16 Salamander Yards
Edinburgh
EH6 7DD
www.bookspeed.com

Marston Book Services
(formerly part of the Blackwell group of companies)
PO Box 269
Abingdon
OX 14 4YN
www.marston.co.uk

BOOK RETAILERS

In Chapter 7 we discussed how to establish a database of book retailers for the purposes of preparing marketing and publicity mailshots. Addresses of the main book retailers, as well as The Booksellers Association, are given in this section.

Apart from sending out mailouts to book buyers and branch managers, the other method at your disposal is the personal visit. (Major publishers employ teams of sales reps for good reason.)

Be your own sales rep for a day. Mark out an itinerary of local and regional stores you wish to visit. Prepare a professionally-presented folder of visuals and information that will help you to sell your book. Take a pre-prepared pack of information to leave, should you not succeed in talking to the right member of staff -the store manager in most cases. (To avoid this you could try ringing ahead and arranging a suitable time to pop in.)

The key things the bookseller will be interested in will be:

• the book itself
• local promotions and advertising you are organising
• your ability to fulfil orders quickly
• your business systems – are you going to provide necessary paperwork on a Post-it note and be a complete nightmare to deal with? In this regard you need to impress upon the bookseller that you are not just a creative author, but a professional business person to boot.

THE INTERNET

The two key means of selling your book on the internet are setting up your own website, and joining forces with an established online retailer, such as Amazon. Both options are outlined in more detail in Chapter 8.

Other means of promoting sales on the internet are:

• Compiling a ‘house list’ of emails of your friends, family, colleagues, neighbours etc. and send a promotional email (with a link to your website and/or Amazon if the book is for sale there).
• Research websites that invite you to post book reviews. Write some for your own book and post them online (everybody does it!). Better still, get some of your good friends to do the same.
• Research relevant chat rooms, e-zines, newsgroups and other online forums in which you could directly or indirectly promote your book.
• Research other people’s websites that contain content relevant to the subject matter of your book. Ask if you can have a link made between their website and yours. Or find out if they would they be interested in selling your book on their site.

LIBRARY SALES

Unfortunately for us, libraries purchase most of their books directly from library suppliers. Fortunately for us, if we’re lucky enough to have our book taken on by a library supplier, this makes our life much easier.

Library book suppliers will expect information well in advance of your publication date. Send them your advance information flyer and a covering letter. Your letter should state when a pre-publication copy of the book could be forwarded to them on request (i.e. when you get your books back from the printers).

Keep your letter brief and to the point. All it needs to say is:

• Please find enclosed information about [title of book].
• A copy of the book will be available on [date].
• Please let us know if you are prepared to stock this title, and if so, on what terms?

Library suppliers

James Askew & Son Ltd
218-222 North Road
Preston
PR1 1SY
Tel: 01772 555947
www.askews.co.uk

BH Blackwell Ltd
Hythe Bridge Street
Oxford
OX1 2ET
Tel: 01865 333661

The Holt Jackson Book Company Ltd
Preston Road
Lytham
Lancashire
FY8 5AX
Tel: 01253 737464
www.holtjackson.co.uk

TC Farries & Co. Ltd
Irongray Road
Lochside
Dumfries
Scotland
DG2 OLH
Tel: 01387 720755
www.farries.com

Cypher (part of the Bertram group)
Elmfield Road
Morley
Leeds
LS27 ONN
www.cyphergroup.com

Coutts Library Services UK
(Supplies academic, medical, professional and reference libraries
throughout the world.)
Headlands Business Park
Ringwood
Hampshire
BH24 3PB

Peters Library Service
(Specialises in children’s books.)
120 Bromsgrove Street
Birmingham
B5 6RJ
Tel: 01216 666646
www.peters-books.co.uk

The Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals (CILIP)

Another means of promoting your book to libraries is to mailshot library staff directly. CILIP – the professional organisation for libraries – will supply mailing lists of UK libraries for a reasonable charge. CILIP also produces a quarterly Library Buyer’s Guide. It costs £475 + VAT to have a 60-word entry included in four consecutive issues of the guide, which is distributed as a supplement of the Library and Information Gazette.

The Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals

www.cilip.org.uk

Email: info@ciUp.org.uk

FREELANCE SALES REPRESENTATIVES

Freelance sales reps advertise in The Bookseller(available in the periodicals section of all large libraries) and can be hired to promote your stock to sales outlets. I have never come across any self-publishers who have used them so have never been able to satisfy my curiosity as to how effective they are. Get written confirmation of the commission they will take.

INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS GUILD

The Independent Publishers Guild takes out stands at the major book fairs, e.g. in Frankfurt and London. If your book is selling well and you are confident of soliciting interest in it from publishers in the UK or abroad, it might be worth your while to join the Independent Publishers Guild.

You can pay for a portion of space at their trade stands, giving you access to an audience you wouldn’t normally be able to afford to court on your own. Membership costs £150 per year plus VAT. Publishers that have fewer than three titles on their list are only eligible for non-voting membership.

Independent Publishers Guild
PO Box 93
Royston
SG8 5GH
Tel: 01763 247014
www.ipg.uk.com

SELLING SUBSIDIARY RIGHTS

A subsidiary right is an agreement given by you to a third party which allows them to produce a book in new forms. Some common examples of subsidiary rights are:

• film rights
• audio books
• foreign English language markets (e.g. US)
• translation rights
• periodical rights (allow magazines to print extracts). First serial rights refer to extracts printed before publication, second serial rights to extracts printed after publication date
• anthology rights. Allows your work to be printed in a new book together with collections of work from other authors
• electronic rights (publishing your work in an electronic format).

If you wish to pursue the sale of subsidiary rights, send a copy of your book to agents who specialise in the sale of rights (see the agents listing in The Writer’s Handbook or The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook.

DOING BUSINESS

Payment terms

Your payment terms will be dictated by who is selling your books for you. Wholesalers and distributors will offer you terms as lengthy as 90 days. If you are invoicing independent booksellers directly they will expect terms of at least 30 days.

The larger retail chains will expect all sales to be on a term known as ‘sale or return’ (or SOR). This means, quite simply, that if the book they have ordered from you isn’t sold, they have the right to return it to you. State the payment terms clearly on each invoice.

Discounts schedule

You will have considered the types of discounts you will need to offer whilst confirming your costings plan and setting your book’s cover price. For example:

Outlet	Terms of sale
Independent booksellers	35%
Major ‘chain’ booksellers	45%
Wholesaler	55%
Amazon	60%
Distributor	65%

Prepare also a discounts schedule so you have it on hand to fax or send to non-trade outlets with whom you are negotiating sales opportunities. Sales to non-trade outlets should not be on a sale-or-return basis. An example of the type of discount schedule you might set is:

Quantity ordered	Discount on cover price offered
1-2	10%
3-4	20%
5-9	30%
11-30	35%
31-99	40%
100+	50%

Returns

A return is an unsold book that is sent back to you by the bookseller who ordered it. Returns are a frustrating fact of publishing life: all publishers must deal with them. Prepare a returns policy that sets out the terms on which you will accept returns. For example:

Some of your returned books will inevitably arrive in a damaged condition. If they look ‘shelf-worn’ there is nothing you can do about it. However, if it appears obvious they have been damaged in transit due to inadequate packaging, return them to the bookseller, along with an invoice for your postage if you feel like making a point.

If a member of the public returns the book, for any reason, always replace the book or offer the requested refund. As they say, the customer is always right!

DISTRIBUTION

Your distribution arrangements will be linked to your storage arrangements.

Doing it yourself

If you’re planning to stack your books in your spare bedroom, you will no doubt be managing fulfilment and distribution yourself. Whilst on many levels this seems to be the easiest option, be aware of the pitfalls of ‘spare bedroom distribution’.

I was mad enough to move house in the midst of a self-publishing exercise. Meanwhile I had over 2,000 postal orders for my book Britain’s Hot Potato!, which was terrific, of course, but after sitting on the hall floor stuffing 2,000 books in 2,000 Jiffy bags, and licking 2,000 stamps, whilst chaos reigned around me...well, my distribution antics almost caused my divorce!

You will need somewhere (the hallway in my case) to keep Jiffy bags, stamps, bubble-wrap and parcel tape (for larger orders), address labels, and promotional material you might be inserting into envelopes. You will also need somewhere to sit and process incoming orders and check names on cheques received against order names and addresses.

My top tip is always write out or type the sticky address label for your Jiffy bags when you open each order. Check that payment is a) enclosed and b) signed. Check the order address is legible. Once the address label is done, put the cheque in a designated place. The last thing you need after stuffing 100 Jiffy bags of an evening is to find a rogue cheque lying about, only to be left wondering, ‘have I fulfilled this order already and do I have to open all 100 envelopes to check I’ve done so?’

Other hints:

• Depending on the number of books you’ll be selling, discuss discounts and services available to you from Royal Mail.
• Open an account with a courier. This will save you money if you intend to courier larger numbers of books around the country.
• Always include a consignment note in orders awaiting payment. It is advisable to send your invoice separately.
• If space becomes a problem, and you can afford it, consider storing your books in a local storage facility. You will still be able to fulfil orders and undertake the distribution yourself.

Book distributors

If storage and distribution are something you would rather not deal with, and you are unable to or unwilling to use a book wholesaler, you will need to enlist the services of a distributor. You will need to research the options and the terms of business offered by various distributors. The following is a sample of distributors listed in the Directory of Publishing 2004 (Continuum).

Airlift Book Company
8 The Arena
Mollison Avenue
Enfield
Middlesex EN3 7NJ
Tel: 020 8804 0400
www.airlift.co.uk

The Book Service Ltd
Colchester Road
Frating Green
Colchester
Essex C07 7DW
Tel: 01206 256000

Bookpoint Ltd
130 Milton Park
Abingdon
OX14 4SB
Tel: 01235 400400

Central Books
99 Wallis Road
London E9 5LN
Tel: 0845 4589911

Grantham Book Services Ltd
Isaac Newton Way
Alma Park Industrial Estate
Grantham
NG31 9SD
Tel: 01476 541000

Littlehampton Book Services Ltd
Faraday Close
Durrington
Worthing
BN13 3RB
Tel: 01903 828500
www.lbsltd.co.uk

Thomas Lyster Ltd
(Small publisher that offers warehousing and distribution to other
small and medium sized publishers.)
Unit 3
Old Boundary Way Industrial Park
Ormskirk
L39 2YW
Tel. 01695 575112
www.tlyster.co.uk

Turnaround Publisher Services Ltd
Unit 3
Olympia Trading Estate
Coburg Road
London N22 6TZ
Tel: 020 8829 3000
www.turnaround-uk.com

Vine House Distribution Ltd
(Distribution and marketing for small and medium-sized
publishers.)
Waldenbury
North Chailey
BN8 4DR
Tel: 01825 723398
www.vinehouseukxo.uk

KEEPING TRACK

Establishing effective record systems is essential. This is something I still struggle with – any paperwork of this type bores me senseless, as my long-suffering accountant would frustratingly tell you at the first available opportunity.

I am living evidence of the fact that it is all very well to set up computer files and ring-binder folders systems in which to create and monitor sales orders, fulfilment notices, returns, and eventually, invoices. These systems are no good whatsoever unless you use them, keep them up to date, and regularly file things away where they should be filed away!

Sales ledger

This should be your bible. It’s up to you whether you create it on a computer or use an old-fashioned exercise book – choose a method that suits your own working habits and foibles. Your sales ledger should contain the following information:

• customer name
• date of order
• method of order
• quantity ordered
• dispatch date
• invoice date
• date paid.

Operate your sales ledger chronologically. Start it on the day of your first order, and update it every day. Get into the habit of filling it in before you dispatch an order. Get into the habit of filling it in every time you issue an invoice. And fill it in every time you receive a payment. It will become an invaluable business tool.

CHASING PAYMENTS AND DEALING WITH BAD DEBT

Many people in all walks of small businesses find chasing unpaid invoices a complete pain in the proverbial! I am the same. It is easy to think, ‘Well, it’s only three invoices and they’re all for small amounts’, or, as in my case, ‘I don’t really want to become a black-listed nuisance to [a well-known book retailer] lest they never stock any of my books again’.

Like me, you probably won’t have a snazzy invoicing software package that flags up unpaid items automatically. I suggest therefore that you establish a simple routine.

• 1.Check for outstanding invoices at the end of every month.
• 2.Employ a two-step follow-up process: send a reminder, after which if the invoice remains unpaid, call and politely ask if you can fax a copy of your outstanding invoice directly to the relevant person in the accounts department. Remember that not all unpaid invoices are the result of a malicious attempt to bankrupt you; most are the result of sloppy administration, lost paperwork, bulging in-trays and so on. A faxed copy, in the hand of whoever needs to process it, usually solves the problem.
• 3.If you are left with a small number of unpaid invoices (despite your reminder letters), you have a choice of further action. If the amounts due are small (one book @ £3-99) you may choose to write the invoice off as bad debt. If the amounts due are not small, you most certainly can’t write them off as bad debt. Threaten legal action – a small claims in the county court (which I’ll explain in a minute). Such letters are referred to as ‘letters before action’. They need to clearly state that if payment isn’t made within a given time, legal action will be taken. The hope, of course, is that your letter will prompt your debtor to pay, so you won’t have to follow-through on your threat.

County court proceedings

County courts deal with private disputes involving claims up to £25,000. Claims over £5,000 are addressed in formal hearings in the court, but claims under £5,000 can be dealt with via a small claims procedure (also known as the small claims track). The advantage of the small claims procedure is that hearings are heard informally and you do not need the (expensive) services of a solicitor.

Before taking a case to the county court you will need to collate copies of all written documents relating to the case. The case will normally be held at the county court for the area in which the defendant lives or bases his or her business. Your own local county court will have a booklet listing all other county courts. Your local county court will also give you a standard claim form (Form N1), as well as guidance notes for yourself (Form N1A) and notes for the defendant (Form N1B). All these forms can be downloaded from the website: www.courtservice.gov.uk. Note that you can also claim statutory interest on amounts owed to you (this is currently 8 per cent).

Once the court serves your claim form on the defendant he or she has 14 days in which to reply. If the defendant disputes the claim you have made you will both be asked to attend a Small Claims Hearing, at which a district judge will hear both your arguments. You will only have a small amount of time to present your case. Present your documented evidence and be clear and confident in what you are saying. As the claimant, remember it is up to you to prove your claim.

WHAT TO DO WITH LEFT-OVER BOOKS

Once your initial burst of post-publication energy has dissipated (this should be at least a full year after your publication date!), some of you will be happy to keep your books infinitum and sell them on a slow, piecemeal basis. Others of you will not. There is a dreaded moment that each of us gets to (on our own personal time-frame) when we stop and think, ‘what on earth shall I do with my left-over books?’ If we have planned well, and implemented our plans, you might only have 500 excess copies. Or you might have 2,000 copies. Regardless of the number, you will need to make a choice: what to do with them all?

Remaindering

Remaindering is the process through which publishers sell off large quantities of unsold books at a hugely discounted price (usually 1-3 per cent of list price). Remaindering is usually done to clear warehouse space. You probably won’t have a warehouse, though you might need to clear out your garage or spare room or wherever else you’re storing your books.

You shouldn’t consider remaindering until unless:

• Storage of your books has become a serious problem, either due to expense or lack of space in your own home.
• Your book will soon become dated.
• You are unwilling to keep marketing and selling your books.

Remaindering companies may want to purchase all of your books, thus putting it out of print.

Some of the companies that deal in remainder books in the UK are:

Ciana Ltd
Fanshaw Street
London
Nl 6LQ
Tel: 020 7729 6044
Email: enquiries@ciana.co.uk

Aardvark Books Ltd
Oxford Barn
Brampton Bryan
Shropshire
SY7 ODH
www.aardvarkremainders.com

Webremainders Ltd
Oldfield Carr Farm
57 Oldfield Carr Lane
Poulton-le-Fylde
FY6 8EN
www.webremainders.com

Charitable donations

I am refusing on principle to include any book pulpers in this section on what to do with left-over books. Firstly, I should imagine that few self-publishers will want to pay somebody to destroy their books, and secondly, I believe you will easily find somebody willing and eager to receive your left-over stock as a charitable donation.

The two most well-known book charities are Book Aid International and Education Aid. Both have the similar aims of distributing books to people and communities who would otherwise have little or no access to books. Information on how to donate your books can be found on their respective websites:

Book Aid International
39-41 Coldharbour Lane
Camberwell
London SE5 9NR
Email: info@bookaid.org
www.bookaid.org

Education Aid
PO Box 3855
London
NW9 9LZ
Email: info@educationaid.aol.com
www.educationaid.org.uk

Other grateful recipients of your books could range from prison libraries, armed forces libraries, schools, churches, and hospitals. Contact your local institutions first. Other local groups and organisations may welcome books to be used as raffle prizes, for example.

Your accountant should be able to offset a percentage of the ‘cost’ of your charitable donations against tax, which, aside from knowing that you’ve assisted a charity, will give some small financial consolation for that fact that you have left-over books at all.