Distribution

If the primary markets to sell your book will be bookstores and libraries, and you are or will be self-published, one of your first hurdles will be in finding a distributor. Having a book distributed means getting it from your hands (or the publisher’s warehouse) into the hands of the buying public.

Books generally do not go from the publisher to the bookstore directly. They go through at least one additional step—the distributor or wholesaler.

The book wholesaler is a company that serves as a one-stop shop for bookstores wanting to buy their books from one source (or just a few sources) rather than from each publisher separately.

The bookseller can place all orders in one place and not have to worry about which publishers are reliable, and they get the best prices by having one large order from one place rather than smaller orders from a variety of publishers.

Bookstores do not want to wait for books. They generally will order only books that are “in stock” at a distributor, not books that have to be printed when the order is placed. So the risk for the small publisher is to print a large inventory in order to have enough stock for orders, while expecting much of that inventory to ultimately be returned.

Wholesalers and distributors take a percentage of every book they carry. It is not uncommon for distributors to “buy” books at 60 percent to 75 percent off the retail price and wholesalers to “buy” at a 55 percent discount. Then they sell these books to the bookstore for 50 percent off the retail price. The mega-bookstores then sell softcovers to consumers for 20 percent off the retail price. Amazon.com sells books at various discounts, but commonly at about 30 percent off the retail price.

It is common industry practice for a bookstore to be able to return any book at any time for a full refund if they don’t sell in their stores. The books are returned to the wholesaler/distributor who refunds the money to the bookstore. The wholesaler/distributor then returns the books to the publisher who returns the money to the wholesaler/distributor. And as you might imagine, many if not most of these books are damaged in all the shipping and handling and cannot be resold.

One of the biggest challenges for self-publishers is to get adequate distribution. This may be the biggest argument for working with a traditional publisher that has working distribution arrangements, particularly with bookstores.

Tanyab 08:36, 5 December 2008 (UTC) | www.publishing-store.com