Dear O'Abby: How do I get my self-published book into bookstores?

 Dear O'Abby,

I have self-published a series of fantasy novels and have had pretty good online sales across a variety of online retailers.  But it has always been my dream to have a book on shelves at a bricks-and-mortar bookstore, and I'm not sure how to make this happen.

Do you have any insight how I could do this, even on a small scale?

Thanks so much!

Best,

Unshelved

Dear Unshelved,

I think being on library and bookstore shelves is every writer's dream, so I completely understand.  Unfortunately, it isn't necessarily the easiest thing in the world, and can end up being very uneconomic.  In my case, I end up losing around $10 on every physical book I sell in a physical bookstore, meaning it's not economically sustainable for me to do. But then, I live in New Zealand so the freight costs to get books to me are substantially more than they might be if you live closer to the place your books are printed.  But something to bear in mind.

The other thing to think about is the fact a bookstore needs to make a profit, so they are likely to take a percentage of the sale price (usually 25%-35%).  Which means that to just break even on the cost of producing the book, you're going to need to mark up the price you sell it to booksellers. As they will probably mark it up again to get the profit margin they need to get, you need to think about the customer facing price and whether it's realistic for consumers.  Again, in my case, to make any money out of a bookstore sale, my books would need to sell at around NZ$35-$40.  Which is more than a typical YA paperback would sell for at a local bookstore.

Once you've done your budgeting and figured out whether selling at stores is actually worth it, the easiest first step is to go to bookstores in your local area (or phone first and make an appointment with the owner/book buyer) to pitch your book.  I suggest approaching a store that specializes in your genre first, if there is one in your local area.  It will be easier to get a romance novel into a store that focuses on romance than to get a romance into a more general bookstore.

Bookstores usually take books from self-pubbed authors on consignment, meaning you will only get paid for the book once it has been sold.  If the book doesn't sell the copies you give the store in a certain time period, it's likely the store will return them to you.

Another option is to use a book distributor like IngramSpark which is a print-on-demand company and means you don't need to invest in a massive print run up front. It's important to allow returns when setting up distribution through a system like this - stores are unlikely to buy copies if they can't return them if they don't sell.

And like all things, the more publicity and marketing you put behind your book, the more likely it is to get picked up by stores.  Like all businesses, bookstores need to make money, and they don't make money by having books sitting on their shelves - they need to fly out the door.  So create demand for the book.  If people are asking for it, booksellers are more likely to stock it.  And if the copies they have fly off the shelves, then they're more likely to re-order.

Hope that's helpful!

X O'Abby