Bookstores and Libraries

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    We use top sales teams to sell your book

    We are represented by companies that are generally reckoned to be amongst the best independent sales teams around the world:

    • NBN in the USA.
    • Quantum in the UK.
    • Durnell in Ireland and Europe.

    They work at contacting all relevant wholesalers and retailers, online and bricks-and-mortar, about your book, worldwide. Libraries usually find out about books from wholesalers, so they are covered too.

    You can be sure that your title will be presented to larger retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Hudson, Hastings, BAM, NACS and Folletts in the USA, Indigo in Canada, and Waterstones, WH Smith, Blackwell, Foyles, and John Smith in the UK. Reps also present to library suppliers such as Brodart in USA, and to Bertram Library Services, Askews and Yankee Book Peddler in Europe.

    We're in constant touch with the above groups, sending them AI/tipsheets, catalogues, attending sales meetings. All the 50 or so main reps get access to an AI sheet on every title, and we provide them with subject catalogues that include strong backlist.

    Important note: Please do not contact the sales teams directly. They all represent numerous publishers, and it's not feasible for them to work with authors on an individual basis.

    Which bookshops will my book be stocked at?

    Realistically, with us, your best chance of getting stocked in physical bookstores is in the UK, North America and Europe (and getting them stocked in these regions is tough).

    The market in Australia is extremely difficult at present, and it is highly unlikely we will be able to get your books into shops there unless you're a national name or there's specific demand.

    Up until the end of 2017, we worked with Hay House in South Africa, but they closed down their operation in that country and it is no longer financially viable for us to have a local distributor there.

    Countries like India are nigh on impossible because of low retail prices. So, outside the UK, North America and Europe, your book is most probably going to be available online only, via the regional Amazon or other retailers like The Book Depository (free international shipping).

    How can I help the sales teams sell my book?

    Market your book!

    A bookseller is far more likely to be persuaded to order copies of a new book if they are alerted to significant marketing.

    This includes details of upcoming events, scheduled interviews, endorsements from high-profile reviewers, and any traction a book may have gained in mainstream press or on social media.

    Our Sales Coordinator passes on important marketing information, which the reps then highlight to buyers when pitching your book to bookstores. Tell us about the marketing you do by adding it to your Marketing Activities. For really big news, let us know on the Author Forum.

    Shops buy your book from a wholesaler

    Shops normally order your book from a single wholesaler. It is quicker and more efficient than buying all their books from many different publishers or distributors.

    What is the difference between a distributor and a wholesaler?

    A wholesaler buys a book from a publisher and supplies it to bookstores, libraries, or whoever else may want your book. A distributor does similar tasks but works for the publisher.

    In addition, a distributor provides many services a wholesaler doesn’t, including making sure your book is available with all the different wholesalers, such as Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Bookazine, New Leaf or Quanta in the US and Bertrams, Gardners, Westnedge, OLF, or Bookspeed in Europe.

    In our case, using Wiley in the UK, we gain a total supply chain solution including demand planning, print and distribution, customer service, and credit collection.

    We use three main distributors worldwide:

    • Europe & the Middle East – John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
    • USA – National Book Network
    • Australia & New Zealand – Brumby Sunstate

    We build relationships with booksellers

    Over the years, we have built good relationships with booksellers in particular subject areas, which you can see in the Contacts Database.

    For instance, in the Mind/Body/Spirit sector we have close links with specialist bookstores such as Watkins Books in London, and Banyen Books in Vancouver.

    In the Christian market we have close links with the wholesalers A Great Read and Goodnews Books.

    Our imprint for radical politics and culture, Zer0 Books, is popular with booksellers such as Foyles, Blackwell, Bookmarks, Housmans, Folletts, Bluestockings, and City Lights.

    These outlets market and sell our books by hosting events, displaying books on their shelves and websites, as well as publishing articles, reviews, and adverts.

    We also work with festival organizers, colleges and academic institutions, churches and retreats, arts centers and galleries, therapy centers and healing groups throughout the world.

    Our trading terms

    Our trading terms are effectively sale or return (returnable) and we offer trade accounts a discount off the recommended retail price RRP of 35–60%. We never refuse returns from an event and often offer an increased discount.

    We run adverts for qualifying books in trade catalogues

    We also submit books to reviewers in the trade press such as Publishers Weekly and The Bookseller.

    These catalogues and journals are both in print and digital, and offer booksellers details of new books several months in advance of publication.

    Reviews and adverts are recorded on your Marketing Page as Marketing Activities.

    We offer certain booksellers extra discount or free books in return for higher profile on their website or in their shop window, inclusion in promotional mailings to their customers, running an event and occasionally “publisher shop front” space online.

    We do not run front-of-store table promotions in the big chains

    Exposure for books at the front of a bookstore is “bought” by the publisher at the discretion of the bookseller and costs in excess of $10,000.

    We produce catalogues twice a year

    These cover four areas:

    • Zer0 Books/politics/culture/society
    • MBS
    • General non-fiction
    • Fiction

    We also produce "Top Ten" lists in BISAC categories and in all sub-categories.

    Download these from www.collectiveinkbooks.com, clicking on Catalogues on the top menu.

    How to help sell your book to libraries

    If you are an academic, please encourage your university library to stock your book and others on the list, and subscribe to our newsletter.

    Contact your local public library. Tell them briefly what the book is about, of any reviews, and how to order.

    Public libraries now offer ebooks too, so go online and check they list your book and if not, recommend it and any others in the imprint.

    Overdrive distributes our ebooks to most public library platforms in UK & US. NB.

    Overdrive will only list your book as available in a particular country if a library has requested it. So ask for it in your local library and get friends in other countries to ask in theirs too. If a library gets a request for a book from a reader, they will order it, so encourage friends to order in different countries where you can.

    Will your book be used as a course text or on a reading list in the UK? Register with the ALCS

    In the UK, you can register at www.alcs.co.uk. It’s a central body for collecting payments from schools etc. for photocopying. Payments will not be sent to you unless you register. It usually only applies to books being used as a classroom text.

    Earn money from library loans from Public Lending Rights (PLR)

    In some countries, the government pays authors a small amount every time their books are borrowed from a library, the Public Lending Right. Authors have to register for this directly. It does not happen in the US. For the UK, check on www.plr.uk.com.

    Who are the Sales Teams?

    NBN in the US

    One of the largest independent sales teams in N. America, they have nine in-house sales staff, all highly experienced, covering wholesalers and central buyers for chains, and use a further six sales commission groups with several dozen reps between them for sales to selected independent stores. Andrea Jacobs is our Account Manager. National Account Managers are: Omuni Barnes (Amazon.com), Spencer Gale (Barnes & Noble), Ed Lyons (Baker & Taylor/Mass Merchant), Sheila Burnett (Ingram) and Max Phelps (Books-A-Million, REI, American Wholesale, Select Outdoor). Special Markets: Dennis Hayes (Gift, Gourmet, Special Sales) and Amy Alexander (Special Sales Account Manager). Field reps and territories are: Joseph Novosad and Larry Seidl (Rocky Mountain West); Hand Associates – Lynn Wakabayashi, Jock Hayward, David Diehl, Pam Sheppard (West); Geoff Rizzo, Tom Caldwell, Angie Smits, Teresa Rolfe Kravtin, Jan Fairchild (South); Wybel Marketing Group – Terry Wybel, Ron Prazuch, Bill McGarr (Midwest); McLemore/Hollern & Associates – Sam McLemore, Larry Hollern (Southwest); Mark Carbray (New England); The R&R Book Company – Richard C. Re, Eileen Bertelli, Linda Cannon, Jason Kincaide (Mid-Atlantic). There are a further 100 or so reps on commission who cover the rest of N. America and non-book-trade outlets, like museums, garden centres, craft shops. They are in the top 20 vendors in all sections of the book market.

    NBN in Canada

    Headed by NBN Managing Director Les Petriw. Commission reps cover the Canadian retail and special sales accounts: Hornblower Books, Inc. – Laurie Martella (Atlantic Canada & Eastern Ontario), Karen Stacey (Quebec), Roberta Samec (Toronto, Northern & Soutwestern Ontario), Neil MacRae (Eastern Canada & Academic Sales); Rorie Bruce (Winnipeg); Lisa Pearce (Manitoba and Saskatchewan); AV Sales & Marketing – Aydin Virani and his sales group (Alberta and British Columbia), Kamini Stroyan (British Columbia Interior and Vancouver Lower Mainland).

    NBN also sell titles for us in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean through a partnership with JCC Enterprises.

    Quantum in the UK

    Quantum have a team of five: James Benson (North of England, Wales, East and West Midlands, SW England); Jim Chalmers (Scotland, NE England); Barbara Martin (wholesalers Gardners & Bertrams. South Midlands, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire); Martin Shaw (London: Science Technical Medical. Northern Home Counties, East Anglia and Oxfordshire); and James Wickham (London: excluding Science Technical Medical. Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Berks & Hants).

    Durnell Marketing in Europe and Ireland

    Durnell have a team of three directors/territory managers: Thibault Appell (Finland, France, Iceland, Malta, Switzerland); James Dunphy (Albania, Belgium, Gibraltar, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain); and Timur Sayfullin (Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine); supported in sales by Iva Mikulikova, Dr Alice Sanders and Sarah Moore.

    Brumby Sunstate in Australia

    Predominantly MBS titles here, we push separately from the office in other areas.

    Publishers International Marketing in Asia


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