Approaching the local Independent Bookstores

(... and give them your support)

Have you called on the bookstores near you for signings or to carry your book?
We suggest that you make it your goal this year to visit each of the stores in your area and let them know that
you are a local author, and that you support Indie Bookstores. Their lives are tough! With Amazon, and ebooks
believe me, they are having to adapt to survive. Some themselves are turning to offer self publishing services
to survive (i.e. Dymocks, which is poor option). So if you visit, please be respectful of what they are going
through. You will find that they either are very supportive of local authors, or they won’t give you the time of
day. It will be hit or miss, but as we say, ‘it just takes one’.

What we have learned from our time and other independent authors visiting bookstores is that - some of the
stores have created a new, magical feel, and they will survive. Statistics show that about 1 in 5 will survive and
you could reasonable expect about 1 in 5 to be supportive of working with you in some way.

Before you Visit:

First read their website. That will tell you many things.
 Do they support author visits or book signings?
 Do they have catalogue and mail order?
 What is their focus?

Approaching:
If the bookstore matches what you have written you might try ‘gifting’ them a few books to sell. We consider
them as seeds and giving them a couple of (2-5) books to prove that your books will sell is a strategy that
works. This creates what the Chinese call ‘guanxie’ which means, ‘they owe you one’. You might talk to them
about selling on consignment. (Remember, cash is always troublesome for indie stores). Keep in mind that you
do not want to create an accounting nightmare for them. Luckily if they are ‘pro-local-author’ they will know
how to handle you. If they are NOT pro-author (see below) then you will find that out right away. And of
course, you will want to ask them to carry your book and/or let you do a reading or author signing.

Take some bookmarks, posters or postcards or some marketing paraphernalia that is appropriate to your
book. Everyone wants more ‘stuff’ if they will be working with you.

Handling Objections and Negativity

Without a doubt, if you visit five stores you will have one positive store, three neutral stores, and one negative
store. The negative store personnel will respond with things like, ‘we don’t carry self-published books’, or ‘we
can’t even order your book’. These are all just smokescreens and indicative of a store that is not receptive to
change (70% of books are self-published these days). Unfortunately these stores will find it VERY hard in the
future. So, we suggest that you pretty much ignore any bad vibe stores and people. Don’t try to convince
anyone of anything.

Spend your time with the one winner store, and converting one of the three neutral stores! Although we know
how to handle their objections and questions you may need to read up on google on best ways to handle
rejections an learn answers by rote so you do not get flustered in the moment. The art is usually handling
everything with diplomacy. If you have paid for book coaching, this may be something you can cover with your
coach.

Tips
 Print on Demand books via IngramSpark and Lightning Source - are distributed via Ingram
 You need to work with the store and provide the stock and monitor your sales. YOU are responsible
for admin and follow up - not the store.
 Do NOT accept long payment terms, the maximum we accept is 90 days which is the industry
standard. If you can negotiate a FIRM sale (purchase of books upfront) that is the best case scenario
but book industry practice is more likely to be a SALE or RETURN policy (no sale then they will return
your stock after 8-12 weeks).