Home

Search form

  • Home
  • Getting Started
  • Inside Publishing
    • Editing
    • Design & Production
    • Marketing & Publicity
    • Rights
    • Distribution
  • Events & Resources
    • Events
    • Other Resources
  • FAQs
  • Editing
  • Design & Production
  • Marketing & Publicity
  • Rights
  • Distribution

Distribution

Get your book to market! Whether you're selling direct on Amazon, or placing your book in stores, we have strategies for effective distribution.

Distribution Decisions

  • Direct or distributor?
  • Communicating with vendors
  • Sales reporting
  • The global market
 

How to Get Your Book in Brick-and-Mortar Stores

by Steve Elizalde
Bowker | Thu Mar 13, 2014

As distribution manager for Greenleaf Book Group, one of the questions I’m asked most frequently by authors is “How do I get my book in Barnes & Noble or my local grocery store or even my favorite indie bookstore”? It seems like there would be a simple answer, but there are many industry challenges to navigate before a book finds its way onto the shelves of a brick-and-mortar store and I’ll shed some light on those challenges today.

Inside Publishing
Distribution
  • Read more about How to Get Your Book in Brick-and-Mortar Stores

Courting Catalogs and Bulk Sales

Penny C. Sansevieri's picture
by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Wed Mar 5, 2014

Have you ever dreamed of selling your book to a catalog or large corporation? A sale like that would register several thousand copies of non-returnable product on the book sale meter. The trick is knowing who to pitch and when.  

Distribution
  • Read more about Courting Catalogs and Bulk Sales

Vook Releases Free Daily Sales Tracking for Any Author, Any Book, and All Major Retailers

by Laura Dawson
Bowker | Tue Mar 4, 2014

Leading ebook technology company Vook today launched Author Control, a daily market intelligence dashboard that allows authors to track the sales and unit downloads of their books in Amazon, Amazon KDP, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Nook Press, Kobo Writing Life, CreateSpace, Smashwords, Google, and Samsung, and display their results in a secure, easy-to-use online and mobile-accessible dashboard. Learn more about the new service at http://vook.com.

“Author Control is the next step in our vision to empower authors with the best digital publishing services and the right data,” said Matthew Cavnar, co-founder of Vook. “For the first time, authors can get the complete picture of their sales across the major retail channels in one dashboard, helping them take control of their publishing initiatives.”

Inside Publishing
Distribution
  • Read more about Vook Releases Free Daily Sales Tracking for Any Author, Any Book, and All Major Retailers

Who Is Your Customer?

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Fri Feb 28, 2014

Who is your customer? Are you sure?

Your first response is probably, “That is a pretty silly question.” Of course, your customer is the person who buys your books. But if you interpret the question differently, your answer could have significant impact on your business future, since it determines your business model and where you will invest your resources. 

In a retail setting, your customer could be the retailer who ordered your book to place on the shelf. And, it could be the distributor from which the retailer ordered your book. In non-retail segments people buy books not for resale, but to use as tools to sell more of their products, motivate their employees, generate more members for their association or educate their students. Couldn’t they all be considered customers?

Inside Publishing
Distribution
Getting Started
Tags: 
Sales
  • Read more about Who Is Your Customer?

Project an Image of Success and Sell More Books

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Wed Feb 26, 2014

Before you enter a negotiation, talk yourself into success. It sounds like a cliché, but it has proven to work. The key is to not-only say the right things to yourself, but use your physical appearance to reinforce your self-confidence. Here are Ten Ways to Project a Winning Personality in a Sales Situation.

 

Inside Publishing
Distribution
  • Read more about Project an Image of Success and Sell More Books

Looking For Clues In A New Market

by Laura Dawson
Bowker | Mon Feb 17, 2014

In the world of self-publishing, one critical component that's been missing has been reliable data about how self-published books are selling. Last week, the self-published author Hugh Howey released some data on 7,000 ebooks on the Amazon bestseller list, from the mystery/thriller, romance, and science fiction genres. He posts his report here:

The other eye-popper here is that indie authors are outselling the Big Five. That’s the entire Big Five. Combined. Indie and small-press books account for half of the e-book sales in the most popular and bestselling genres on Amazon.

 Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller's Futurebook blog, provides the following caution here:

Inside Publishing
Distribution
News & Resources
  • Read more about Looking For Clues In A New Market

Embracing the Metadata That Powers Your Book Sales

by Laura Dawson
Bowker | Mon Feb 10, 2014

What do we mean by “metadata” and why is it so important?

Can it really make the difference in sales of your books?

In an eye-opening webinar on Wednesday, February 12, from 1-2:00 Eastern time, Rebecca Albani from Bowker will explain the basics of metadata, including the key things authors should be monitoring in their own data stream.  You’ll learn why the tiniest details can make the biggest difference and why the metadata that you choose to upload about your book to distributors, retailers, and libraries dictates who discovers your work, when they find it, where, and how easily. Poor data can keep your book from ever being found by readers – even if you’ve written an award-worthy piece of work.

This webinar is sponsored by the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and produced by Bowker.

Marketing & Publicity
Distribution
  • Read more about Embracing the Metadata That Powers Your Book Sales

Top Ten Causes of Poor Sales

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Mon Feb 3, 2014

Hundreds of thousands of new titles are published every year in various formats (printed, ebooks or audio books), yet less than ten percent sell enough books to be considered profitable. While there are many causes of these circumstances, here are the Top Ten Causes of Poor Sales:

1.      Content that is poorly written and/or unedited

2.      Poor production quality in terms of cover design or page layout

3.      Too little or poorly implemented promotion

4.      Obsolete or inadequately researched content

5.      Bad timing of introduction or promotion

6.      Meaningless or confusing title

Inside Publishing
Distribution
  • Read more about Top Ten Causes of Poor Sales

Ten Tips for Pricing Your Book Profitably

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Jan 28, 2014

If you price your book incorrectly you may reduce your short-term profitability and likelihood of long-term success. Here are ten tips to help you price your books profitably.

Marketing & Publicity
Distribution
  • Read more about Ten Tips for Pricing Your Book Profitably

Creating a Book Readers Want to Buy

by Dan Dillon
Bowker | Thu Jan 16, 2014

People make a lot of books with Lulu. In fact, thousands upon thousands of titles are published to Lulu.com every week. While that’s a few too many books for us to read, we do know there are three things a writer needs to keep in mind to ensure their book is one readers will want to buy. If you’re among the writers preparing to publish a book this year, these three tips will be key factors in your success.

1. Know who your ideal reader is before you even start writing.

Inside Publishing
Writing
Editing
Distribution
  • Read more about Creating a Book Readers Want to Buy

Pages

  • « first
  • ‹ previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • next ›
  • last »
  • Obtain ISBNs (click here!)
  • Convert your file to ebook (click here!)
  • Acquire a bar code (click here!)
  • Increase discovery (click here!)
  • Purchase a QR code (click here!)
  • Register your copyright (click here!)
  • License your book’s content (click here!)
  • Find out who you write like (click here!)
  • Promote your book online (click here!)

Getting Started

Create a Culture of Quality in Your Publishing Company

Thu, November 13

FAQs about ISBNs

Fri, October 24

How to Write a Business Plan as Narrative (Part 2 of 2)

Wed, September 10

A Novel Planning Technique for Book Publishers (Part 1 of 2)

Fri, September 05

Do You Have the Write Stuff?

Wed, September 03

Bowker is an affiliated business of ProQuest. | © 2015 R.R. Bowker LLC. All rights reserved.
Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use |