So many writers and would-be writers, when discussing a boutique publisher or a self-publishing company, will ask me the almost inevitable question: “But can they get my book into Barnes & Noble?”
Hold the presses! I’ve got shocking news for you! Getting into bookstores isn’t all you think it is. Let me lay some cold, hard facts on you:
When a book—any book—fiction or nonfiction, adult or juvenile—arrives at a bookstore—any bookstore—Barnes & Noble, a smaller or Canadian chain, or an indie…any bookstore at all—the copies of every book inside the carton are taken out and put on the shelves. There they stay for about a month, more or less. At that time, if the book isn’t selling well, the copies are unceremoniously yanked off the shelf to make room for other books. They’re packed up in cartons and returned to the publisher, who deducts the returns from the writer’s royalties.
So much for being on the shelf at Barnes & Noble (or any other bookstore).
While we’re at it, I have another of your dreams to shatter: If you do get into the bookstores, you’re not getting an end-cap position, no matter how good your book is or how attractive the cover. Those positions are reserved for books whose publishers pay fantastic sums for the privilege.
Now, if you’ve actually gotten Simon & Schuster or HarperCollins or one of the other top tier publishers to publish your book, you’re halfway there. But they’re still not going to pay for end-cap positioning for your book unless they expect it to be the season’s surprise hit. And do you know how seldom an unknown writer with no credentials for writing a blockbuster (such as inside information on a major public figure, preferably political) gets that kind of advance buzz? And even if your personal opinion is that your book has blockbuster potential, that opinion has been shared by a million other unknown writers whose books went nowhere.
We all have these fantasies with our first book, and maybe even our second. I know I did. But reality is something else again.
What should you do, then? Am I telling you to give up? HELL, NO. But don’t focus so much on getting into bookstores. Focus instead on boosting your sales through Amazon (and other online venues), and sales through your website and the publisher’s or self-publishing company’s website. Send out a mailer to everyone you know. Try to arrange book-readings and -signings in your area and to any other city you may be traveling to. If your book is nonfiction, try to get articles published on the same or a related subject and include in your bio at the end of the article the fact that you’re the author of such-and-such a book. Get all the publicity you can, even if it’s local and not national. Every bit helps. Every sale counts.
Remember, even if you get into the bookstores, you won’t be there long (unless it’s a bookstore in your area and they’re promoting you as a local author) without a solid hit of a book. So don’t be discouraged if your publisher doesn’t get its books, yours included, into bookstores. They’re not the be-all and the end-all.