In any given week, the Small Press Department at Barnes & Noble receives more than 100 new titles to be considered for inclusion in the store title mix. Over the years, the ratio of "titles selected" to "titles passed" has remained steady; we tag three out of every 10 for distribution into the stores and must turn the other seven down for a variety of reasons. For instance: • The production values are shoddy–the book appears not to have been professionally designed or professionally edited. • There’s nothing remarkable about the book, and there are hundred of titles in the same category with good track records as well as a publisher and author who promote them vigorously. • The content of the book is a personal story, told in a style that has meaning only for the friends and family of the author or of the book’s subject. But if those sorts of reasons lead us to decline a book, what makes us decide to place an order?

I think all booksellers ask themselves the same three questions every time they encounter information about a new title or pick up a book to consider it for the first time.

1. What is the book?

2. Who is the customer?

3. How will the customer find out about this book?

The answers to these three questions–which are explored below–will determine whether the bookseller decides to buy the book, how many copies will be ordered, and if more than one store is involved, how broad the distribution will be.

1. What is the book?

Is this book in the best format for its category, and priced competitively? Does the title convey the content of the book accurately? Is there a subtitle that tells the reader even more? If it’s a category/genre book, does it convey where it fits into the category at first glance? Does the design make it easy to read, or does it clutter up the message? Does the book meet the competition in both value and content?

2. Who is the customer?

Once we have determined what the book is (and all of this information is processed in a matter of seconds), it’s easier to determine the customer base. If the book does not speak for itself clearly and it’s hard for a buyer to envision who is going to buy it, then the caution signals go up and we’re led to the last and most complex of these three questions.

3. How will the customer find out about the book?

What plans does the publisher have for marketing the book and reaching the consumer? Is the marketing plan more than author appearances at local bookstores? Does the marketing plan make it clear that the publisher knows who the customer is and how to reach that audience? Is there a book club sale? Have first or second serial rights been sold and to whom? Also, is the author promotable? Are the author’s credentials obvious? Does the author have a track record? Even if this is the author’s first book, has the author had stories or articles published on the book’s subject, and if so, where? Does the author write a relevant weekly column or appear on a local radio station, or travel around the country participating in workshops about the subject (by which we don’t mean: Is this one of those authors who publish books as business cards, and sell those books at the seminars they conduct to promote their businesses)? Has the book been reviewed in the trades, i.e. Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus or Booklist? If so, other reviews, both trade and consumer, will usually follow. Are there advance quotes for the book from well-recognized names in its field? What has the publisher done to give the book a base from which to move? Positive answers to these questions usually prompt a bookstore buyer to consider distribution for the title into some number of stores.

What plans does the publisher have for marketing the book and reaching the consumer? Is the marketing plan more than author appearances at local bookstores? Does the marketing plan make it clear that the publisher knows who the customer is and how to reach that audience? Is there a book club sale? Have first or second serial rights been sold and to whom? Also, is the author promotable? Are the author’s credentials obvious? Does the author have a track record? Even if this is the author’s first book, has the author had stories or articles published on the book’s subject, and if so, where? Does the author write a relevant weekly column or appear on a local radio station, or travel around the country participating in workshops about the subject (by which we don’t mean: Is this one of those authors who publish books as business cards, and sell those books at the seminars they conduct to promote their businesses)? Has the book been reviewed in the trades, i.e. Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus or Booklist? If so, other reviews, both trade and consumer, will usually follow. Are there advance quotes for the book from well-recognized names in its field? What has the publisher done to give the book a base from which to move? Positive answers to these questions usually prompt a bookstore buyer to consider distribution for the title into some number of stores.

Here’s the pitch

What’s the best way to approach a bookstore to sell your title to that store? There are several ways to consider:

• Make an arrangement with a distributor to represent your books.

• Hire a commission rep group to sell your books to the major accounts, and do the fulfillment through your own facilities and those of a wholesaler.

• If you’re not in a position to make those arrangements, then send a copy of the book or adequate selling material–cover, press kit, reviews, etc.–to the bookstore and let the store know how to order the book, either directly from the publisher or through a wholesaler.

Make arrangements with more than one wholesaler as your business grows. Make it easy for the bookseller to order your book. Every bookseller every day is barraged by authors and publishers who want the seller to make a book special to customers, but it’s the author and the publisher who make the book special–first by creating a book and telling a story with a clear appeal to its intended audience, and then by creating and executing a plan for reaching that audience.

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