The Good News and The Bad News

So I have a wholesaler handling the new novel - Partners/West based in Renton, WA. They liked the idea of my book because they're regional and are always looking for Northwest-related titles.

When you start talking or mailing to bookstores they'll want to know what wholesaler is handling your book. They don't want to hear that you're selling it direct. They can't handle that. They don't want to buy from every author that walks in the door. They want to buy from one place - no fuss, no muss. Who can blame them. I wouldn't want to go grocery shopping at 57 different grocery stores.

So it was a big hurdle to get over when Partners/West signed us up. They are well known in the Northwest and our initial target market is the Northwest so life is good.

But the big problem was the giant in the bookstore wholesale market is Ingram. They had turned the book down through a program with a publishing association. They didn't think it would sell enough for them. They didn't think it would make their minimum of $20,000 in sales for them. So see ya.

That was bad news because some book stores will only buy from Ingram. Plus they have the reach across the country where Partners/West doesn't. It was a big hole in our opportunity and a very good consultant I work with said you have to get in the Ingram database or you can't reach your stated goal.

For the record my goal is to get into the mainstream book marketplace and hold my own in the literary fiction category.

Turns out there are a couple niche distributors that have special deals with Ingram. They basically sell the small independent publisher created books to Ingram through their contract. So by signing up with this niche company I can get into the Ingram database.

The niche company accepted the book. That's the good news. The bad news is they charge heavily for getting you IN. If you don't know, the standard deal you get from a wholesaler/distributor is called a 55 percent discount. That means right off the top of the retail price of your book they take 55 percent. Now turns out these niche companies get to tack on another chuck of percentage.

Yikes. Not such a good deal. But big picture, it's the only way to reach the stated goal above.

Michael LaLumiere
www.whyiscraterlakesoblue.com