Look Who it Was Random video

Getting Your Self-Published Book Into Bookstores And Libraries With Debbie Young

2,795 views · Published 22 February 2015 · 44:43 · Indexed 25 October 2026

Channel: The Creative Penn · 2015 · Education

Watch on YouTube

Get your free Author 2.0 Blueprint at: http://www.TheCreativePenn.com/blueprint

Many authors want to get their self-published books into physical bookstores and libraries as well as being allowed into literary organizations. In today's interview, I talk to Debbie Young about how this can be done.

Debbie Young writes short stories and flash fiction, as well as non-fiction on various topics. She is also the Commissioning editor for SelfPublishingAdvice.org, the blog for the Alliance of Independent Authors.

She's also the co-author of Opening up to Indie Authors: A guide for bookstores, libraries, reviews, literary event organizers and self-publishing authors – which we're talking about today.

 How Debbie got started in journalism and PR and then working for a children's reading charity. She ‘fell into' self-publishing by writing a book on marketing for Silverwood Books, a partnership publisher. Debbie had been blogging for a while and all this led into writing her own books, and getting involved with the Alliance of Independent Authors.
Misconceptions around how professional self-publishing works – both from authors as well as on the trade side – led to bookintobookstoresSaveDebbie and Dan Holloway writing Opening up to Indie Authors: A guide for bookstores, libraries, reviews, literary event organizers and self-publishing authors. The book is divided – the first half is aimed at people in the publishing industry, to educate them about indies, and the second half is for authors, to help us understand how the trade side works. Debbie talks about the problems in diplomacy.
Quality standards are critical for indie authors
Your product must stand alongside any traditionally published book in the bookstore or library. It must be professional.
You must leave behind any sense of entitlement. You are making a bid for a place on the shelf alongside any other players in the industry. Having written a book is just not enough anymore. You have to understand why a bookseller or a library might even want your product. Put yourself in their shoes.
The reality of a bookstore
Many authors don't understand how bookstores work and this leads to misconceptions. Here are some of the main aspects.

Booksellers want a 40% (or significant) discount because they need to pay for their store costs, staff costs and all their other business costs from the sale of books. It is incredibly hard to run a bookstore with the slim margins.
Ease of administration. Compare the problem from their perspective of dealing with independent authors individually and invoicing each and returning each book etc, with dealing with a distributor who represents hundreds or thousands of books per month. The bookseller can order in bulk, invoice in bulk and deal in economies of scale.
They have to operate under sale or return. If the books don't sell, they have to return them. New books come in every month and new stock replaces the older stock. If you're an indie you either have to pick them up yourself or organize shipping.
If you want to get your books into physical bookstores
Decide on whether you want to go that route in the first place. Check the financial options as most indies make more money from ebooks and print on demand. It's definitely worth doing print for marketing and price comparison on your Amazon page, but print on demand won't leave you out of pocket, whereas a print run may do so.
If you self-publish on Ingram Spark or LightningSource, you can check a box that accepts sale or return which means you're more likely to get bookstores ordering from you. Bookstores generally won't order Createspace books as they have no returns. I mention Barbara Freethy's deal with Ingram Spark for print books.
You're more likely to get into bookstores if you develop a relationship with your local bookstore and organize events with them. Being a customer of the bookstore will help!
Getting into libraries
Libraries are going digital and you can get into library digital catalogues through OverDrive on Smashwords (which is one of the reasons I publish on Smashwords)
Understand the clientele of the different libraries e.g. specialist academic libraries vs school libraries. They're not all the same. Target as you would any other specific market. For example, children's authors speaking in libraries can be a great way to reach a market.
On literary organizations opening up to indie authors
I mention that the SFWA has just opened up to indies, and ITW, RWA etc already are. We talk about how indies have to examine the level of professionalism they are displaying. We have to demonstrate our excellence through books and our behavior. This is the only way to get parity.
Switch your head around and think about the viewpoint of the bookstore, the library and the literary organization. What can YOU offer them, as opposed to vice versa.
We also talk about the Alliance of Independent Authors

More from this channel