Over the years many authors have asked me about how to get their books sold in local bookstores. As a former bookstore owner, I can tell 
you that this is probably easier than you think. Most local bookstores, especially the independents, are happy to support local authors. They may even have a special section dedicated to books by local authors (we did at my store).
However, not all stores will be willing to buy the books from you outright. Many will ask that you offer them on consignment, and they will pay for them once the books are sold. In the grand scheme of things, this is a small compromise in exchange for shelf space at your local store. But if you do sell your books on consignment, you should get something in writing. Stores will often have their own consignment agreement, but you should have your own agreement prepared just in case. I put together a free agreement in Word format which you can download and modify for your needs. Note that this is not a legal document prepared by an attorney, but it’s a good start for this kind of arrangement.
Download the Bookstore Consignment Agreement here (Word document)
What You Should Know About Selling Books to Bookstores
First, you should know that bookstore owners and managers expect to be approached by authors on a daily basis. The best way to make contact is to simply walk in and ask to speak with a manager, and then introduce yourself as a local author. This is one of those times where your book will be judged by its cover, so professional production is incredibly important. The manager will likely flip through your book and try to spot errors. If it passes the eyeball test, your next step is to simply ask if the store would be willing to carry some of your books. Be sure to mention any major media appearances or anything else that might generated demand for your book if possible.
The standard discount for bookstores is typically 40% off of your book’s retail price. So if your book retails for $14.99, you can subtract 40% off the price ($6.00), and the balance is what the store will pay you for each book sold ($8.99). You may occasionally be asked to sell your books at 50% off of retail, which is a standard discount level for other types of retailers like gift shops, grocery stores, and restaurants.
If a store is willing to buy your books outright, you will need to provide an invoice–so be prepared with an invoice when you approach a store. Large stores will want to issue you a purchase order, which is a document that commits to payment at a later date. A check will be mailed to you usually 30 to 60 days after a purchase order is issued. Smaller stores can often issue a check on the spot.
When you sell books to a retailer, you should NOT need to collect sales tax since they already have a sales tax license and you will be selling them the books at wholesale, which is exempt from sales tax collection.
Oh, and by the way, you’ll go through all of this in order to sell just one to three copies to the store, on average. Once your book logs some sales history, the store may request more copies, but usually they will start with a very small number. If you want to increase that number, offer to host an event in the store or let them know if you have a local media appearance coming up (like an interview on the morning news show). Store managers will appreciate the notice about potential demand for your books and may be interested in stocking up ahead of time.
Is It Worth It to Sell to Bookstores?
I have been outspoken over the years with my opinion that bookstores are one of the worst places to sell books. I personally don’t spend time or effort pursuing bookstore sales. However, there are exceptions to every rule. It can be nice to be able to tell colleagues that your book is available at a local store. So it’s up to you whether it’s worth the effort or not. It certainly can’t hurt to place your books at a few stores, but it probably won’t lead to fame and fortune!
Good luck!
My experience selling to local bookstores hasn’t been great. I approached them just like you describe and often got looked at as an undesirable. It’s not that they don’t want to help out a local author, but I always got the “hard times” speech. The few who did buy only took two copies. Realistically, unless someone is in the store actively pushing a book, it is stuck on a bottom shelf where no one sees it. I really want to help keep bookstores going, but most wouldn’t give me a chance. I offered to do everything to set up book signings and most still declined. When I did a signing, managers were usually surprised at the number of books I sold. I think they expected I would sit there like a lump and watch people walk by, but I interacted and made sales.
It works both ways. I can’t help them if they refuse to help me. I’ve gone mainly to the internet because, at the end of the day, even if I sell few books, at least I don’t have sore feet and an empty gas tank.
I wish it wasn’t so.
Hi Susan, It sounds like you’ve had some interesting experiences. As I said, bookstores aren’t my favorite place to sell books. But if you can find a way to connect with the manager at your local store–and take an active role in the sales process as you did–then it can be a win-win situation. Thank you for sharing.
I’m finding that people are hesitant to set up a book signing with an unknown author. It’s a catch twenty-two. How do you get well-known in the community if they don’t give you a chance! I’m going to approach our local paper to see if they will do a write-up on my book and me. I’m going to have to put on my salesperson hat, which I haven’t become comfortable in yet. I do believe in my book, and I do want to share it with readers, so I will do what is neccessary.
Thank you, Stephanie Chandler, for this helpful post.
I love bookstores. One local bookstore is good to local authors who offer “events” not signings. Sadly price can be a problem. If the bookstore takes 40% on one of my books published by an indie POD publisher, I lose money on every copy I sell. If they sell it higher than the cover price, the buyer feels cheated.
Bookstores are great and can offer great publicity (be sure you know who is responsible for the press releases, etc.) and understand the check you receive may cost more than the gas to deliver your books.
The post was great! And the form is a gift.
I’ve approached several indie bookstore owners about selling or consigning my books there and gotten that ‘prune-faced look’ along with a lecture about POD books costing too much for them to sell (even when I’m willing to eat it and consign it). When I went in recently to two different local bookstores to BUY books from local authors for Christmas presents, they didn’t even have a way to mark which ones were local. They want you to BUY local, but they aren’t willing to WORK with local authors.
As for Barnes & Noble … they won’t even give you the name of the book purchasing manager … just the runaround or a blunt ‘we don’t carry self-published books.’
They’re dying … good riddance! For all that work, I’ve discovered it’s just better to go around and DONATE a copy to each town’s local library for free. The lost sale is cheaper than the gas/time I was wasting and the book gets circulated through more potential readers who will hopefully buy Book 2 of the series. Very few librarians say no (though most scan it for suitability) and quite a few even asked me to autograph their libraries copy.
Anna, You raise a good point about the cost of print on demand books. This is something authors need to be aware of BEFORE publishing. A 200-page trade paperback shouldn’t sell for $25. There should also be room in your pricing structure to discount the book by up to 50% and still make a profit. These are important considerations when investigating self-publishing firms–be sure to ask about the book pricing!
I look forward to the chance to sell to the locals/indies…just a while down the road. Having done fundraising for charities, I’ve seen and heard most reasons not to help out, so the potential rejection isn’t a fear for me. One, two, or more, at this point looking forward, I’l take what I can get.
This post was helpful and I look forward to testing these suggestions.
Thanks for your feedback, Dean!
I’ve been a salesman for most of my working life and only started writing as I neared retirement. With only a miniscule chance of being accepted by a traditional publisher and not wanting to be tarred with the self-publishing brush of amateur I joined with a number of friends and fellow writers from the internet and have recently formed our own publishing company to gain more credibility and a greater choice of books to sell. We’re based mostly in the UK but have a few authors in the States, the Caribbean and other places.
Each author is choosing their own route to sell their books with the majority selling only via CreateSpace or Kindle. One of our American members has been selling direct to bookshops for a while now and has had some limited success with the sales but not the profit because of the print cost. Three more in the UK following his lead and I intend to be one of those.
Whilst I have almost zero experience of selling this type of product I can only adapt the ‘rules’ I have used elsewhere.
1 Research everything you can about bookshop before you pitch, specialities, customers etc.
2 Set the price to give those in the chain the correct margin. Not too much or too little.
3 Be as professional as you can, appearance, paperwork and industry knowledge. Especially about their normal buying channels.
4 When you do have some successes, flaunt them.
5 Accept a sale gratefully and a rejection politely.
6 Getting a repeat order is the icing on the cake, so keep proper records and follow-up the original sale.
7 Be positive and never apologise for what you are selling, unless it’s rubbish, in which case…
Excellent tips, Alf. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much for sharing the tips and the consignment agreement. Yours is so much better than the simple one I had prepared. I find that I have some luck in having my books in local gift shops as people are apt to buy one for a gift, as well as buying one for themselves. One store owner encourages customers to consider that, and often sells two copies.
Thanks for your feedback, Maryann!
I hope to rouse interest of the bookstores all around the world in some way to sell retail the paperback version of my booklets. Do you have any idea what the bookstore owners’ attitude towards the e-mails received from the authors suggesting their works for retail distribution is?
I’m not sure email would be too effective since they will want to see the book. Your best bet is to mail a sample copy to each manager. good luck!
I understand that the best way to introduce my book is to send a copy of it to the bookstores, but it is not very cheap. My booklets, which I want to suggest for distribution, are very simple, there is not much to read. The Look inside feature and the promotional articles and posts on the booklets available on my blog, website, etc. can give a rather complete impression about them. So I think that the bookstores might just read the referred articles, press releases and view the booklets pages via Look inside feature (it could be enough) to get the general understanding about the suggested titles. What do you think about such a variant of getting acquainted with a new book for sale, without sending of a copy to a bookstore?
Well you can certainly give it a try and see what kind of results you get. You really have nothing to lose by sending out some emails. However, since you are selling “booklets,” the store managers may question what those look like. Most stores want books with spines, so booklets might not work. But again, nothing to lose by trying!
Thank you for advice.
I own a new and used bookstore in a failry small town and wanted to offer a bookstores perspective (or at least mine). I do take local author books, on consignment. I used to buy them outright but found that they are hard to move and with no retunrn policy, like when ordering wholesale I was just losing money.
We find that most local author books are hand-sells so it is really important to know the authors, havingt a book signing or reading the books are really a must. I sell quite a few books from one local author who writes about local history, but generally fiction writers and memoirs are really hard to sell.
I do only charge 30% commission. Typical wholesale discount is 40% but that is for buying outright so based on only paying if and when it sells it make sense not to pay as much and as an author I would push back a little.
Books are a tough market these days as everyone knows, especially with it being so much easier to just publish e-books. E-books aren’t profitable for bookstores though, and are harder to sell thru book signings.
I think all stores are different but if you can find a small local store that wants to have events that is the best way to promote your book, build a relationship (which is important so that the store will hand-sell your books) as well as gain community awareness.
Hope this helps!
Hi Tina, Thanks so much for sharing your insights! As a former bookstore owner myself, I completely agree that authors should participate in in-store events to help move books. Incidentally, one of the most successful events my store ever held was a “local author day.” We had about a dozen local authors set up with tables in the store, and even on the sidewalk in front of the store! We got a lot of media coverage for the event, and the authors helped to promote it. The store was jam packed all day! Thanks again and best wishes to you.
I recently self-published a small craft book and was heartened to get a lovely reception not just from my own local bookshop but also from other local shops I approached including a toyshop (people can buy craft resources needed for the project with the book whilst there), a craft shop and a quirky juice bar. The bookshop even had a little sticker that said ‘Local author’. I was thrilled. I think they took 30%.
I now need to find a way to get beyond my local area. One of my issues is that I did not buy an ISBN but I am looking into this (another cost). By the way, does anyone know if I can sell it on Amazon without an ISBN? I imagine not.
Incidentally, if anyone’s interested, I did use print-on-demand which seemed excessively expensive. I researched found a printer whose charges seemed reasonable, and got some example copies of other stuff they’ve printed. I was going to have 500 copies printed but the price difference b/w 500 and 1000 was so small it was a no-brainer to get 1000. The boxes are stored under a table with large table cloth over it!
I’m in UK by the way. Danielle
Hi Danielle, You definitely need an ISBN to sell through Amazon or any other book retailer. Libraries also require them. I’d recommend that you purchase an ISBN and bar code, and then have it printed on stickers that you can add to the back of your book. Congrats on your book and good luck!
That’s a great idea about printing the ISBN on stickers after it’s organised.
I gave my local library a copy of the book (and the manager purchased a copy for her daughter) and they said they assigned it an ISBN themselves. Obviously I need my own.
I am planning another book, a bigger issue of a recycled craft book, so was intending to buy the ISBNs but the festive craft book was rushed out in time for Christmas.
Thanks for the copy of the consignment document, what I think of as ‘sale or return’ agreement. I will use a version of that.
LOL – I walked in to Tattered Cover in Denver, one of the largest indies in the U.S., and they insisted I email their “local author” sales person. I emailed them many times, even including a generic customer service email, walked in again, was told the same thing – you get the idea. My book was rated “#1 Business Book of the Year” for the U.S. for its impact (not volume of sales) by the NFIB (largest business owner association in America), sold 4,000 copies and are going back to print.
A year later Tattered Cover has not responded. I live a 1/2 mile from one of their big stores. So much for the love of local authors. 🙂
Well that is a big disappointment, Chuck. But congratulations on all of your sales success! Guess you proved you don’t need boookstores after all.
What’s that saying? ” Times a changing.”
When I get my book written, I swear. Once I get my book written. After all these hours in front of this monitor. Racking my brain, my poor sore wrists. All the smokes in the dark, all the showers missed. All the meals I ruined in micro-waved.
All the times I missed letting the dog out.
You mean… you mean…I have to go sell them one by one.
Knocking on bookstore doors.
Not me… but I’m still going to write my book!
Dog Brindle
By all means, get that book written!
I manage a fair sized independent bookstore in a rather small community, and I must say it truly saddens me to read comments from authors describing their negative treatment from stores they attempt to sell their books in.
Though we rarely ever buy books from authors outright, we never turn down an author that wants to set up an event at our store, and we will accept any authors book on consignment…even books that I know will probably perform poorly in our store because they will be of no interest to our general clientele. We firmly believe that EVERY author deserves a chance.
We rarely ever even charge a commission on books. We charge no commission on books left on consignment. If an author wishes to set up an event at our store, we will post any available promotional material available in the store prior to the event, send out a newsletter to our customers about the event, put the info on our website and print out flyers that we insert into our bags…at no charge to the author. The only time we ever charge a commission is when the author asks that we do ALL of the advertising for the event, such as contacting local newspapers, radio, etc.
Bookstores complain about dwindling sales, well, it’s no wonder if the majority of them treat authors the way some of you have been treated. I could maybe, MAYBE see such behavior from a large chain store, but that should NOT be the behavior from a local independent store. It’s a disgrace.
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for your comments! I want to believe that you represent the more typical independent bookstore. When I had my store, we had similar policies and always supported local authors. I hope other authors read your comments and realize that there are plenty of great stores like yours out there!
Thank you for sharing. I’m considering an offer from a publisher and will ask a follow up question to their contract regarding cost of print if a bookstore is interested in ordering it from the Ingram database.
I’m a Reiki Master, Medium and dabble in other ‘energy’ related stuff. Thus, my protag is a 17 yr okd healer, empath, medium, and can wield energy itself (not just the Elements).
Do you think that’s interesting in today’s market?
I do not think there is much mileage to be made in approaching local bookstores to sell your books, And to ask a newly published writer, without the financial backing of a large publishing house, is almost suicidal. There are plenty of accomplished writers out there whose works cry out for recognition. There is no short cut to this – one has to persevere, making every effort to get known to the reading public. From my past experience, even with large UK booksellers, I now proceed with extreme caution! Think again before giving large amounts of credit hoping to reap a golden reward. Now, I insist on pre-payment if it is a company new to me, before I would process the order. Makes no business sense to “sell but not get paid” – I’d rather not sell in that case at all!. Self-published authors beware of the shark-infested sea where you have to swim and survive!