Question about book stores, expanded distribution, and Indie writers . . .

I have no idea if this story is representative, but I approached the owner of our local bookstore about taking my books on consignment.  At first he was enthusiastic, and even said he'd put a poster in the window if I made one, which of course I did the same day.

I called or stopped by every couple of weeks to see if they were selling, and each time he had a strange story about why he hadn't ever put them out yet.  It was weird.  Finally he worked up the nerve to tell me that he'd reluctantly put them out since he'd agreed, but when they sold he didn't want me to restock because they were from Createspace.  Then a rant about the evil Amazon empire, unfair business practices, and some very farfetched sounding stuff he'd heard about createspace pulling stock from shelves as soon as it started to sell, and Amazon publishing it instead.  There was no point in arguing with him, especially when he said I should find a more reputable outfit to do business with.  He made me feel like a crook.

The issue with indie books is that they are POD, regardless of whether it says Createspace or Jane Doe Publishing. POD books are non-returnable. Bookstores historically over-order and return 30-40% of the books they order.

Quick history lesson: During the Great Depression, the major publishing houses realized that most bookstores were going out of business. In order to save the industry, they decided to offer something that had never been done before: Full returnability. Bookstores were given some protection. If they stocked books and the books did not sell, they could return the covers (just the covers to save the cost of shipping. They were suppose to destroy the books) for a full credit. Those of us old enough to remember may recall seeing books with the warning “Not for resale if missing cover” or something like that on the title page. Thus the bookstores were saved during the Depression.

Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, in the 70’s with the rise of the mega chain stores, this started to bite publishers in the butt. Because it is one thing if a mom and pop store orders 100 copies of a book and returns 30 of them. It is quite another if a major book chain orders 20,000 copies of a book and returns 6000. This had a double-whammy on publishers because when WalMart orders 100,000 copies of a single title, they expect preferred pricing. This allows them to sell for less than the mom and pop store can, thus over time running the mom and pop stores out of business.

Bottom line is, bookstores are now accustomed to getting discounts of 40-50% plus full returnability on books. POD titles are non-returnable and have short discounted (usually 20-25%). So you are effectively asking a bookstore to stock the books of an unknown author, for less profit, and risk being stuck with the books if they do not sell.

This makes for stiff odds, but not insurmountable. But it requires a concerted effort on the part of the publisher to promote the books OFFLINE. If you work direct with LSI, they have an option to allow returnability (but remember, you are financially on the hook for returned books!).  You need to have a plan together that will convince a bookstore that you can sell books. Unfortunately, most indies are locked into the Amazon-free-Select-99 cent mindset and don’t know how to promote offline or even have the will to put the resources into offline promotion.