Congratulations!
Now what?
You undoubtedly want
your book sold and in the hands of readers. You want it distributed through
retail channels, online outlets and other avenues that sell books.
Many options exist to
distribute your book through these diverse channels. Each offers its own
advantages and disadvantages and understanding and choosing the correct one for
your particular needs can be overwhelming.
Traditionally, books
have used a distribution channel consisting of book distributors and
wholesalers.
Book distributors
actively sell books to bookstores, retailers, libraries and online stores,
usually from a catalog. Personal sales calls and visits can also occur as long standing
relationships typically exist between a distributor and retail outlets.
Distributors offer a full range of services to stimulate demand and sell books
through the distribution channel.
Book wholesalers make
books available to retailers but do not typically engage in actively selling
books to the retail market. They process orders and ship books but do not generally
create demand for books. They do not offer the full range of services that
distributors provide. Publishers and authors still have to pitch, market and
sell books to book retailers. But wholesalers might offer a relatively
inexpensive method compared to distributors to have books made available to
a multitude of potential buyers.
With the growth of
self published authors has come a viable alternative method for authors to
reach potential book buyers…directly online. Social media and single focused
book sites offer book reviews and relevant articles and the opportunity to sell
directly to readers. For example, bookhitch.com allows authors and readers the
opportunity to “meet,” sell and buy without having to go through distributors
or wholesalers.
And, should authors
choose to sell books from personal websites, companies such as NetPublications’
NetSource distribution service can establish a shopping cart connection
allowing the fulfillment of orders and processing of payments placed via
authors’ websites.
Each of these methods
offer a unique value proposition and each must be thoroughly considered and
evaluated to understand which offers the best distribution route, and value,
for an individual’s particular situation.
But, ultimately, they
all allow authors the opportunity to put their books in front of an audience of
potential buyers after the solitary time spent writing and completing their books.
