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Welcome to Beanbag Books, and thank you for considering us to carry your book. We get many, many requests to carry books from both self-published and traditionally published authors. Read through the information below with commonly asked questions and requested information.
I wrote a book, will you carry it?
First of all, well done! Writing a book is no small feat. While we enjoy supporting local authors, we simply do not have enough room on our shelves for them all. With so many self-publishing resources available these days we get several emails each week from authors interested in having us carry their books. We no longer carry books on consignment. Why, you ask? It is a lot of work to keep track of when requests are submitted, review all of the books, complete contracts, track how long books are on shelves, how many (if any) have sold, then submit payments to each consigned author in a timely manner…and I am REALLY bad at it. So, to keep my life simple and authors paid for their work, we will only consider titles that are:
- available through traditional publishers
- available on Ingram with standard discount and returnable
- available through a small/indie press with competitive wholesale discounts & are returnable
Books must be professionally bound with the title printed on the spine (people won’t notice your book if they can’t see the title when it’s on the shelf). The better your cover the better your chances of selling a book. Pricing must be consistent within the genre.
Can I just drop off my book?
We are unable to accommodate walk-in visits without an appointment or telephone inquiries as when our doors are open we’re focused on helping customers, pricing and shelving books, and other day to day activities which keep the doors open. We also have multiple people working, and if books are left, they will likely get misplaced. So, please do not leave unsolicited review copies with our staff.
Do you have any tips for making my book successful in a bookstore?
To end up with the best product you can, a book to be proud of and one people want to read, we have some very basic tips:
- We strongly encourage all authors to have their book professionally edited. A potential reader flipping through your book will likely walk away if there are obvious spelling errors (particularly on the cover).
- Think about hiring a professional graphic designer to do your cover and layout–given a choice the public is much more likely to pick up a book that looks good. We will not accept books that use AI for cover design. Formatting errors disrupt the flow of a story (for fiction) or can cause real confusion about events (for nonfiction). As mentioned above, the book title and preferably your name should be printed on the spine.
- Buy an ISBN and have a barcode printed on the back cover. It’s difficult to restock your book if we can’t easily track it in our system.
- Go with an affordable publishing company so you can price your book reasonably within its genre. Look at other published books in the same genre, trim, and bulk to get an idea of common pricing and price your book accordingly. You don’t necessarily need to print the price on the cover but be consistent; your book should sell for the same price through every outlet.
- How are you going to promote your book? Having your book published is a big, exciting step, but it’s only the first step in getting your book into the hands of readers. You need to market your book; how are you planning to do that?
- Here is a link to a wonderful article called “How to Talk to a Bookseller: A 10-Step Guide for Authors” written by Melissa Lion who was a bookseller and the events coordinator at DIESEL, a bookstore in Oakland, California before leaving to write full time. http://www.bookweb.org/news/how-talk-bookseller-10-step-guide-authors
- Tor published a great article by Lish McBride about what you, as an author, can do to make your events more successful. http://www.tor.com/2017/01/30/the-authors-guide-to-no-show-events/?utm_source=exacttarget&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_term=tordotcom-tordotcomnewsletter&utm_content=na-readblog-blogpost&utm_campaign=9780805098631
Can I have a signing at your store?
We would love to host an event promoting your book at the store. We currently host a Local Author Showcase once a month. This showcase will be on a Sunday afternoon during regular hours. We will host 2-3 authors within a similar genre or with books that would complement each other. We try to schedule two to three months out, so please keep that in mind with the release of any new book. We most likely will not be able to schedule an immediate event, so please plan accordingly.