7 Tips For Getting Your Book on the Shelf and Keeping It There

There is no way around it—authors must promote their own books.

As an author, your book has no greater advocate, since you wrote the book and have the passion for the subject. A publisher can help get your book into bookstores, but it’s a fact that authors who connect with stores themselves sell more books.

Whether traditionally or self-published, your book must  be professionally published, with a great cover, top-notch editing, availability through distributors such as Ingram, and returnable. Without these basics, retailers will resist placing your book on their shelves.

Here are seven additional tips for getting bookstore shelf placement:

1. Start local

Bookstores look for what sells — the popular books. They also want to nurture relationships with local authors. This means stores in your town, county, and region are the best starting point. Establish a sales history locally; that will build your credibility so you can branch to other parts of the country.

2. Ask

It can’t hurt to ask, right? This is true with books. Once you have the basics in place, ask a bookstore to stock your book. You may be pleasantly surprised.

3. Publicity

Have your publicist set up a local radio interview, and then call the bookstore a week ahead of time. Let the manager know you plan to specifically tell listeners to go to their store for the book. Your chances for shelf placement just went up! You can work this out with multiple stores. Often calling 3 or 4 of one chain can make it easy for you on air: “Visit any Barnes & Noble in town to find my book.”

4. Do an event in the store

Arrange a book signing with the bookstore. Offer to do a workshop on your topic. If there are books left over after the event, offer to autograph them and ask the manager to keep a few on hand so you can point people to their store.

5. Drive demand

Bookstores often stock books based on demand. Drive demand for the book by sending locals into the store to ask for/order the book. This is an instant reason for stores to order your book. Provide fliers for the bookstore to give to customers ahead of time.

6. Bag stuffers

Bring or mail stores bookmarks or postcards as bag stuffers. Make sure your cover letter clearly explains why you’re leaving/mailing these items to the store. Often stores will insert these items into bags, or put them on the counter for customers to take. If they don’t have your book, of course they’ll need to order it to have on hand! This tip works best with independent stores, rather than chains.

7. Follow up

Once your book is in a store, consider following up several times a year to ask if the store needs more books or bag stuffers. Often when your book sells out, a store won’t reorder without a reason. Give them a gentle reminder you’re active, and they need your book in stock! Caution: calling too often can leave a bad taste in a store manager’s mouth and have the opposite effect.

What Do You Think?

Feel free to leave a comment on this article with your feedback, or your experiences with this topic. We would love to hear from you!

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Adam Cothes

Adam Cothes is a Solutions Advisor for WinePress Publishing. His experience in the Christian publishing industry spans ten years ranging from retail sales to book production and marketing.

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