Five Keys to Working With Bookstores, Before You’re Published and After

Thomas: Today we’re going to talk about bookstores, actual real-world brick-and-mortar bookstores with actual doors and actual human beings, not a digital representation. We’re going to talk about how to get bookstores on your side, so they help you sell your book. Jim, aren’t bookstores your enemy? Don’t they just want to promote the best-selling authors?

Jim: They don’t care about anybody but the best-selling authors. That’s not true, but getting them to focus on you takes some tricks and techniques, and that’s what we’re going to talk about today.

There’s an article going around about Barnes & Noble closing by the end of the year. The reality is they’re definitely closing branches, but I don’t see Barnes & Noble disappearing entirely. We are seeing the big box retail bookstore downsize significantly.

Independent Book Stores

The movie You’ve Got Mail had Fox Books putting the shop around the corner out of business. My contention is that’s now reversing. The niche independent bookstore is always going to have a place in every town.

Thomas: We had a mastermind retreat in Austin a couple years ago, and I took the group to a local bookstore called BookPeople. BookPeople is doing just fine and growing, even while a lot of independent bookstores are closing. It’s what real bookstores are going to look like in the future.

They’re not competing on price. They’re more expensive, and people expect to pay more because they’re paying for a knowledgeable staff. We interviewed one of their employees who used to work at Barnes & Noble, and she said the biggest difference is that at BookPeople, people ask her what she’s reading. She reads 100 books a year and makes recommendations that really help sell books. That’s the value of BookPeople, and it’s why people shop there. If you can get the staff recommending your book, it makes all the difference.

They have handwritten staff reviews on the shelves. It’s high-touch. The industry is headed either high-touch or high-tech, and the hybrid you see Barnes & Noble doing now isn’t going to be what they’re doing in five years. I don’t think they’ll close. They’ve been closing stores for 20 years and opening new ones every year. That’s what healthy businesses do, they cut and prune and grow where it’s strategic. But they’re going to get smaller and change how they do business.

Jim: Building relationships with independent stores like BookPeople can be key.

Some of you are thinking, I’ve only got one, two, maybe three bookstores in my area, how can that make an impact? Remember, the majority of your book sales come from your regional area. I look at Amazon and see that most of my novels sell in the Puget Sound area. If you make an impact at a local bookstore, it can have a serious ripple effect on your sales across the region.

Bookstores in Other Businesses

Thomas: Another important thing is to think outside the bookstore box. There may be fewer stores that sell only books, but more stores sell books than ever before. We’ve seen this in Christian publishing. There are more Christian bookstores than ever, but most are now inside churches, small shops near the entrance that people walk through to get to the sanctuary, often doubling as a coffee shop.

This isn’t just happening with Christian books. Start thinking beyond bookstores. You’d be surprised, even a gas station can stock a book.

Libraries

Jim: The final bookstore we never want you to overlook is the library. Librarians can be influential, and I’ll talk about how I go into libraries in the Puget Sound area. Remember the statistic. If someone reads your book after checking it out from the library and likes it, 50% of those people will go out and purchase another one of your books.

Thomas: People like to underline and to own things. It’s how a lot of people buy a DVD of a movie they enjoyed even if they’ll never watch it again. I’m one of those people. I own DVDs I’ve been given as gifts, they’re on my shelf, and knowing I could watch them anytime has kept me from actually watching them. It’s like knowing I could go to the museum in my hometown anytime, so I never get around to going.

That impulse to own can really drive sales. So let’s get into some practical tips. You realize local bookstores matter. How do you get them to pay attention to you? Why should they care about your book?

Tip #1: Get face-to-face with the manager.

Jim: Being face-to-face with a manager, even an assistant manager, makes a difference.

When people like you, the rules change. Your first goal is to get them to like you.

Here’s what I do. I walk into a bookstore and check if my book is on the shelf. Most of the time I’ve found my book there. As soon as that happens, I ask to talk to the manager.

You’ll get pushback here, because most of the time when a manager talks to someone, it’s because they’re complaining. That’s actually good, because when you say, “Hi, I’m James L. Rubart, you carry my books, I just wanted to say thanks for carrying them,” they realize you’re not there to complain, you’re there to say thank you. That starts a dialogue.

Sometimes the manager doesn’t respond well, and that’s happened to me. But don’t let one bad experience keep you from doing it at other stores. I’ve had stores where suddenly I’m their friend, and they’re asking if I have bookmarks or telling me they’ll get the staff to read the book. It can become a goldmine if you’re willing to put yourself out there and risk that they might not be excited to see you.

Thomas: Look at it from the manager’s perspective. They have people complaining to them, and they also have plenty of self-published authors asking for a handout. Come with a way of serving and helping them instead. Think about what would make that manager’s life better. Probably the number one thing they want is more book sales, so ask how you can help get more people into their store.

Think about what you can give rather than what you can get. Opening with a thank-you is a great way to give, and as you keep asking how you can help them, they’ll want to help you back.

Jim: Another way to help is to offer your network. Most authors have some kind of relationship, whether it’s an email list, a critique group, or a group that meets monthly. Go to the manager and offer to pass along word about special events or things going on in the store. You become an ally, and the relationship becomes give and take.

Jim: The other thing to realize, and Thomas touched on this too, you’re just another author. Unless you’re J.K. Rowling, John Grisham, or Stephen King, you’re just another author. They see a lot of authors come through, so you can’t walk in expecting to be taken care of because you’re published. They don’t look at it that way.

You’re engaging in a conversation to see how you can serve, how you can take care of them. That’s going to serve you best.

Tip #2: Bring bookmarks and a sharpie just in case.

Jim: Don’t walk in waving bookmarks but have them ready in case they ask. Keep a Sharpie in your pocket in case they ask you to sign some books. That happens to me a lot, and of course I don’t mind, because once a book is signed, they can’t return it. You bet I’m going to sign that book.

Tip #3: Start with bookstores that already stock your books.

Thomas: You can’t visit every bookstore, so how do you decide which ones to visit?

Jim: I start with the bookstores already carrying my books, but I don’t treat it as a singled-out mission. I don’t set aside a day just to visit bookstores. I fold it into my normal travel. If I’m heading down to Tacoma or over to Port Orchard, I’m ready to drop into some stores along the way.

Most of us travel a handful of times a year. When you’re traveling, bring your bookmarks and be ready to drop in on a Barnes & Noble, an independent store, or any bookstore you pass, and introduce yourself.

Tip #4: Don’t neglect the airport bookstore and tourist shops.

Thomas: The most important bookstores in the country, in my opinion, are airport bookstores. They do the best business because people really want something to read on a plane. Getting into one is a step above a regular bookstore since they tend to be small, but it’s worth trying.

I know authors who do pop-up signings, sending out a tweet and going from airport bookstore to airport bookstore while traveling. Every trip is at least two airports. They’ll post something like, “I’m at Terminal 7 outside Gate 32 at LaGuardia, and I’ll be signing for 15 minutes.” Readers check out those bookstores looking for signed books, which brings more foot traffic in and makes the bookstore want to promote that author.

Jim: I’ve done book signings in airports myself. I’m not big on signings generally because they take a lot of time without selling many books, but some of my best signings have been in airports.

Even if you don’t get traction, try. Tell your story to everyone. You never know who you’ll bump into or who might be influential later. I talked to a bookstore manager along the Oregon coast where we like to vacation. We shopped there often and I told her I was trying to get published, that I had a manuscript and hoped someday to see it in print. We struck up a friendship, and she told me to come back and let her know if it ever happened.

Two years later, my first novel was published, and I went back to the store just to say thank you for the encouragement. I walked in, and it turned out to be their number one best-selling book. I told her we’d chatted a few years back about me writing a book, and pointed to it on the shelf. “That’s me,” I said. She wouldn’t let me leave the store. She called over an employee and introduced me as her number one fan.

It was fun to know I’d impacted somebody, but from a practical marketing standpoint, she called the manager of the five-store chain, and everyone on staff ended up reading the book. It exploded my sales in that region. You never know who you’re going to be talking to.

Thomas: Look for tourist shops, one of the most overlooked outlets. Here in Texas, we have little Texas-themed stores all over that sell Texas stuff. If your book is set in Texas, especially with a theme that fits the store, it could sell really well.

Jim, your books often take place in beautiful areas of the country, and those tourist shops love carrying books because tourists like to read on vacation. Keep that in mind as you pick locations for your books and reach out to stores.

Tip #5: Let readers get you into bookstores.

Finally, let your readers help you get into bookstores. We built a feature into My Book Table, our plugin you’ve heard us talk about before, that lets people look up phone numbers, addresses, and maps for bookstores in their area.

Imagine your readers using that tool to call local bookstores and ask, “Do you have Rooms by James L. Rubart?” The staff won’t check the shelf, they’ll check their computer. Either they’ll say yes, and now your book is in their mind because someone just called about it, or they’ll say no but offer to order it. The more times staff have to order your book, the more likely they are to just stock extra copies. Suddenly you’re on the shelf when you weren’t before.

Related Episodes

• How to Work With Brick and Mortar Bookstores
• 141 – Amazon Books and the Future of Brick and Mortar Retail
• Marketing 101: How Readers Make Buying Decisions at Physical Bookstores
• Marketing 101: Place
• How to Sell Your Book In Person
• How to Get Libraries to Buy Your Indie Book