A while ago I saw this article that mentions sales reps speed dating with booksellers (similar to the speed pitching writers do to agents/editors at some conferences), and that coupled with my recent influx of magazines got me thinking about how books get into bookstores. 

Most writers know they need to sale their book to an agent or editor and to readers, but don’t realize there’s more to the selling process than that. Getting your book into stores can be a lot like getting your book published in the first place. Publishers have to give great pitches and hope someone takes this wonderful book they’ve produced. They have a book that they know is great, and they just have to convince the buyer to order it in good quantities. Also, the publisher gets to try and convince the buyer to feature the book in some way.

Sales and marketing spend a lot time building a rapport with buyers. Reps need to know what the buyers want and require, and buyers need to trust that when the reps say something is excellent it truly is.

Reps go into meetings armed with a couple different things. One is some sort of form that has all the basic information for a book (title, author name and bio, book description, price point, release date). Frequently they’ll bring in sales or market data to support their arguments. Covers, if already designed, are brought to the table. For some books, BLADS are made. BLAD stands for Basic Layout And Design. A BLAD is basically a 6-12 page pamphlet with the book cover and a sample of the interior. It gives buyers an idea of what the book is going to look like when it’s done. This is more important for nonfiction books, children’s books and graphic novels than adult fiction.

The sales reps use these tools and their knowledge of the market to convince buyers to order copies of the book, and to agree to promote it in some way.

My previous ignorance has gotten me thinking. What are some of the aspects of book publishing you didn’t even think about for ages? Or, what part of the mysterious process do you want to know more about? If I don’t know, I do know who to ask.