Handouts for the IBPA-U Session 901 Speed-Dating Your Distributor/Wholesaler Monday May 23, 2011 You’ve heard of speeddating on the personal side—well, here is speeddating for your professional side. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to size up the top book distributors. Attendees will be divided into small groups, each meeting with a different distributor for 12 minutes to hear about each company and ask questions. A bell will sound, and the groups will move to the next distributor, until each has been seen by every attendee.

1.
Session 901
Speed-Dating Your
Distributor/Wholesaler
Monday May 23, 2011
You’ve heard of speed­dating on the personal side—well, here is speed­
dating for your professional side. Take advantage of this unique opportunity
to size up the top book distributors. Attendees will be divided into small
groups, each meeting with a different distributor for 12 minutes to hear
about each company and ask questions. A bell will sound, and the groups will
move to the next distributor, until each has been seen by every attendee.
Moderator:  Eric Kampmann, Midpoint Trade Books
 Davida Breier, Johns Hopkins University  Josh Mettee, American West Books, Inc.
Press, HFS  Craig Pollock, Ingram Book Company
Participants:  Tony Proe, The BookMasters Group/Atlas
 Bethany Brown, New Shelves  Leah Rex, Ingram Publisher Services
 Elise Cannon, PGW/Perseus  Mark Suchomel, IPG
 Amy Collins, New Shelves  Kevin Votel, PGW/Perseus
 Tom Doherty, Cardinal Publishers Group  Richard T. Williams, Small Press United
Participants:
American West Books, Inc. The BookMasters Group / Atlas
Josh Mettee Tony Proe
1254 Commerce Way 30 Amberwood Parkway
Sanger, CA 93657 Ashland, OH 44805
www.AmericanWestBooks.com www.bookmasters.com
jmettee@AmericanWestBooks.com tproe@bookmasters.com
559‐876‐2170 315‐471‐8005
American West Books is a wholesaler that If you are a small start up with just a few titles, a
specializes in selling regional and niche titles well established publisher with a substantial list,
nationally. Our customers include the wholesale or fall somewhere in between, BookMasters offers
clubs, the book chains, online bookstores and a large menu of publishing services to help you
museums/gift shops. achieve success. In addition to warehousing, sales,
Prospective clients can follow up by emailing E­book conversion, and distribution, we provide a
jmettee@AmericanWestBooks.com. full range of printing services, whether you need

2. one copy or 100,000. BookMasters is the partner Prospective clients can follow up by emailing
you need to meet the challenges of our rapidly Craig.pollock@ingramcontent.com.
evolving marketplace.
Prospective clients can follow up by emailing Ingram Publisher Services
tproe@bookmasters.com. Leah Rex
Acquisitions Director
Cardinal Publishers Group 14 Ingram Blvd., One Ingram Blvd.
Tom Doherty LaVergne, TN 37086
2402 N. Shadeland Ave., Suite A www.ingramcontent.com
Indianapolis, IN 46218 leah.rex@ingramcontent.com
www.cardinalpub.com 615 213 5343
tdoherty@cardinalpub.com Ingram Publisher Services combines the power of
800‐296‐0481 Ingram's infrastructure and adds a sales and
Cardinal Publishers Group is a full service marketing component to give your titles the
distributor handling independent trade book individualized attention and the broadest possible
publishers since 2000. access to customers around the world.
Prospective clients can follow up by emailing Prospective clients can follow up by emailing
tdoherty@cardinalpub.com. IPSpublisher@ingramcontent.com.
Independent Publishers Group Midpoint Trade Books
Mark Suchomel Eric Kampmann
814 N. Franklin Street 27 West 20th Street, Suite 1102
Chicago, IL 60610 New York, NY 10011
www.ipgbook.com www.midpointtrade.com
suchomel@ipgbook.com eric@midpointtrade.com
312‐337‐0747 ext. 209 212‐727‐0190
Independent Publishers Group is one of the largest In this fast changing publishing environment,
distributors of independently published books in Midpoint believes that personal hands­on
North America. In addition to the book trade, IPG management is the best way to serve its client
covers many specialty retailers and wholesalers publishers. Midpoint was founded in 1996 and is
including gift and museum stores, teacher supply led by two industry veterans, Eric Kampmann and
stores, outdoor stores, and others. IPG is highly Chris Bell. Both Eric and Chris bring unparalleled
selective when adding publishers and looks for levels of experience to building the strongest levels
titles of high quality and salability. of sales for its publishers through a genuine depth
Prospective clients can follow up by emailing of knowledge of the books it handles and of the
Matt Lozan at mlozano@ipgbook.com. markets it sells to. Midpoint's home office is in
New York City and its distribution center is in
Ingram Book Company Kansas City.
Craig Pollack Prospective clients can follow up by emailing
14 Ingram Blvd., One Ingram Blvd. ekampmann@aol.com and
LaVergne, TN 37086 Chris@midpointtrade.com.
www.ingrambook.com
Craig.pollock@ingramcontent.com New Shelves
615‐213‐5529 Amy Collins MacGregor and Bethany Brown
Currently Ingram works with more than 25,000 103 Remsen St Ste 1
publishers and imprints in a variety of ways. The Cohoes, NY 12047
Ingram content companies offer publishers a wide www.thecadencegrp.com
variety of services including wholesale acollins@thecadencegrp.com
distribution, print on demand, digital formats, and bbrown@thecadencegrp.com
full distribution services. 518‐391‐2300

3. New Shelves Distribution offers high­quality sales, New World Library, Counterpoint, Soft Skull Press,
marketing, warehousing, order processing, and McSweeney's, MacAdam/Cage, Shelter
shipping services. We pitch your books to the top Publications, Ulysses Press and Gallup Press.
buyers at the national chains as well as the top Prospective clients can follow up by emailing
independents across the US. Your titles will be Rose Anderson at Rose.Anderson@pgw.com.
uploaded to Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Barnes &
Noble, Borders, Books­a­Million, Amazon.com and Small Press United
many other industry wholesalers and retailers in a Richard T. Williams
matter of weeks, not months. 814 N. Franklin Street
Prospective clients can follow up by emailing Chicago, IL 60610
acollins@thecadencegrp.com and www.smallpressunited.com
bbrown@thecadencegrp.com. rwilliams@smallpressunited.com
312‐337‐0747
PGW/Perseus Small Press United (SPU) provides high quality
Elise Cannon and Kevin Votel sales and distribution services to small publishers
1700 4th Street of print and electronic books. A division of
Berkeley, CA 94710 Independent Publishers Group, one of North
www.pgw.com America's largest distributors, SPU works closely
elise.cannon@pgw.com with key retailers and wholesalers in the book
kevin.votel@pgw.com trade to bypass traditional long lead times and
510‐809‐3730 bring titles to the market quickly, and announces
Publishers Group West, based in Berkeley, CA, is new titles throughout the year rather than
the most successful exclusive distributor of seasonally. SPU helps publishers maximize sales
independent publishers in North America. PGW as well as reduce risk and unnecessary expense.
represents over 130 exceptional presses including Prospective clients can follow up by emailing
best­selling publishers Grove/Atlantic Monthly, rwilliams@smallpressunited.com.
Notes:
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4. IBPA, the Independent Book Publishers Association http://www.ibpa-online.org/membersarea/shownews.aspx?id=2713
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Home
Join / Renew IBPA
Calendar of Events Do You Need a Distributor?
What is IBPA? by Davida Breier
Member Benefits
December, 2008
Members Area Do You Need a Distributor?
Resources by Davida Breier
Independent Articles
Do you wonder exactly what a distributor is and does? Do you think you might need one, but you are
Publishers Resources
not sure how it all works? If so, you’re invited to read on.
Affiliate Organizations
Definitions
Seminars & Awards
Member Directory A distributor acts as your sales force and fulfillment center and handles credit and collections. Master
distributors warehouse their client publishers’ books, actively sell the titles to wholesalers and retailers,
Marketing Programs and are exclusive to the trade. They try to get stock into the marketplace ahead of demand at the retail
Featured Titles
level.
Vendor Resources Wholesalers, which newcomers often confuse with distributors, provide books to retail customers, are
nonexclusive, and do not have sales forces. Generally, they are reactive rather than proactive about
demand.
What Distributors Do
By serving as sales force, credit and collections staff, and general box packers, distributors leave
publishers more time for editorial and marketing tasks and ideally generate enough additional revenue
to more than cover their commissions and fees.
Each distributor is a little different. It may be a matter of the size of the publishers represented, the
types of publishers, the nature of the books, and/or the region the distributor covers. Some
recognizable names include NBN, IPG, PGW, Consortium, Perseus, Atlas Books, Greenleaf, Midpoint,
A&B, and SCB. Part of Ingram, the giant national wholesaler, is a distributor too. You can view a list at
ibpa-online.org/pubresources/distribute.aspx.
Some distributors focus on a single market, as Quality Books does for the library market. Some focus on
multiple markets, which may include traditional bookstores, big-box stores (e.g., Costco, Target,
Wal-Mart), religious bookstores, gift stores, libraries, and educational accounts.
If you are ready to take a book national and want to sell to wholesalers such as Ingram and Baker &
Taylor and to chains such as Borders and Barnes & Noble, you’ll probably need to partner with a
distributor to have access to those accounts.
When Publishers Don’t Need Distributors
In many cases, it makes sense for small presses to start their publishing programs conservatively, begin
trade penetration with a wholesaler like Baker & Taylor or New Leaf (for new age/alternative health
titles), and sell direct via online retailers.
Starting out slowly will help novice publishers avoid overly ambitious (and often expensive) marketing
that results in low sell-though and high returns. A cautious startup period may also help them learn
what works and doesn’t work with their publishing programs before they go national.
Furthermore, many books successfully sold at seminars, direct-to-consumer, and via special sales will
not be successful in the retail market.
What a Distributor Requires
Master distributors require exclusivity in the trade market because most accounts there will deal only
with exclusive distributors. This is because of the confusion that would be created if more than one sales
rep was selling the same book, and if more than one vendor of record supplied the book. Accounts may
require one primary vendor to order from and return books to because their databases will not allow
multiple vendors for the same ISBN.
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5. IBPA, the Independent Book Publishers Association http://www.ibpa-online.org/membersarea/shownews.aspx?id=2713
Distributors also require a good fit. They need to see that your audience meshes with their market. As
they review new submissions, they look for evidence that you understand not only your target
audience, but also their accounts, and they try to determine how the two of you will work together.
In addition, they look for publishers who will continue publishing. If a publisher has only one book
planned, the relationship with the distributor may be short-term. Distributors want to help their
publishers grow.
Understanding what a distributor does and explaining why you are seeking a particular distributor’s
services will often impress more than simply saying you have $25K to spend on marketing.
Many books are not suited for bookstore sales and do much better with special sales, academic and
library sales, and sales through channels such as gift stores, special-interest stores, the Internet, and
seminars. Distributors may direct you elsewhere if yours is one of them.
Other common reasons distributors reject titles include prices that are too high, content with a great
deal of competition (fiction, self-help, children’s books, and business are especially competitive
categories), poor production quality, and insubstantial marketing.
Costs
Every distributor has different contract terms and services. Some also offer services a la carte. You will
want to compare and contrast. Overall, you can expect to pay a distributor 18 to 30 percent of net
sales.
Reach
Signing with a distributor doesn’t mean that a book will be in every bookstore in the country. That
depends on individual buyers at both the corporate and retail levels. They decide whether or not to give
your books precious shelf space. Please remember that distributors can only promise to present the
book to buyers and to make the book available.
However, one of the most important reasons to sign up with any distributor is that information about
your book will be made available to a variety of databases utilized by nearly every retailer and
wholesaler in the country. This means your book will be available for ordering when inquiries are made
at a bookstore.
Marketing Responsibilities
Distributors are responsible for making sure clients’ books are available to the marketplace so that
bookstores have them or can get them. Publishers are responsible for creating demand for their books
and driving consumers into bookstores to buy them.
Every book needs all the marketing and publicity help it can get. And you must sustain these efforts for
the entire life of the book, not just for its first few months.
Recipe for a Successful Relationship
Always bear in mind that you and your distributor form a partnership, and that you each need to do
your part to make it work. Your distributor counts on you to communicate information about your book,
both before and after pub date, in a timely, concise fashion. The better the materials you provide, the
better job your distributor and its sales force can do for you.
Remember, within the trade market, stores are essentially buying on consignment, so your distributor
wants to sell your books as much as you do, and no one likes returns. If you don’t understand
something or just want more information, seek advice. Answering questions is always preferable to
fixing mistakes. Make sure you understand your distributor’s schedule and boundaries. Listen to your
distributor’s needs, and if you don’t see why the distributor wants certain information or paperwork, just
ask.
Davida Breier is marketing director of the master distributor National Book Network. To learn more
about it, visit www.nbnbooks.com. To reach her, email dbreier@nbnbooks.com.
Distributors, Wholesalers, Commissioned Reps: What's Right for You? PMA-U 2008, Davida Breier
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6. IBPA, the Independent Book Publishers Association http://www.ibpa-online.org/membersarea/shownews.aspx?id=2403
Site Map
Privacy Statement
Mission Statement
Copyright Notice
Shopping Cart
Membership Johns Hopkins University Press is currently logged in. Click here to logout.
Home
Join / Renew IBPA
Calendar of Events How to Date Your Distributor
What is IBPA? Davida G. Breier
Member Benefits
October, 2006
Members Area As head of sales and marketing for a master distributor I’m often asked to speak to publishers
,
about what distribution is and how it works. After a particularly harrowing conversation, I
Resources finally realized there was an easy way to explain distribution in terms everyone could
understand—dating.
Independent Articles
Publishers Resources
Affiliate Organizations Let’s face it, publishing is all about passion. It is about hoping for what may happen in the face
of overwhelming odds. It is about luck, timing, and often gut instinct. Sounds a lot like dating,
Seminars & Awards doesn’t it?
Member Directory
Marketing Programs
One of the first things I should explain is that working with a distributor generally means you
Featured Titles need to be ready to make a monogamous commitment. Most distributors are exclusive, but
you may see slight differences in how and where the boundaries extend. For example, Biblio
Vendor Resources Distribution is exclusive for trade accounts (book retailers and wholesalers), but it leaves client
publishers free to work with library distributors such as Quality Books or Unique Books, and to
sell directly to consumers. If you are not ready for a monogamous commitment and want to
continue to play the field, you might want to work with wholesalers, which offer more casual
relationships. You can create a system of supply and demand with a wholesaler but you won’t
,
get dinner . . . I mean, a sales force.
Making a Match
If you do decide you are ready to settle down with a distributor you need to start looking
,
around. Don’t just go to your corner bar and hope for the best. Get out there (physically, on
the phone, or online) and meet appropriate people. PMA has a list of distributors at
pma-online.org/distribute.cfm. Take your time and review what each has to offer Ask around,
.
and ask for references.
While you’re sizing up any potential distributor that distributor is going to be sizing you up.
,
Remember each of you is looking for a partner If you seem antagonistic or excessively
, .
high-maintenance, the distributor probably won’t want to work with you, no matter how great
you and your books look. On the plus side, if you follow the distributor’s submission
instructions, you’ll improve the odds of getting together.
Make sure you have something in common. If your distributor sells only to colleges and your
target audience is preschoolers, you will soon be throwing the good china at one another Your
.
consumer audience and the distributor’s accounts should exemplify a perfect union.
You don’t want a distributor that takes every publisher that applies. I think you can see how
the dating analogy (and the potential need for antibiotics) applies here.
And bear in mind that no matter how right you are for one another no one partner can be your
,
whole world. If your books are right for multiple venues, don’t isolate yourself by counting on
one distributor to do everything. Getting your book into bookstores is great, but so is getting
them into libraries and nonbook stores and book fairs and places where the author is speaking,
and those sales channels may be best handled on your own or with a separate sales force. Like
any good partner your distributor should support you on these moves.
,
If you do find a distributor you like that likes you, don’t rush to the altar Read the contract
.
very carefully. Keep asking questions about any terms, fees, or conditions that you don’t
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7. IBPA, the Independent Book Publishers Association http://www.ibpa-online.org/membersarea/shownews.aspx?id=2403
understand until you are completely comfortable with the answers. Make sure you are both
clear about your expectations.
Something else you shouldn’t rush is the pub date. Your distributor has catalog and sales
schedules that usually can’t be bent (although pleas for later deadlines are probably the most
common request we get from our publisher partners). Distributors are at the mercy of their
accounts, so use the schedule they must use and trust that they are working as fast as they
can to sell your books.
Neither one of you should sign the contract with the desire to change your partner as soon as
the ink is dry. It is foolhardy to think that a distributor will change systems or sales channels to
suit you. Likewise, a distributor shouldn’t expect that you will change what you publish or how
you function.
If you are lucky, you will develop a relationship with your distributor based on trust. The
distributor trusts that you will deliver well-produced books on time, which you will support with
smart and energetic marketing. You trust that the distributor’s sales force is out there
advocating on behalf of your books (and your publishing company). Because books are
generally sold to trade customers as returnable, understand that your distributor will try not to
oversell (or undersell) your titles. Results will depend heavily on your marketing, so if you
deliver what you promise, you should both be happy.
Toward a Long and Happy Life
Once you and your distributor have gotten past the honeymoon period around pub date, you
still need to communicate with one another Your distributor might not know about your
.
reviews, awards, media coverage, and so on unless you report them. You can’t be angry if the
wholesalers are out of stock on the eve of your big tour if you never told your distributor about
it.
Picking up your socks, not leaving dirty dishes in the sink— these are the day-to-day issues
you need to work out with any partner If your distributor provides you with sales reports
.
(online or otherwise), you should learn how to read and use them. Calling your distributor
monthly (or weekly!) to find out how many books have sold, and where, when you could have
looked the information up yourself is much like leaving those dirty dishes in the sink. On the
other hand, if your distributor isn’t responding to your legitimate questions, this should be
cause for concern. If it has been a few days since you emailed or called and you haven’t
received a reply (or an out-of-office reply), try a gentle reminder If that doesn’t work, try
.
another contact person. I’ve had publishers wait for answers to queries, growing angrier by the
day, when it turned out that their emails went to invalid addresses.
In the long term, raising a book can be a lot like raising a child. The more attention your child
requires–whether the child is winning the science fair or stealing cars—the stronger the
partnership needs to be. And believe me, we love watching your kids grow as much as you do.
Davida Breier is the sales and marketing manager for Biblio Distribution (www.bibliodistribution.com), a
master distributor that specializes in small and independent presses.
IBPA, the Independent Book Publishers Association
627 Aviation Way
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
phone: 310-372-2732 · fax: 310-374-3342
e-mail: info@IBPA-online.org
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