working with agents. Each December she holds a trio of Holiday Author Open Houses, which draw close to 100 writers in total. Based on the payments she sends out to self-published authors every two months—in a typical period, she sends 70 checks totaling $3,000 to $4,000—her inclusive strategy is working. She also considers it “a real demonstration that shopping locally keeps money in the community.”
Many bookstores buy books on consignment from authors, typically at a 40% discount, plus a fee for inputting sales information into their inventory system. At RiverRun, Holbrook has moved to a 70/30 split with authors, to keep pace with the model offered by most online booksellers that sell self-published works. “We moved to 70/30, because I know independent bookstores are where self-published authors make the least amount of money,” said Holbrook. His stores do particularly well with extremely local books, and with authors who do a lot of promotion. For those interested in publishing their own works, RiverRun also offers self-publishing services through its Piscataqua Press imprint. Through the end of the year, RiverRun is holding a fiction-writing contest to attract indie authors; the winning novelist will receive a $1,500 publishing contract with Piscataqua.
“We think that being part of the self-publishing world is a win-win for everyone—local authors have always been so supportive of the store,” said Casey Coonerty Protti, owner of Bookshop Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, Calif. She created a plan for offering titles from indie authors based on that of Boulder Book Store in Boulder, Colo. For each author who participates, the store initially carries five copies of his or her book on consignment. “We’ve sold hundreds and hundreds of consignment packages,” she said. In July 2012, the store began testing an Espresso Book Machine and launched a publishing services program for indie authors. Protti decided not to keep the book machine and partnered with a local printer instead, which set up a portal for the store....
To continue reading article: Please click on Source link.
Source: www.publishersweekly.com