One of the many aspects of self-publishing I’m having to come to terms with is the discounts that book shops expect before they will be willing to stock a book.
I’ve heard some authors talk about fifty percent discounts – the bookshop expecting a book to be sold to them at fifty percent off the cover price (or Recommended Retail Price.)
It’s one thing to be able to offer a discount when you can walk to a book shop and hand deliver your book. Quite another when you have to post it. Another still when you have a fairly steep cost per unit.
Yet book shop owners need to be able to make a profit too. They have costs to cover – far more than I do with rates, rent, electricity, wages etc.
There has to be a balance. Finding the point at which the book shop owner can sustain their business while also allowing the writer to sustain theirs.
I’ve started to negotiate discounts as I’m trying to sell my books to book shops as I know in the long term, the more people I have helping me sell my books, the better it will be for us all.
I’m currently planning to offer a range of discounts based on how many books are ordered from a discounted price of 80% down to 60% if I can hand deliver them.
If you’ve negotiated deals with book shops, how have you gone about it?
