You’ve written a book, and now you’re coming up with a launch plan. As part of that all-important launch plan and calendar, many authors want to do bookstore events (in-person before Covid or virtually now). I’m here to tell you that it’s doable. How would I know? Well, for my first book, Burning the Bacon, I did events at numerous bookstores, including Barnes & Noble and Books-a-million.
So, how does one get a book into B&N and launch there?
The Realities of a Barnes & Noble Event
The first thing to understand is that Barnes & Noble stocking and events are different. It is fully possible to be an indie author doing a local author event at a B&N without your book being formally stocked on their shelves. If you’re planning on self-publishing and your book has no advanced press or reviews (say, from a site like NetGalley), then chances are your book will not be stocked.
But don’t be too down. Even if your book isn’t officially stocked, you’re still 100% able to do an event at a place like Barnes & Noble. It’s just most likely going to be a commission type of sale, meaning you bring the books, people pay for them at the register, then B&N pays out your cut. This approach seem like a bit of a bummer, but there are actually quite a few silver linings to it:
- You’d still be doing an event at B&N (or your chosen bookstore), meaning more eyes on your work from people passing by, more foot traffic sales (or, in the case of a virtual event, more sales from the B&N network), and more chances to sign a book.
- It’s great for PR. You can take some photos and share them on your author social media or in your press packet. This will allow you to show stores in the future that, yes, you can do book events, and, yes, they go swimmingly.
- If you sell enough from your events—particularly if you yourself bring in more customers than your local B&N normally sees at that time—then that B&N may very well choose to stock your book afterwards. To get this to happen, make sure your book is set up through a well-known distributor like Ingram. (If you’re wanting to use these techniques for libraries, you’ll need a listing with Baker & Taylor.)
The Bookstore Launch Technique:
- Get a custom ISBN via Bowker for at least your paperback—auto-assigned free ones won’t work for this.
- Have a pre-order. I highly recommend using more than just KDP for this. The reason being that, as of the time writing this, KDP does not allow paperback pre-orders. Ingram, however, does. (Both IngramSpark and Ingram LightningSource do as far as I can tell.) So, get both your ebook and paperback pre-orders up.
- Once your book is listed on B&N.com (via the paperback pre-order), have friends and family order for pick-up from B&N. That way, the stores see that there is interest in your book.
- Then, a month or two before the launch, (after pre-order is up and people have started pre-ordering), call the store and ask for their events and manager email. Every B&N I’ve ever called for myself or my clients has had one of these. If, on the off-chance they don’t, ask to talk to their events specialist on the phone.
- Email them to do two things:
- Set up a launch event –> signing or virtual event;
- Ask if they’re interested in stocking the book. If you or your writing have any accolades, including notable positive editorial reviews (like from Kirkus or Publisher Weekly) mention these in your email.
- If you receive no response, follow up in a week or two after, and then a couple weeks after that for a total of 3-5 emails.
- Continue to have friends, family, and fans order from B&N or Bookshop (vs. from Amazon) to have the highest chance of having stores take notice.
Booksellers are more than just B&N
If you do decide to launch at B&N, I highly recommend to also set up events at your local indie bookstores. Why? Well, indie stores have a more direct line between booksellers and the customers. That means that you have a real person checking the numbers, noticing things like a new book that is doing well with his/her customers.
If you want to do an event, you can contact indie stores directly. Or, if you’re more considered with the store stocking your book, encourage your fans to buy via Bookshop.
Have you had success launching at a bookstore or setting up bookstore events? Share your tips below!
