AtlasBooks Distribution - Discover Our World of Quality Titles

What is AtlasBooks Distribution?
AtlasBooks provides publishers full-service distribution to book wholesalers and retailers to facilitate the sale of the publisher's product. This service is established as an addendum to BookMasters' (BMI) fulfillment agreement. AtlasBooks is a division of BMI.

What discount will my customers receive?
Wholesalers will receive a minimum of a 50% discount, while retailers receive a minimum of a 40% discount unless otherwise negotiated.

What if my book is made out of print?
The publisher is responsible for giving BMI a nine-month written notice for out-of-print products. BMI will continue to accept returns from customers on discontinued titles for nine months after receipt of this notice.

Can I view my AtlasBooks Distribution sales regularly?
Your sales figures will be easily accessible daily on the Internet. You will receive an AtlasBooks sales report and payment schedule monthly, along with your standard month-end reports and publisher statement.

Can I withdraw from this service at a later date?
Your AtlasBooks agreement will continue until terminated, in writing. Upon termination, BMI must continue to accept returns from customers for nine months. Final closeout payment of balance due and disposition of publisher’s remaining stock on hand will be completed within 10 months of the termination date.

How do wholesalers supply the bookstores?
Most independent and many chain bookstores order their books directly from wholesalers, such as Ingram Book Company and Baker & Taylor. It is the publisher's responsibility to notify AtlasBooks of any upcoming consumer marketing programs. AtlasBooks will then forward your marketing plan to the appropriate wholesaler(s) and retailer(s) to encourage them to stock additional copies of your book. It is imperative that all marketing efforts are forwarded to AtlasBooks so we can do our best to inform the wholesalers and retailers of the title's sales potential.

Who do you sell to?
We sell to all the national and regional bookstore chains, national and regional wholesalers, library jobbers, and independent bookstores in the United States and Canada. We call on all the big box national retailers. We sell to gift shops, museum shops, grocery stores, airport stores, military bases, and specialty retailers. We also do business with the wholesale clubs. Keep in mind that this industry works 6 months ahead of publication date, so we need to have all the necessary information at least 7 months ahead of schedule.

How many stores will be able to order my book?
Your book will be available to all the bookstores in the United States and Canada. Any store that wants to order your title will be able to do so as long as stock is available.

Can I get a list of stores you sell to?
You can track who is buying via your Account Management page. For a broad list, we sell to all the major wholesalers and retailers (for example: Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books-a-Million) as well as regional wholesalers and retailers (for example: Partners West, Powell's). We also sell to independent bookstores, libraries, and specialty markets.

Do you sell to libraries?
Yes, we use several outlets to sell to libraries. The wholesalers Ingram and Baker & Taylor have library divisions that we sell to. We also sell to library wholesalers. Most library systems work under a head buyer who covers a region or territory. Our representatives present to these head buyers.

After we have received all title information, this information will be sent out to all of our trading partners via electronic feed. At this point, stores know where they can find the book and can order.
We produce a sell sheet on titles for presentation to the national accounts. We present titles monthly to these accounts based on publication date.
We put your title in our seasonal catalog that the field sales professionals use to present to the independent bookstores and regional wholesalers.
After an account selects a title for their store, we monitor sales and work with the buyers to help maintain appropriate stock levels to maximize sales

Why should the pub date be 6 months from title submission?
National accounts (including wholesalers) have become more rigid in their buying. They will not make a national buy if the title has a pub date less than 6 months out. Even if they do happen to think this is a book they must carry, the order still will be small. The reason for this is that buyers are given a budget for each month. Once the budget for that month is gone, they will not buy more books. They will buy months ahead of the pub date. Once that budget is gone, they have no money left to buy a title that comes in later.

Setting the pub date 6 months out increases the credibility of the publisher. This is an industry standard, and anything less reflects poorly on the publisher. Six months will give the publisher time to make a marketing plan to coincide with the pub date. A marketing plan does take time to plan. Following this timeline ensures that stock will be available for events.

If you choose to use an earlier pub date, your title will not receive national representation. This means that we will not push the books into national accounts. They will be set up with national accounts, but we will not make a formal presentation to the buyers. The title will still be set up and it will appear in the catalog. It just will not receive any extra effort. Using an early pub date will mean that accounts will only buy by demand. They will not make a large initial buy to anticipate demand.

Who do I contact for questions about my sales?
Your customer service representative will be able to help with questions about your sales.

How can bookstores order directly from BookMasters?
Bookstores can order directly from BookMasters by using any of the following methods:

If a bookstore is not an already established account with BookMasters, it is necessary to fill out a credit application. This will be provided when the bookstore contacts BookMasters about an order.

How many books should a new author expect to sell in a year?
For books published by traditional publishers (not self-publishers) with no platform, only about 10% sell more than 1,000 copies in a year.

The Author's Guild (www.authorsguild.org) has suggested that a successful fiction book will sell 5,000 copies. A successful non-fiction book will sell 7,500 copies. These books would be supported by a healthy publicity and marketing program. (Information found at www.parapublishing.com.)

Can I solicit bookstores to carry my book?
It is okay for the author/publisher to approach a bookstore about carrying their book. The more times a bookstore hears about a book, the more likely they are to carry it. Most bookstores are also eager to support local talent. While presenting a book, you may also be able to schedule an event such as a reading or a signing. Be sure to let them know that the book is available through your distributor to Ingram and Baker & Taylor. These are the major wholesalers that most bookstores order from, and the bookstore should be familiar with those names.

How many returns should I expect?
We strive to sell responsibly. This means we aim to strike a balance between getting books out to wholesalers and retailers while minimizing returns. However, returns are a part of a publisher's life. Consider the following (found on parapublishing.com):
Books are displayed in bookstores for one selling season of 4 months. Those books that do not sell are returned for a refund. Yes, books may be "gone today, here tomorrow."
Facts from 2007:

40% of manufactured books never sell.
The typical waiting period before books start the long and expensive trek back to the warehouse is a mere 4 months.
The industry return rate is 36.3% for hardcover and 25% for paperback.
Superstores like Barnes & Noble sell around 70–80% of what they order, discounters like Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club only 60%.
37% of all books sent to stores in 2002 were returned.
HarperCollins lost $250 million in 2002 on returns alone.
Between 65 and 95% of returned books are destroyed once they come back from a bookseller

What can I do to generate sales?
It is most important to do your homework before publication in order to generate sales surrounding the publication date. Promotions that start after the publication date are much less effective. Too many authors expect that their book will just sell once it is published. When they don't see the sales they want, then they want to try to do something to generate sales. They need to be proactive at the forefront, and to make sure that part of their entire budget is planned for promotion.

The best ways to generate sales are to get reviews from notable reviewers (and have them printed on the cover/in the inside, if possible), to target publicity surrounding the publication date, and to target marketing to the publication date. Most bookstores monitor sales for the book's first 12 weeks after publication date. If the book does not do well in that time period, stores will likely not stock the book and will only buy when there is demand.

Another approach, and one that tends to work well for smaller publishers with smaller promotion budgets, is to start local and work to expand. Foster interest in the author's hometown, where it should be easier because many stores and consumers support local talent. Then use the momentum from those sales to spread to surrounding areas. As you get into second and third books, the author will already have notoriety in those areas, and you can begin promoting outside of those areas and keep growing with each work.

When will the book begin to be sold to resellers?
Selling time is based around the publication date. Books are presented to national accounts with 4 to 5 months’ lead-time, but they are for orders that will be fulfilled to be in stock for the publication date. Though we can accept stock at any time leading up to the publication date, it is not good to ship that stock to accounts that are not bound to a lead-time.

For example, some publishers try to get their stock into an independent store in their local area once there is stock, but before the publication date. This is a bad idea. It puts books into the marketplace. Other buyers see this and will not believe that it is a new title, and so will not make a new title buy. This means they won't make a large up-front buy; they will only buy to meet demand.

Once an ISBN is known as available, buys will be based on demand. If a book has no demand, the buyer will likely not buy unless the publisher is doing something convincing to promote the book.

Bookstores say they can't find my book. Why not?
First, are you in line with the publication date? The title must have had time to filter out to the trade before buyers will be able to find the book.

Once a book is past the publication date, there may be bookstores (and online stores) that do not stock the book in their own stores, but pull the availability of the stock from major wholesalers such as Ingram and Baker & Taylor. Even though stock is available from AtlasBooks, they may be prompted to say that the book is temporarily unavailable or that it ships in a certain amount of time (some say 3 to 5 weeks, for example).

One way to avoid this kind of lag is, first, to make sure that the book has reached its publication date. Next, it is important to keep AtlasBooks informed of any marketing or promotional material you will be doing that might cause a spike in demand. Ingram uses a formula to keep enough stock on hand to cover the demand for 8 weeks. If the book has been out for a while, and then you want to have a book signing, the book signing may deplete a good portion of the stock and then run the book into a situation where it is not available from Ingram. If the AtlasBooks staff knows about the signing ahead of time, we can request that Ingram have extra stock on hand to allow for the spike.

How does my title information get "out there"?
First, our team checks over the information submitted via the new title form to make sure that we have complete information. We also edit it to make it appropriate for the marketplace. Then we use a third-party ONIX provider to disseminate title information. ONIX is a feed picked up by wholesalers, retailers, libraries, online retailers, and other industry professionals. The ONIX provider takes the information we provide and sends it as each of their contacts prefers to receive it.

We also send direct feeds to Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and Barnes & Noble. Because these are our major trading partners, sending the title information directly to them speeds up the time it takes for title information to appear in their systems.

It usually takes 4 to 6 weeks for information to begin to appear with our trading partners once we submit it to them. This time can vary depending on the time of year (catalog deadline times are usually heavy) and the workload of the trading partner.

Because this process does take quite a bit of time, we want to stress again the importance of having your publication date 6 or more months later than when you submit title information. This allows time for all our trading partners to get complete information.

Please note that information does not always appear all at once. For example, ISBN, price, and page count might appear on Amazon a week before the description will show and a couple weeks before the image shows. This is normal.

How many stores will my book get into?
Your book will be presented to many accounts (see answer to “Who do you sell to?”). The number of stores your book gets into depends on many variables; the subject matter, the marketing you do, cover, price, page count, the economy, the buyer’s opinion of the product, the amount of shelf space available, and format will all affect the outcome. Our salespeople are experienced professionals and will do their best to get your title placed in as many stores as possible.

Why doesn't my cover image appear online?
Cover images are submitted to trading partners separately from other title information. For most online stores, the trading partner will first list the title information, and then connect the image to the information listing. So, oftentimes, book information will show before the cover image.

We submit cover images weekly when we get them, but then they are done in monthly batches. So if the information for a title is not set up with a trading partner when we first send out the cover image, the information may not "pick up" the image. However, we will submit the image once a month for 3 months to cover when this happens.

If it has been more than a month and your cover image still is not showing, please contact us so that we can research why the cover is not appearing. There may be a problem with the image file.

How long after set-up do I need to wait before scheduling signings/events/marketing?
The publisher should coordinate signings/events/marketing/etc. with their publication date in mind. We strongly suggest this approach to optimize sales, especially if the book has national appeal.

If your book has more regional appeal, you can get away without having the 6-month lead-time. However, you must remember that you may have missed the store’s "open-to-buy" window, and your chances for a sale can be lower.

Doing promotions too early will mean that stores will not have stock and may not be able to get stock. Promotions can begin a few weeks before publication date in order to gain momentum going into the release date. It is unprofessional to try to set up signings before the pub date, even if the book is completed and in stock.

How can I market my book?
Please see Marketing 101 for full details on how to best market your book.

How do I get more impact from the marketing I am doing?
You need to partner with us in order to maximize your marketing. It’s important that we know what you’re doing. By filling out the Marketing Update Form, we’re able to notify our independent sales representatives so they can focus on your marketing. We also are able to notify booksellers who may be impacted so their inventories can be adjusted. Make sure you fill out the information online as early as possible so the information has time to get through to all those who need to know. Don’t forget to send us your reviews as well. Our sales representatives can capitalize on good reviews.

I filled out your marketing update form. Why haven't my sales increased?
The most important thing about the marketing update form is that it include marketing for future events. If past events are listed, a distributor can do very little. We have to be proactive in getting stock to the right place in time to supply demand created by the signing/radio show/etc.

Our team uses upcoming information in several ways. We will check stock at the wholesaler warehouses that cover that area to see if there is enough stock to cover a spike in demand. If not, we will request an order from the wholesaler. We will also look to see if Amazon has stock.

Our marketing team will look at the marketing and see if it could be supplemented by any marketing projects with upcoming deadlines.

Also, publishers can submit reviews via the marketing update form. These are also sent to the representatives to use as a sales tool.

When will Amazon begin ordering?
Amazon will begin ordering your title 4 weeks before the release date.

How many reviews can I post on Amazon.com?
Amazon will accept a maximum of five editorial reviews on the product page.

Why are other people selling my book on Amazon?
The Advantage Membership Agreement does not create an exclusive relationship between the distributor and Amazon.com. Amazon reserves the right to purchase items from other sources, even if they are similar or identical to your titles. Other retailers and wholesalers list the inventory they have on hand, and Amazon may purchase from them.

In addition, Amazon.com may purchase items from outside of the Advantage Program. This may occur if, among other things, customer demand for a particular title exceeds the Advantage Program's capacity.

Amazon reserves the right to fulfill customer orders from inventory purchased outside of the program, whether from the publisher, the distributor, or from third parties.

Why can't I find my book by typing in the title or name on Amazon.com?
According to Amazon, when a general keyword search is performed, Amazon's search engine will search for those words in title listings, author listings, and subject headings. Then, the search engine posts titles in order based on availability and popularity.

Please note that since availability and popularity of titles on the site changes over time, so will the search results for a particular term. The title is searchable by the ISBN.

What are your shipping requirements?
We accept shipments from any carrier, but we don't accept collect shipments.

For large shipments on pallets, the pallets should be 40 x 48 x 48. Carton quantities for each title need to be the same. The cartons need to have labels on them in at least one place with ISBN, title, carton quantity, carton weight, and publisher name. Books and cartons need to come in good shape or they will be subject to reboxing charges.

Shipments can be sent to:
AtlasBooks
Attn. Ben Taylor
30 Amberwood Parkway
Ashland, OH 44805

When should I send stock to the BookMasters warehouse?
Your title should be in our warehouse 30 days before your release date. We need at least 2 weeks to ship to all the accounts.

How much stock should I send to the BookMasters warehouse?
It is up to you, the publisher, to monitor your inventory levels and keep minimum stock at all times. This can be done through your account management page. Also, with 6 months lead-time, you can look at pre-pub demand. You will need to cover these orders, as well as have enough to cover demand for the first couple of months, which will be crucial for the life of your book. You may also decide to store more stock, or even all of your stock. Storage charges do apply.

What is your barcode policy?
All products distributed by BookMasters must be labeled with a barcode that reflects the product’s 13-digit ISBN (books) or its SKU number (non-book item).

What do I do if books are received back damaged?
Damaged books are held for 1 month and at the end of the month are recycled.

What do I do with a purchase order sent directly to me?
Please fax the purchase order to the attention of your customer service representative or email the order directly to them. Mailing the order is not recommended due to the chance it could get lost. Purchase orders can be faxed to: 419-281-6883

What are order and returns fulfillment charges?
Fulfillment charges consist of the processing, picking and packaging of all orders and returns.

How do payments, returns, etc. work?
Payment is distributed to the publisher by the sixth day of the month following receipt of payment and after monthly fees are deducted. Monies from trade sales are normally received 90 to 120 days after invoicing. 70% of the sale amount is disbursed to the publisher the month payment is received and 30% is held for 270 days for return liability. Consumer sales are credited in full to the publisher’s account the month a sale occurs.

Who do I contact about printing?
Each distribution client is usually assigned an account manager. This would be the person who first set up your distribution agreement. Below is a list of all of our account managers. If you are unsure who your account manager is, please follow the Unassigned link and you will be led to our printing quote form. Fill this out and someone will respond to talk about your printing projects.

Who do I contact for questions about reports?
Your customer service representative will be able to help with questions about your reports.

What is the closing policy?
Upon written notice of termination, BookMasters will create a final quote that includes account balance and fees concerning disposition of remaining inventory. BookMasters will continue to accept returns for 9 months after termination notice for all AtlasBooks’ publishers.

What should the retail price of my book be?
The retail price of your book should be in line with consumer expectations. Though you have to be careful to cover your manufacturing costs and make a profit, if your price is too high, you won't make any money. You should research comparable titles to see how they are priced. A good way to do this is to determine where your book would be shelved in a bookstore. Then see what other books in that area are priced. These are the books that buyers determined were priced well enough to take up real estate space on their shelves.

Chains have less freedom over what they can stock due to corporate buying. However, every store is a little different, and it wouldn't hurt to ask. This must be done in a professional and courteous manner. If a bookstore declines, you should not push them.

Who can explain my invoices to me?
Each publisher is assigned a customer service representative once their account is active. This person will be able to explain your invoices. The customer service team is listed below, with emails to each customer service representative. If you have forgotten who your customer service representative is, or if you are unsure, please choose unsure, and someone will respond with information about your customer service representative.

Why do online stores list incorrect information about my book?
We submit title information to trading partners based on what the publisher submits on their new title form. It is vital that the publisher fills these out thoroughly and correctly. Also please note that the description and author bio go through professional editing from our marketing team. We will remove anything that is a turn-off to buyers (for example, "This is the best book ever" usually gets a no-buy).

If there is information that needs to be corrected, please contact your customer service representative so that we can begin to send out correction notices to our trading partners. If the publisher made the mistake on the new title form, a $65 charge may apply.

Please note that corrections can take up to 2 weeks to show on the online bookstores.

Are your standard shipping and handling rates to consumers negotiable?
Circumstantially, yes. However, posting S&H charges other than our standard will likely cause complications for consumers wishing to purchase more than one title.