I have been reading through the self publishing article here. I have done quite a bit of work on this topic and am trying to tie loose ends together, I wondered if you might be able to help me?

In the example of a book being produced to a decent quality, an ISBN can be attached to the book. Between pro-actively marketing a book yourself, what relationship is there, if any between a UK ISBN and an international one?

I understand the ISBN is a unique identifier, listed in all book cataloguing systems. Ultimately, I'm presuming (only) that some part of the registration for an ISBN is connected to a source address so people can order it and find it listed on sites like Barnes & Noble, Waterstones and Amazon? Having a pallet of books is one thing, getting them connected to a supply line is something I don’t quite understand.

I was also conscious of a UK ISBN potentially limiting my market scope to only the British Isles. Please correct me where I'm wrong.

You're right that the ISBN number is a unique identifier, it basically tells any retailer who publishes the book so they know where to order it from. So if it's being ordered from America then they know to contact a wholesaler in the UK. If you've set up yourself as th publisher and self-published a limited imprint then you will need to contact one of the UK wholesalers and negotiate a discount so they will agree to distribute your book to retailers such as Amazon and Waterstones if a reader puts in an order through them. There were 2 main ones in the UK: Bertrams, who operate out of Norwich, and another one - Gardners? One of them was owned by the same group that owned Woolworths and trading was suspended when it went out of business, locking supplies in their warehouses. I can't remember which one off hand. I deal with Bertrams and negotiated a 35% discount with them (but I pay postage costs).
Amazon usualy stock 2 copies of all books with an ISBN number when they are first released, unless it is a POD published book in which case you will be relying on the POD publisher's website for sales.
Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, etc, won't give it shelf-space, but if it is a limited imprint people should be able to order it through them, probably with a mark-up on RRP to cover their costs. (Amazon also does this, calling it a 'Finders Fee'.
Not sure if that answers your question about intenational sales, but all the best with your venture.


- NaomiM





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oops, rogue winkie.

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...So if it's being ordered by someone in America...

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Ah, just googled it and it was Bertrams who were owned by Woolworths, which probably explains why people are no-longer able to buy mine via Amazon.

Swift and concise - thank you for your reply.

I blindly presumed it would be something like that. The order-source address I imagine is linked to the purchase of the block of 10 ISBN numbers when they are registered.

May I ask you about the benefits of using a wholesaler like Gardners or Bertrams? If key stores won't stock due to the importance of shelf space, and the ISBN is searchable, I can only imagine it will appear in all online searches including Waterstones and Barnes & Noble.

So if sourced to you, the ISBN registrar, how do you benefit from using a wholesaler?

Many thanks.

Well, as I added to the end of my last post, retailers order from wholesalers who order from the publisher. If you don't have a deal with a wholesaler then the retailer is not going to go direct to the publisher for the book, and because I wass with Bertrams which is now in the hands of the recievers, I can no longer generate sales from retailers such as Amazon, so it's pretty much essential to have a deal with wholesaler for the distribution. Most will expect a discount on your RRP of around 40% before they'll agree to distribute it.

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But, yes, you're right that ISBNs are searchable - I still have a page on Amazon - but the last person who tried to buy through them was told the book was not available.

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I am still getting a trickle of sales through Coutts Information Services Ltd, but, tbh, I don't know who they are.

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Oh, just googled it and Coutts supply the libraries. well that's nice to know.

That's interesting, thanks. I can't imagine why they won't go to a publisher direct. There seems to be a glitch in the matrix, or an abusive monopoly going on..

I can't imagine why they won't go to a publisher direct.

All retailers go through wholesalers - it's like selling milk. Tesco can't go to each farmer and order X-number of litres of milk for it's supermarkets, same with the publishing industry. There are far too many publishers around for bookshops to go chasing them up individually for copies.

There aren't, in a sense, UK-specific ISBNs. For example, the new 13-digit ISBN breaks down thus. Take 978-0-7553-3067-6

978 - the new bit, to do with needing more numbers

0 - language group. English language books, wherever published, are 0 or 1, so there's nothing inherent in the number to tell you where it's published.

7553 - the publisher. (In this case, Headline, but it could be you). This, if anything, tells you where the publisher actually is, but it doesn't make any difference: it's where the physical book is distributed from and where it can get to which makes the difference.

3067 - the actual edition of a particular book (this is the UK mass-market paperback of my novel A Secret Alchemy. The hb was 3065)

6 - this is a check digit, reached by a complicated algorithm which only works if you've inputted all the other numbers right, otherwise the computer tells you you've got it wrong. (so the 3065 hb has a check digit of 2)

As far as supply-chain goes, it can be very difficult to persuade Amazon to take on self-published books, but at least one of Bertrams and Gardners do - sorry, can't remember which, and if Amazon won't stock your book, at least in theory they can still get them through the wholesalers - not quite sure how that works. I think Bertrams are okay, BTW Naomi - they nearly were dragged under by their parent company Woolies/EUK, but had a management buyout and are now fine.

I can't imagine why they won't go to a publisher direct.

Single copy orders direct to a publisher lose a bookshop money as well as being a hassle, and lose money again when they return it, because the discount isn't big enough to absorb the costs: it's only the economies of scale in dealing with a wholesaler which make it work at all. There are some bookshops who simply refuse to do single copy orders if it's not a book which is stocked by their wholesalers, for this reason, and others who grit their teeth and do it as a service to customers.

Don't forget, too, that the whole trade operates on sale or return, so they won't buy books from you unless they have faith that they can return them all when they don't sell, and get their money back, which is another reason they're chary of dealing with self-publishers.

The Society of Authors has a booklet on self-publishing, which should be good.

http://www.societyofauthors.org/guides-and-articles/

Plus Alison Baverstock's Marketing Your Book is very good on that end of things, and much of it applies equally to self-publishers.

Emma

I think Bertrams are okay, BTW Naomi - they nearly were dragged under by their parent company Woolies/EUK, but had a management buyout and are now fine.

That's nice to know - although I'm not sure why Amazon now say they can't get supplies. Maybe they switched wholesalers after all that kerfuffle over woolies.

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Even if the book is on large retailers like Amazon, though, there is still the perennial problem of alerting potential readers to that fact. Amazon has so many millions of books, they are not going to find it by simply browsing.

Amazon has so many millions of books, they are not going to find it by simply browsing.

Yes. It seems to me that you have to regard Amazon as being a nice straightforward way, that everyone understands, of supplying readers who've found you by other means, not as a way of finding readers in the first place. And of course you should be selling direct from your website as well - shopping cart programmes and PayPal makes it easy.

One idea is to group together. The Bookarrazi site has a 'bookshop' which is actually based on Amazon, but has a skin, if you like, which makes it look like ours:

http://www.bookarazzi.com/bkz/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=74

Emma

And it's worth bearing inmind that if you are selling coppies direct ot the reader via face-to-face sales or off your website, you don't need an ISNB number.

Also, bear in mind that if you do have an ISBN number the British Library will ask you for up to 6 free copies for their book depositories around the country.

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And there's no VAT on printing charges or book sales.

Hi guys - just to elaborate on something Naomi pointed out: not having an ISBN doesn't necessarily mean the BL and other Copyright Libraries won't request your book. Technically publishers of any book distributed in the UK are legally required to submit 1 copy to the BL and 5 to the Agency for Legal Deposit Libraries. It's best to factor in the cost of this to your figures in case they do chase you up.
Cheers
C

Thanks catcrag. Last I heard they were not requesting copies of POD published books because there's still a question over whether or not to store them in electronic format.