| WWW normally
stands for the World Wide Web, but we'd like to suggest
the following alternative with regard to you, our publishers…World
Wide Wholesale! Never before have the opportunities
to open up wholesale accounts on the internet been more
exciting and prolific! The Internet is a great avenue
for title exposure. With the growth of such websites
like eBay, a lot of the fear behind buying and selling
on the Internet has been removed. People are more comfortable
conducting online purchases. Look at your marketing
plan and be sure to include this resource for wholesale
accounts. See how many WWW accounts you are currently
servicing. If you aren't building web-based accounts
yet, here are a few basic steps to get started.
Search Engines
Search Engines are your best friend on the Internet.
Some suggested engines you might want to try: Google.com;
Yahoo.com; Ask.com; or go to any of
these locations and enter the words "search engine"
and you'll find even more!
Using a search engine with specific words like "gourmet
food," "gift stores," or "cookbook
stores" will give you pages and pages of potential
new wholesale accounts. The more precise your word
search is, the more defined results you'll receive.
Granted, you're not selling in your own backyard anymore,
so there will be quite a few listings to work through
to determine which website you want to approach about
carrying your title.
Website Accounts
The larger book websites, such as amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com,
typically purchase books through companies such as
Ingram or Baker & Taylor. To see if your book
is already available on these websites, do a quick
search.
If your book is available on the website, look into
"affiliate" or "associate" programs.
This is where you set up a link to another retailer's
website from your website. When a customer purchases
a book through that link, you receive a commission.
(This is a good option if your website does not have
a "store" of its own.) Typically, online
stores pay you a commission on sales generated by
a link from your site to theirs. The commission can
be anywhere from 5% to 15% (basically a referral fee).
Here is some general information about several Internet
sites:
www.amazon.com
(includes Borders)
Amazon.com has by far the highest conversion rates
(a measurement of how many people visit the site who
actually purchase from the site) for online book sales.
There are a few avenues you can take when it comes
to amazon.com:
1. List your book with a distributor that services
Ingram. Ingram is the main supplier for Amazon.com.
Twice a month, Ingram uploads to Amazon.com any new
titles that they have picked up since their last transmission.
Visit Ingram's website (www.ingrambook.com/new/publishers.asp)
to see their information and a listing of over 30
distributors that are available to work through.
2. Supply your title directly to Amazon.com. Go to
the home page and click on "Sell Items"
at the bottom of the home page. There are two ways
to sell: Marketplace and Advantage. Review the options
and choose the program that suits you best.
3. The Associates program is where you drive people
to the Amazon website from your site.
www.barnesandnoble.com
Two options exist with Barnes & Noble.
1. Visit the website and choose the "Help"
icon. Click on "Become a Vendor of Record."
You must complete and submit a Publisher Information
Form: How to Sell Us Your Book.
2. Visit the website and click on "Affiliate
Network" at the bottom of the home page.
www.books-for-cooks.com
- a website for cookbooks only.
1. Send review copy to: Books For Cooks; 5087 Columbia
Road; Columbia, MD 21044; Attention: Perry, or contact
them at 888-247-3779 or
info@books-for-cooks.com.
2. An affiliate program is also available. Choose
"Affiliates" at the top of the home page
for more information.
www.booksamillion.com
- choose "Join Our Affiliate Program."
Other sites of interest include:
www.gourmetfoodmall.com
- choose "Merchant Services" and request
more information.
www.powell.com
- a bookstore chain in Oregon (choose "Partnership
Program/Basic Information" at the bottom of the
home page.)
www.ecookbooks.com
(Jessica's Biscuit) - check out the affiliate
program.
.
Ready…Set…GO!
Great - you've got your first website account set-up
and they'll need two things from you for sure: your
fact sheet (listing all your book details) and the
book cover graphic. Both will need to be in an electronic
format, which you can quickly e-mail. You can easily
pull down your graphics from the Cookbook Marketplace
website, where we have the two standard formats most
used on the Internet, which are a thumb-nail version
and a full version. Or, feel free to simply direct
your web wholesale account to our website and they
can pull down the format they need directly from our
site. The address to which to refer them is: www.frpbooks.com
in the "store" area.
Again, think of the Internet as a collection of "World
Wide Wholesale" accounts. Be sure to include
these types of accounts in your marketing plan, and,
as always, the exposure you gain from being available
through as many resources as possible is THE name
of the game!
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