You're Published! How Do You Get Your Book on the Shelf?

[Psikonetic]

So our book is on the way to our publishers, a great PoD company and I'll soon have fully printed copies ready to unleash on the world! But wait? How do I unleash it?
Obviously I'll advertise the heck outta it here, at WotC, and other RPG type places, we have an on-line book store set up and our publisher makes it an item you can purchase at Amazon.com and B&N.com. We'll be at conventions soon enough, with a small booth and books in hand ready to sell, but how do you hit the other markets?
I know places like Borders you have to buy shelf space, and for us, that's outta our league, but I waltz into a FLGS or a Comic Store and they have a ton of 3rd party stuff, how does a publisher get that to them? Most are independently run, so is there a list or something I need to be on? Or how to you get youself available at RPGShop.com and like?
I know publishers stop by now and again, so a little help wouldn't hurt. Trust us, we're way too small to create too much competition against you..... right now

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Welcome to the world of distributors! They ship out products to the stores for a small cut.

However, they will likely not touch your book if that is the only book you have. Believe me, I have nothing but empathy for you. I am in the exact same position. You do all that work, get your book out, and find that you essentially have to do it five more times before your book hits the stores. There are exceptions, but we're talking winning Orgins and multiple ENnie awards kind of exceptions.

I have not seen your product, but just as an aside: everyone I've talked to says to have nice cover art and nice interior art in your books before you show them to a potential distributor.

Good luck!

 

[Pramas]

You need to either find a fulfillment house or deal directly with distributors. The major American distributors are Alliance, ACD, Blackhawk, Centurion, Gameboard, and Gamus. There are many foreign distributors as well, but I'd start with these. You'll need to convince them your stuff is worth carrying if you want to get into retail stores around the country without selling direct. If you are selling a d20 product in the current environment, expect a cold reception. It is far past time that a new company with a d20 product can get into distribution easily. They will probably tell you to find a fulfillment house. These companies are essentially distributors for distributors, representing a bunch of client companies and handling their sales and shipping. We work with Osseum Entertainment, though I'm not sure if they are looking for new clients right now. Impressions is probably a better place to start. They rep Fiery Dragon and many other companies. If all that fails, I'd try hooking up with Key 20 Direct (http://www.key20direct.com). They sell small press stuff directly to retailers and were basically set up to help companies that aren't being served well by normal distribution channels.

 

[thalmin]

One of the fulfillment houses is probably your best bet. Don't get talked into signing an exclusive deal with any one distributor, unless you want your product to be unavailable to a substantial number of stores.

If you can swing it, try to make it to GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas. While it is short notice (March 14-17), GAMA runs seminars for publishers, plus you can meet most of the distributors, as well as a good number of the better game store owners. You don't need to have a booth there, though that does improve your exposure. Check out the GAMA website for more info.
NOTE: GAMA is a trade organization, and the Trade Show is not open to the gaming public.

Psikonetic, here is the web site for GAMA.

 

[DragonSword]

I don't know whether this will help, but a few RPG publishers have been advertising their new distribution idea bigtime. Indie Press Revolution is group of Indi RPG publishers who've got together to distribute their products together. Try out www.indiepressrevolution.com.

 

[Arnwyn]

I don't know whether this will help, but a few RPG publishers have been advertising their new distribution idea bigtime. Indie Press Revolution is group of Indi RPG publishers who've got together to distribute their products together. Try out www.indiepressrevolution.com.

Aren't they online-orders only, though? (This is my ignorance, talking, btw.)

 

[DragonSword]

Aren't they online-orders only, though? (This is my ignorance, talking, btw.)

Yep, I just looked in more detail and they are. I'm not a publisher, and have no experience in actually publishing products or distributing them. It was just something I'd heard about, so I offered it as a suggestion.

 

[HinterWelt]

Having a marketing plan helped us convince several consolidators to look us over. A full blown business plan also helped. In the arena of advertising you will have to do better than just online. Most consolidators and distributors will not be convinced with that effort. We go through Aldo at Impressions and are carried by around forty distributors. The hole for us is Gamus right now. We have to get to work on them. Also, don't underestimate the European market. It has done very well for us. We seem to be big in Spain, Italy and France and a lot of eastern block countries. These seems to be more with non-d20 but you never know.

Good luck,
Bill

 

[Ed Cha]

Aren't they online-orders only, though? (This is my ignorance, talking, btw.)

Indie Press Revolution is getting ready to go into retail stores now. We have received positive feedback about this.

Thank you, DragonSword, for the mention!

 

[Arnwyn]

And you'll get more positive feedback from me, too. I'm not interested in ordering things sight-unseen, but I'm very interested in seeing the World of Whitethorn stuff (and that detailed city product)...