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Getting Your Books Into Bookstores
Here are 6 Steps to Getting Your Published Book in Front of the Public via Brick and Mortar and Online Bookstores.
1. Research the Market for Your Book's category, topic, genre, etc.
2. Submit Your Book to Wholesalers. Traditionally, bookstores and libraries order books by searching their favorite wholesaler’s database.
2. Develop a Media and Marketing Plan for Distributing your Book.
The KEY to getting into stores and onto library shelves is to create and maintain a plan that highlights the overall goal of your book, and the roadmap you have in place to get you there.
3. Contact Your Local Bookstores and Libraries.
Take advantage of the Mom & Pop Bookstores in your area if there are any left. Many closed their doors in 2009 and either went out of business, or moved their business to "online only".
4. Distribute Your Book Online Via Distribution Channels.
Because many Bookstores have transitioned from Brick and Mortar to Online, it is highly recommended that you set yourself up with Distribution Channel services. These services will distribute your book over several Online Bookstores at once. Traditionally, legit Distribution Channels are connected or partnered with some of these channels, making it easier to receive Book Titles submitted for distribution by the Publisher or Author.
5. Sell Your Book Via Your Own BookSite.
This step is very important, because you should ALWAYS have an online home for your material, content, and product. Even if all distrusting platforms fail, you should have your own website to keep your Book's presence alive in the search engines for potential readers to locate.
6. Sell Your Book the Old Fashion Way.
Before online was a thing, books were being sold at conventions, meetings, church gatherings, to family members and friends. This is still a sure-fire way of getting your book distributed. Although this process is much slower, you never know who will pass your book on to someone who causes it go viral.
SOME GUIDELINES FOR SUBMITTING TO GPH BOOKSTORE
We automatically carry any titles published by Griot Publishing House if they meet the following criteria:
- Books published using our premium services qualify for Bookstore entry.
- Books published by Griot Publishing House must contain an ISBN in order to qualify for Bookstore entry.
- Books that are self-published using Griot Publishing House services must be submitted for approval before displaying the published book on our online BookSites.
Areas that will be looked at for Bookstore entry:
- Cover Presence. Attractive and compelling cover image
- Book Identifier-ready.
- Acceptable price point. Competitive retail price with similar titles and a discount that matches or exceeds industry standards.
Attention: Book Submissions Replies will come from books@griotpublishinghouse.com.
We WILL NOT carry any Book Titles published by Griot Publishing House if they do not meet the following criteria:
- We will not consider published books with extensive or noticeable typographical or grammatical errors.
- We will not consider published work that is stapled together or photocopied.
- We do not carry Book Titles published outside of Griot Publishing House.
- Marketing and publicity plans must be submitted before Bookstore submission requests are considered.
- We will not consider carrying Book Titles published by Griot Publishing House, but are under an "exclusive rights agreement" elsewhere which grants the exclusive rights to distribute, and sell the published book.
- Please note that we not only rely upon GPH to display the Author's published Book cover, but we also rely on the Authors to bring attention to their title(s) located in our Bookstore by:
- Inorganically collecting reviews and ratings, and finding ways to gain review attention.
- Refusing or failing to set up and run marketing campaign to publicly invite potential readers to the GPH Bookstore.
Your book cover is placed in our online Bookstore for 3 reasons:
- To get your book in front of thousands of potential readers. This is just one of many ways to distribute your published book online.
- To link your book cover to your BookSite for more book and author details. This will not only help push your book through the search engines, this will also get traffic to your own BookSite.
- To help strengthen your online presence in major search engines. Our Web Property located at www.griotpublishinghouse.com was established 9 years ago. Domain age is important for a couple of reasons, but the main reason is that a domain that has existed for several years may be more valuable compared to the newer ones.
Older domains rank better than new ones:
- Due to its older and established backlinks.
- Due to the Website structure. The actual display of the updated or modern navigation plan on your BookSite.
- Due to relevant interlinking. This is the process where the older Web Property has links to other external websites or internal links to pages within the Web Property which is related the linked word, title, or phrase.
Attention: Book Submissions Replies will come from info@griotpublishinghouse.com.
Please note that we not only rely upon GPH to display the Author's published Book Cover, but we also rely on the Authors to bring attention to their title(s) located in our Online Bookstore by:
- Collecting reviews and ratings, and finding ways to gain review attention.
- Setting up and running a marketing campaign to publicly invite potential readers to the Bookstore.
News Clipping: AZ Central Newspaper · Christian bookstore opens in Buckeye - August 5th, 2009. Pictured is Owner and Founder T'Malkia Zuri.
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