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PublishAmerica
responds to the following issues:
1 - All
publishers, including all the very large ones, use print on
demand technology to some degree, and it's use is increasing
all the time.
2 - PublishAmerica
does publicize and promote individual books in many different
ways, including sending free copies to reviewers, magazines,
newspapers, television, and radio programs. We also do direct
mail campaigns, make announcements to major national reviewers
and their organizations, attend trade shows, etc, and conduct
workshops and discussion groups at these events.
These
efforts have helped to generate hundreds and hundreds of feature
articles and/or reviews about our authors and their books,
some of which are posted on our web site.
3 - PublishAmerica
is not a "print on demand" company even though it
embraces the digital printing technology with gusto. PublishAmerica
is NOT in any way a POD, vanity press, or subsidy publisher,
and has nothing in common with them. PublishAmerica is a traditional,
royalty paying publisher. The term POD is losing meaning in
the industry as ALL publishers use digital (Print On Demand)
technology for printing, at least to some extent, and it is
gaining ground all the time. For more info, see http://www.publishamerica.com/benefits.htm
4 - No
publisher guarantees book sales to bookstores. Major chain
bookstores have no policy against stocking non-returnable
books. Actually, Barnes and Noble has quadrupled the number
of books they order from PublishAmerica during the past year,
as can be seen by all the stories and reports here on the
board from hundreds of authors whose books are stocked.
There
are two real reasons why bookstores may decide not to stock
your book:
A. Bookstores
are only physically able to stock a small percentage of the
total books that are published. To stock even one fourth of
all books published would mean bookstores adding one quarter
mile of shelf space EACH YEAR (we did the math). To stock
even half of all books published would soon result in a mountain
of books covering the entire store.
B. Due
to reason 1, bookstore managers must be selective, so they
decide based on what that they think will sell. If they do
think it will sell, they will stock it, and vice versa. So,
if your book is romance and the store's shelves are overflowing
with romance novels, the odds are they won't stock it. And,
if your book is a history of agriculture in Tupelo County,
Mississippi, the bookstore manager in Seattle may feel the
same way.
The evidence
for this is the fact that Barnes and Noble in particular has
been ordering from PublishAmerica frequently for years, purchasing
thousands of books. PublishAmerica books are stocked for sale
in hundreds of bookstores across North America (including
Canada), this also includes (but is not limited to) larger
chain retailers such as Borders, Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks,
Wal-Mart, etc...
It's best
not to judge a bookstore's corporate policy by what one local
manager tells you. Contrary stories abound on our board about,
for instance, two Borders locations in one town: one manager
insists that he cannot carry a book, the other orders 40 copies.
Every
bookstore will carry a book that they think will sell, regardless
of whether it is returnable or not, regardless of whether
it is printed on digital or offset presses.
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