Consignment Books

Book Consignment Information
 
Thank you for your interest in placing your book at Waucoma Bookstore.  If your book has been published by an established publisher that we order from on a regular basis, and we decide to carry it, we will purchase it directly from that publisher. If that is the case, you are welcome to send us notification of your book's publication to books@waucomabookstore.com
 
If your book is self-published or not readily available through our normal wholesalers or is only available on a non-returnable basis, we offer you the opportunity for us to sell it on a consignment basis. On consignment, the book remains the property of the consignor until sold. Waucoma Bookstore is not responsible for lost, stolen, or damaged merchandise. If you would like your book considered for stock, please follow our consignment guidelines:
 
  •  For books that are accepted on consignment, a $10 non-refundable fee (cash or check only)  is required for each submission. This fee helps pay for the extra labor involved in tracking inventory and payments for each title.  For an extra $15, we will put your book on our website.  We require a signed Consignment Agreement form.  
  • We prefer that consignment requests be made in writing, via email. We are unable to accommodate walk-in visits or telephone inquiries prior to acceptance.   
  • Our standard consignment terms are: We take a minimum 40% discount (i.e., 60% of sales go to the author/consignor) and we keep consigned books in stock for a minimum of 180 days (depending on sales).  Payment is made twice a year in June and at the end of December.  It is the author’s responsibility to delivery new inventory and pick up unsold inventory.  Please review our consignment form for our specific consignment terms.
  • To submit a book for consideration, please  fill out our consignment sales agreement and also email a one-paragraph letter including your contact information, book title, ISBN, and price information, along with promotional materials, publicity plans, target audience, and any connections to Waucoma Bookstore and / or the Columbia River Gorge area. Theses materials should be sent to books@wauomabookstore.com If we feel your book may have a market with our customers, we may request a review copy. Please do not drop off or mail review copies at the bookstore without our permission.  Any review copies submitted to us becomes property of Waucoma Bookstore.  Due to the large number of consignment submissions, we are unable to mail review copies back to authors.
  • Due to the heavy volume of submissions, the consignment review process can take several weeks. We will notify you by email of our decision. 
  • The decision made by our buyers is final.  As with all inventory we carry in the store, we retain the right for any final decision not to carry a book if we believe it doesn’t fit the store philosophy or our market.
 
Events 
We usually have 1-2 yearly local author events. We have found that there is more attendance at multi-author events than an event for an individual author. On the rare occasion, we will consider doing a book signing for authors whose book is selling well at our bookstore. For more information and to apply for a local author event, please email events@waucomabookstore.com
 
We are proud to support local authors through our consignment program. We do our best to provide shelf space for consignment books, while still keeping in mind our inventory needs and the interests of our customers. We look forward to reviewing your work and thank you for your interest in Waucoma Bookstore.
 
Questions?  Email books@waucomabookstore.com  We do not accept phone calls for consignment questions.  Please make sure you have reviewed our consignment form before sending us questions.
 
 
Tips for Marketing Your Book
 
First of all, congratulations! We know what an enormous amount of dedication writing a book can take! Whether your book winds up on the shelves of Saturn or not, please know that we appreciate the effort, care and creativity that has brought you this far. Now for the hard part - getting it sold:
 
Here are just a few things to consider when thinking about marketing your book in our store - remember, we want all of your hard work to be rewarding, both for us and for you.
 
Quality (and by this we don’t mean the fluency of your prose and the intelligence of your thinking). Is your book as perfect as possible? Spelling, grammar and typesetting count. If you are self-published, the company that prints your book may offer proofreading, or even a fair amount of editing, for a fee. Professional authors with the resources of an entire publishing house behind them have whole teams of people who do this for them. And readers are picky. If you are expecting your readers to pay as much for your book as they would pay for a book from a major publishing house, they are expecting a work of equal quality. Assemble your own team to make your book the best it can be.
 
Pricing
In order to sell, your book should be priced at or below the cost of other books of its size and sort. It’s easy to see how your book compares by browsing your local bookstore. When you negotiate for the production of your book, be sure to take that into account, as well as the fact that you will have to pay at least the industry standard discount to stores who stock your book, and substantial sums for marketing so that readers can know your book is available. Do your math ahead of time so that you aren’t disappointed later!
 
Cover Art
Face it - people do judge books by their covers.
 
Promotion
  • Create as professional an author bio and press release as you can to tell your story.
  • Contact local and regional media and use mailing lists, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. to let people know you’ve published a book and that it is available at Waucoma Bookstore..
  • Send out press releases, review copies and other promotional materials to local media and any other organizations with which you are affiliated.
  • Tell friends and family and send them to the store for copies - this generates the all-important buzz that generates more sales.
  • Branch out. How about high school and college alumni associations? Your writers group? Eagles or Rotary? Your church? Everyone you can send to the store for copies generates traffic and word-of-mouth for your book.
  • Consider a signing. Book signings are a great way to gather all of the folks you’ve been marketing to at one time - and crowds attract crowds. Bookstores are well connected to the readers in their communities and we occasionally arrange book signings for self-published authors whose books are selling well in our store.
  • Buy and read some of the following resource books (available here at Waucoma Bookstore or on www.waucomabookstore.com)  
    • This Year’s Writer’s Market: Where and How to Sell What You Write, Ed. by Robert Lee Brewer
    • Grammar Girl’s Quick & Dirty Tips for Better Writing, by Mignon Fogarty
    • A Novel in a Year: From First Page to Last in 52 Weeks, by Louise Doughty
    • On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King
    • The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron
    • Author 101: Bestselling Book Publicity, by Rick Frishman
    • The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published, by Arielle Eckstut & Henry David Sterry