Dawn asked:
It’s only going to be a small store so I won’t need large quanatities of books.
Tags: Book Store, Find Books, Small Store
Ingram in Tennessee (they have regonal branch offices they will set you up with). They probably have a minimum initial order.
Books, DVDs, CDs, software
TWO INGRAM BLVD
BOX 7006
LA VERGNE, TN 37086-7006
They have a book division in Walnut Creek CA
Until you establish a credit rating you’ll probably be UPS COD CASH
Ingram also considers distributing self-published books ON CONSIGNMENT, provided you have a marketing plan to show them in a pitch session and an ISBN bar code on the book.
Do understand Borders, Barnes and Noble, Chain stores buy direct at the same price Ingram buys for, so they can beat the pants off you!
Ingram buys a book for $12, sells it to you for $19. Borders buys it at $12 and sells it for $21.95
For you to make $10 you have to sell full retail $29.95
You can buy direct if you buy ONE title by the pallet. That’s one gross per title, plus freight.
Besides Ingram, the other major book wholesaler that I am aware of is Baker & Taylor.
Between the two companies, I have read that they control around 50% of the US book wholesale market.
More information about services that B&T provides to retailers can be found here -
While those two wholesalers could definitely get you most of the materials for a general bookstore, if you are opening a specialty bookstore, then you might have to find an independent wholesaler / distributor who concentrates in that specialty area.
You can try to contact the wholesale departments of the major publishers. Random House, Harper Collins, and Mc Graw-Hill are a few of the major publishers. If you are looking for used books I do sourcing for those. Click on my name to send me an e-mail with your needs (subjects, target audience, etc.) and I’ll let you know what I can find.
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October 4th, 2009 at 12:18 am
Click on this site and click your state. Booksale Finder lists library sales, bookstore sales, publisher’s sales, etc. You can join their mailing list and they will inform you of upcoming sales.
Good luck – I love used book stores. The proprieters are usually so knowledgeable and helpful.