Guidelines for Authors
At BUK we get a lot of requests to stock books.
To help avoid confusion and so that everyone is aware of how the process works, we've put together this guide.
If you're thinking of asking us to stock your book, we ask that you read this guide first.
If you've written a book, the first thing to say is well done!
Writing a book is no easy task, as I'm sure you'll agree.
If you're now considering the option of getting your book stocked in an Independent Bookshop we highly recommend you read this guide from the Booksellers Association. We would go as far as saying it's required reading.
Whilst bearing in mind that all bookshops are of course different, here are a few things to think about.
Have you spent time in our bookshop? Do you know the type of books we stock? Do you think your book would fit?
It takes a long time for a bookshop to get the books it stocks just right. Doing so means we can recommend books with confidence. Do you think we could do this with your book?
Is your book self-published? How did you come to have copies of your book ready to distribute?
If your book is published or printed via any company linked to Amazon, then unfortunately we are afraid we will not be stocking your book.
Does your book look good? Could it happily stand shoulder to shoulder with the other books in our store? What about the paper quality? Has your book been professionally edited?
We have to be sure we're selling good quality books that fit within our customers expectations.
How can we order your book?
If it is available through Gardners or another wholesaler then it makes it much easier to order copies as well as register through our till system.
If you've read through all of the above and you think that your book fits in our shop, then great!
Please feel free to email us with details about your book and why you think it would do well at BUK based on your knowledge of our current stock and the type of customers we attract.
After receiving your email, we'll do our very best to get back to you. Just remember we're a very small team who receive a lot of requests from authors!
Terms (or, How it Works).
Our terms are 40% discount (meaning we keep 40% of the sale) and we take books for three months.
If your book sells within that time, brilliant, we will contact you to request an invoice.
Please note that no payment will be made before the book is sold.
Our initial order will be for a single copy of the book. We simply don't have the space for multiple copies.
However, if it sells quickly, we may request multiple copies when reordering.
If your book does not sell within three months, we'll get in touch to arrange collection of the book.
Please don’t drop books in to us unless we have asked you to.
And please remember, if we don’t decide to stock your book please do not think this is a personal reflection on you or your work, we are a small shop and we can only hold so much.
