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I’ve been wanting to follow up on the poor relationship that POD authors seem to have with Barnes and Noble. So now that I’ve just finished working my way through the first three pages of results from Google for “Barnes and Noble”, POD, author,” I think I’m ready to share with you.

First, I recommend reading what Dianne Anderson had to say in her Guest Post about Murder in the Grove’s association with B&N. Next, I suggest you read “Book Signing Experiences of an Unknown Author” by Dennis Griffin.

He wrote:

“When I had difficulty getting the Community Relations Manager (CRM) at my local Barnes & Noble to return my calls, it should have been apparent that she didn’t consider the presence of my book or me to be critical to the success of her store.”

“When I did finally get a meeting with her, she was pleasant enough, but rather negative. First there was the issue of my book being print on demand (POD). She said POD books were not returnable and the store was not allowed to purchase them. If I wanted to do a signing, I’d have to provide the books and there would be a consignment arrangement with a 70/30 split of the sale price. And my share would be sent from corporate headquarters in six weeks or so.”

In her article, “The Keys to a Barnes & Noble Book Signing,” Sallie Goetsch writes, “The authors who run into real trouble in the distribution department are those with POD books.” Jim Kohl puts it more strongly in his Ripping the Guts out of Print-On-Demand Publishing“:

How about bookstores? Borders will not carr POD titles period. Their distribution woman said, “We have to make a rule because there are so many POD titles, and so the rule is we don’t carry them.” I ran into a similar response from Barnes and Noble, but they referred me to their corporate office, which wants you to send the book and any press it might have gotten, including professional reviews.

In 2003 iUniverse Press issued the following release:
iUniverse Star Titles Now Available in Barnes & Noble Stores
Publisher’s Star Program Delivers Results for Quality Books, Authors

Lincoln, Neb. - Aug. 19, 2003 - Publisher iUniverse today announced that several of the books in its innovative “Star Program” have been selected by Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the nation’s largest bookseller, for retail sale in Barnes & Nobles stores. The titles are now available in Barnes & Noble outlets nationwide.

iUniverse developed the Star Program to invest in and promote books published by iUniverse that demonstrate strong initial sales. In April 2003, Barnes & Nobles endorsed the Star Program as a means for discovering - and bringing to market - promising authors. Barnes & Noble now reviews books that have achieved success within the Star Program for placement on Barnes & Noble shelves.

In “Print-on-Demand, One Year Later” by Adam Barr, author of Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters, he responds:

“The Seattle Times article mentioned that Barnes & Noble owned 49 percent of iUniverse, “opening a huge brick-and-mortar outlet for iUniverse.” The implication was that Barnes & Noble was eager to stock the books.

“The reality is a bit different. Barnes & Noble may at one time have stocked a few iUniverse books, and may even do so now. But in general, it doesn’t, for the same reasons most bookstores won’t.”

In WBJB’s “Truth Behind POD Publishing” Series, if you check under the Highlights of Chapter 4, one of the subtopics is “Publishing with IUniverse vs. Other POD Publishers” by Susan Driscoll, she says:

“Only 14 titles made it into national distribution at Barnes & Noble. … If you want to be in Barnes & Noble at a national level, you have to be traditionally published.”

If you want to know more about how B&N works, catch Tee Morris’s Show #021 - Inside Barnes & Noble (Running Time - 49:57). At 6:45 there’s an interview with Community Relations Manager Annie Hololob. The topics she covers are:

• What exactly is a Community Relations Manager and why are they important to authors?
• Looking into the Barnes & Noble CRM Network
• What CRM’s consider “good signings”
• Bringing something unique to a retailer (i.e. Barnes & Noble)
• Stimulating sales throughout the store
• The importance of doing your own footwork as an author
• Outstanding book signings (and shameless self-plugging…)
• Setting up guidelines for out-of-the-ordinary book signings
• What a CRM looks for from new authors interested in scheduling book signings

A few final thoughts

For those of you who just have to have the satisfaction of seeing your book on the shelves of B&N, consider the following: Morris Rosenthal writes in “Barnes & Noble Had My POD Book On The Shelf!”:

“The title of this post is self explanatory. I stopped in my local Barnes & Noble yesterday to check the stocking of some big trade titles, and was shocked to see my POD printed book of diagnostic flowcharts on the shelf! My guess is that somebody must have special ordered it and then never returned to pick it up… .”

Joel Eisenberg shares his secrets in “How to Get Your Self-Published Print-on-Demand Book into Barnes & Noble.”