The April 10 edition of Hot Sheet discussed small press distribution in detail in the context of the sudden closure of nonprofit book distributor SPD. With a complex topic like distribution, I was not surprised to receive responses from readers who work inside the industry, some of whom took issue with my portrayal of the business.
Jonathan M. Merkh, president and publisher of Forefront Books, took issue with how I framed the topic. He writes, “Your explanation of distribution describes only one part of distribution. The part that isn’t the biggest issue for small presses. There are two parts to distribution. (1) The sell-in portion (not covered by your explanation). Where a sales force … sells the books into retailers, putting books on shelves, like [what] Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, and St. Martin’s do. (2) The ‘commodity’ aspect of distribution that you’re referring to is the replenishment of stock to retailers, which is what Ingram and Baker & Taylor do. That is very much a commodity business. It is to help the retailers by going to one source to buy few books from multiple publishers. So instead of ordering two copies from Simon & Schuster, two copies from HarperCollins, two copies from Penguin Random House, they place one order with Ingram for six books from those three publishers, one invoice instead of three, one box instead of three, etc. It’s easy to be listed at Ingram. That isn’t the problem for small publishers. The challenge is getting in the door on the front end, which is what most small presses cannot get access to.” Later, in our email exchanges about the issue, Merkh added that whether the distributor sells in the book for launch is what he considers the differential among them.
It’s true I did not draw a hard dividing line between these types of distributors; I did point out some distributors offer sales and marketing services and others do not. Complicating matters: SPD didn’t really fit either model. It didn’t have sales reps, but it did help in various ways with marketing (exhibiting at conferences, helping with marketing to booksellers, publishing SPD bestseller lists, and other types of outreach). New distributor Asterism doesn’t fit existing models either—it doesn’t work with Ingram or do basic distribution in that sense, but it does help sell and market to independent bookstores.
Regardless: Small presses who used SPD typically cannot get accepted on their own into Ingram’s service landscape, even basic wholesaling, because of Ingram’s stringent requirements. So it can be a problem. The big exception is any press willing to sell and distribute primarily via print on demand, meaning those who use Ingram’s Lightning Source or IngramSpark. Most small, literary presses do not like print on demand, but that’s a separate conversation.
Brooke Warner of She Writes Press pushed back on the assertion that distributors are notorious for telling publishers to raise prices. She says, “In my experience it’s quite the opposite. Distributors are wanting to make sure trade titles are aligned with other trade titles, in many cases keeping books at a lower price point than need be. I’ve been advised by Publishers Group West (PGW) to lower my price points to align with competitive books. Pricing is based on comps, just like everything else in this industry. The only time a distributor has ever suggested we raise a price has been around ebooks, to get us out of the locked prison of Amazon’s price control monopoly that requires that any self-pub book must stay at $9.99 or lower. Distributors are trying to break publishers of that limited mindset, for which I am grateful, as a publisher who feels that Amazon’s pricing mandates are absolutely punitive.”
She continued, “Publishing has a pricing issue, but the pricing issue is driven by the competition. We have definitely had books that we wanted to price for instance at $16.95, but it’s a middle-grade title and so the reps are like, that’s not going to work. You need to price it at $12.95 or $13.95 or else the buyers won’t buy it. In my experience, anyway, it’s never that they encourage us to price upward on print, only to go lower, whereas on ebook pricing there’s been encouragement to lean into parity pricing. I’m sure you can cast this question to 50 different publishers and get 50 different answers.”
Warner also shared her perspective on distributors’ fees for maintaining older titles. “There’s zero cost to keeping a book in print other than warehousing inventory. PGW does not charge us to keep backlist titles in print, and Simon & Schuster [She Writes Press’s new distributor] will not. In our case, we will move our backlist titles to print-on-demand status, and then there’s no warehousing fees associated with those titles. You can keep them in print indefinitely at no cost to the publisher. I’m sure you could still be subject to returns processing fees, but it would be so minimal for these backlist titles that are selling something like one to 10 books a year.” For physical copies sitting in a warehouse and not moving, Warner says this would come up as being excess and billable for the publisher, but the charges are typically minimal. (Of course, as with everything, every distributor is different.)
In the last issue’s section on further reading, we included an incorrect link to Warner’s article that explains book distribution. Here is the correct link; I am very sorry for the error.
From David Wogahn at AuthorImprints: “To support my self-publishers that require a print run, I have an agreement in place with Pathway Book Service. To be clear, anyone can call them, and I’m not the only one with an umbrella agreement, but it’s really the best support I’ve found for self-publishers and micro presses (maybe larger?). Amazon has reopened Advantage, so that’s accessible. The really hard thing to do is getting a non-POD book into Ingram’s iPage and Baker & Taylor, and PBS offers that. We can even sell internationally for those that insist. They are not a traditional Distributor—big D, with sales people—but more like ‘distribution services.’ It’s the best solution I’ve found for my clients, and they are first class, honest people to boot.”
My immediate thought upon learning about PBS is whether small presses could set up an umbrella agreement with them—to perform whatever functions SPD once did.
From Mary Gannon, CLMP executive director: “I wanted to let you know that CLMP has been serving as a sort of information clearinghouse for presses and other literary stakeholders on this issue. Along with hosting the first emergency session after the news broke, we’ve hosted office hours as well as events with Itasca, IPG, and about our Capacity-Building Grant Program. We have a roundtable for presses planned, as well as a webinar with Kickstarter on fundraising efforts. We’re adding events on a weekly basis, and they all can be seen here. We also have an FAQ page that we’ve been updating as we gather information, which can be found here. Finally, we’ve been surveying presses about their potential losses so we can help find ways to support them.”
For more
- Crowdfunding campaigns for affected presses: Rose Metal Press and Black Lawrence Press are raising funds to replace sales not paid by SPD. Learn more.
- Small presses and the challenges they face: The role of distribution is discussed alongside explanations of why authors’ experiences with small presses vary so dramatically. Read Jeff Alessandrelli at Cleveland Review of Books.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
