Local Authors

Anderson’s Bookshop Indie Published program (ABIP)

Congratulations on the publication of your self-published or small press book!  We are proud of our history of supporting local authors in our area. Through our consignment program we are able to carry a wide variety of self-published and print on demand titles that we would not normally stock. If you are interested in having us carry your book, please review the following guidelines to help understand our process.

  • You must live within a 30-mile radius or about a 20-minute drive of one of our stores. We look first to see if you live near the store you are requesting consignment review in. We have two locations, and each store has someone in charge of reviewing submissions and maintaining the indie section of that community. We will carry your title in only one location. It has been our experience that only those authors who truly have a local connection do well.
  • If you are not familiar with any of our stores, then we strongly encourage you to visit a location near you to get a feel for the character and community we are in as well as the types of books we do and do not carry. 
  • This article (click here) has some great ideas and we highly recommend perusing it before you contact us.
  • We will not carry books published by Amazon or their subsidiaries, i.e. Createspace. There are many choices out there to help you publish your book. Consider Ingram Spark:  https://www.ingramspark.com/.  Please take that into consideration before you sign on with any publisher.
  • Author and title on the spine is preferred, especially since not all our indie published books get a chance to be face out on the shelves (if customers can only see a blank spine or a staple, it’s highly unlikely that anyone will find your book). 
  • It should be professionally bound, finished, edited and have an ISBN. Exceptions may be made, but remember that your book will be compared to all the other titles in our store.
  • Your book needs to be comparably priced to other titles of its size and genre.

 

If your book is available from a small publisher that we do not have an account with, we are still happy to review your book, but would need to bring the book in through Ingram's warehouses, or through our consignment program. There are a vast number of publishers and it’s just not possible to order directly from all of them. 

If your book meets these requirements, please follow these steps below to submit it to us for consideration:

  1. Fill out the form here.
  2. Drop off the completed form with a review copy of your book for us to see. Mailed or emailed forms will not be considered.
  3. If your title is accepted, the ABIP contact will reach out to you directly.

 

Please note that due to a high volume and limited shelf space, not all books will be chosen. Unfortunately we are not able to respond to every submission. Sometimes we simply don't have space on our shelves! If it has been a few weeks, you can check to see where we are on rotating books. We appreciate your understanding as we try to curate the best selection for our stores. If you would like to have your review copy returned to you,  get in touch with the contact at the appropriate store to make that happen. We are happy to return them, but do not do so unless requested.

If your book is accepted, we will ask you to sign a contract. There is a mandatory handling fee of $25 due at signing which includes placement in our special local indie published section and having your book added to our website. 

Terms

60% of the retail cost goes to the author and 40% to Anderson’s. All books must be returnable. We cannot order books from Ingram if they are not returnable or if they are on short discount to Anderson’s. So whether it’s Ingram or the author, the discount and returnable status are minimum requirements that must be met. If your book is with a small publisher, we will check what the availability first to see if it’s possible for us to carry it.

Books will be carried for a period of 60-90 days. After that time a decision will be made to continue to carry the title or we will to return it to make room for another author’s book. We refresh our title choices in the indie section every quarter, as possible. During the end of the year from September – December is the quarter we cannot guarantee that we will have the time to rotate books in and out. If you have a holiday title, please get a preview copy to us about 6 months before the holiday.

Authors can check the sales of their book by getting in touch with the proper contact person at each store on the phone or via e-mail. Payment happens quarterly unless a book is performing exceptionally well in sales and needs to be restocked, in which case authors will be contacted directly.

 

Tips for success if your book is chosen:

  • Encourage your friends, family and others to purchase your books at Anderson’s.
  • The link to your book on www.andersonsbookshop.com MUST be present on your website and any social media/online presence you have.
  • Contact your local media, send out press releases and use social media to get the word out.
  • Get involved with book clubs, libraries and any other organizations that would be a fit for your book.

 

ABIP contacts for each store:
Naperville
Kris kris.nugent@andersonsbookshop.com

Downers Grove
Charlie charlie@andersonsbookshop.com


 

*These email addresses are not necessarily checked every day, so please be patient if you have a question.


We look forward to working with you!
 


 

Local Author Showcase

 

Once a title has been approved by your local store for sale, we can discuss the possibility of an event. Requests must be made to the local Anderson’s Bookshop Indie Published contact.

Event guidelines:

  1. Book must be approved by the local ABIP contact
  2. Book must be approved by the Anderson’s event team
  3. Author should submit a marketing plan detailing the planned outreach for the event
  4. Submission must happen within 12 months of publication. (A launch event during pub month is the best option when possible, which would mean you’d need to contact us before the book comes out.)
  5. The link to your book on www.andersonsbookshop.com MUST be present on your website and any social media/online presence you have.
  6. We highly recommend that you attend one of our in-store events in order to better understand how they work.

 

If approved by the events team, you will be added to one of our monthly Local Author Showcases. These occur on the first Sunday of the month at 2:00 pm and include 1 – 5 authors each month. Please note that we do not offer this event in April, May, September, October, or November due to a busy events calendar. The December Showcase will only be offered to authors with holiday-themed books. Reservations to participate in these events will close on the 1st of the month prior. The fee for these events is $100 per author, due with your contract at the time of booking.

Once you have been confirmed as a part of a showcase, we will need your author photo, a short biography, an image of your book cover in jpeg format, and a brief description (3 sentences) of your book. Your information will be included on our website, on our in-store flyers, and our regular press releases.

It is up to you to spread the word to your family and friends! These events are free and open to the public, but we ask that customers purchase the book from us in order to join the signing line. It is IMMENSELY helpful if you ask your contacts to pre-order the book from us as soon as they know that they can attend. This helps all of us to better prepare for the event that day, including how many books to have on hand. If we have only pre-sold 5 copies and 50 additional people show up, we may run out!

The day of the event, please arrive at least 20 minutes before the start time. We will have a table and chairs set up for you and your guests. Depending on space availability, we may have room for you to bring a plate of treats or refreshments, but this must be verified with the Events team prior to the event. An Anderson’s staff member will introduce the event and then leave it in the hands of the participating authors. The author(s) should plan to speak for 20 – 30 minutes and answer questions for about 15 minutes. The book signing portion will begin after the Q&A.

The success of these events will depend on your communication and marketing to family, friends, and any special groups who may be interested in your work. It is in everyone’s interest to sell as many copies of your book as possible, so we look forward to working with you to make that happen!