CONSIGNMENT INFORMATION FOR SELF-PUBLISHED AUTHORS*

HideAway Books’ Consignment Policy

 Congratulations on your new book! HideAway Books supports our local authors and is happy to provide a retail outlet for books published through non-traditional publishing sources. When your book is self-published, published by a company that HideAway Books does not already do business with, or is available only on a non-returnable basis, we will work directly with you to sell your book on consignment.

 Our consignment program is an agreement between you, the author, and HideAway Books, to offer your book for sale in our store.  By leaving your books with us, you agree to abide by the guidelines below:

 When you leave your books on consignment with us, HideAway Books will:

• Place your book for sale (most likely on our Local Authors shelf, although copies may be placed in a related section as well) in our store.
• Track sales of your book using our computerized inventory system.
• Call you when we need more copies.
• Issue a check after we’ve sold 3 or more copies or at the end of the consignment period.
• Remove your books from sale after 6 months unless it is continuing to sell well and both you and HideAway Books agree to extend the consignment.

Note: We will contact you at the end of your 6 month consignment period, but it is your responsibility to pick up any unsold books at that time.  Any books left beyond the consignment period will be handled by HideAway Books (donated, or sold at a lower price). We will only pay you for books that are sold. Damaged or stolen items are your sole financial responsibility.  

 If you would like HideAway Books to carry your book on consignment, here’s what you must agree to do:

• Pay a $15, non-refundable consignment handling fee.
• Leave between 3 and 5 copies for sale at HideAway Books.
• Accept 70/30 consignment percentages.
• Offer your book at the same retail price through all outlets (including copies you might sell yourself).
• Include the fact that your book is available at HideAway Books in any and all of your marketing and advertising and add a link on your website, if you have one, to www.hideawayusedbooks.com. It is important for you, as the publisher, to remember that marketing is up to you.
• Pick up any unsold copies of your book at the end of the 6 month consignment, understanding that any books left past that time will become the property of the bookstore.

After your consignment term is over, if you wish to extend it for an additional six months there is another $15 fee.*

*Authors who have sold ten or more copies during the six month period will have the re-consignment fee waived.

 Download HideAway Books consignment form at the bottom of this page.

Note: HideAway Books reserves the right to refuse any book proffered for consignment deemed unsuitable for sale in the store.   

Tips for Marketing Your Book:  

First of all, congratulations! We know what an enormous amount of dedication writing a book can take. Whether your book winds up on the shelves of HideAway Books or not, please know that we appreciate the effort, care and creativity that has brought you this far. Now for the hard part - getting it sold:

 Here are just a few things to consider when thinking about marketing your book in our store - remember, we want all of your hard work to be rewarding, both for us and for you.

• Quality (and by this we don’t mean the fluency of your prose and the intelligence of your thinking).

Is your book as perfect as possible? Spelling, grammar and typesetting count. If you are self-published, the company that prints your book may offer proofreading, or even a fair amount of editing, for a fee. Professional authors with the resources of an entire publishing house behind them have whole teams of people who do this for them. And readers are picky. If you are expecting your readers to pay as much for your book as they would pay for a book from a major publishing house, they are expecting a work of equal quality. Assemble your own team to make your book the best it can be. If there are errors in your book, readers are less likely to finish your book, recommend it to others, or read successive books.

• Pricing

In order to sell, your book should be priced at or below the cost of other books of its size and sort. It’s easy to see how your book compares by browsing your local bookstore. When you negotiate for the production of your book, be sure to take that into account, as well as the fact that you will have to pay at least the industry standard discount to stores who stock your book, and substantial sums for marketing so that readers can know your book is available. Do your math ahead of time so that you aren’t disappointed later!

• Cover Art

Face it - people do judge books by their covers.

• Promotion
  • Create as professional an author bio and press release as you can to tell your story.
  • Contact local and regional media and use mailing lists, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. to let people know you’ve published a book and it’s available at HideAway Books.
  • Send out press releases, review copies and other promotional materials to local media and any other organizations with which you are affiliated.
  • Tell friends and family and send them to the store for copies - this generates the all-important buzz that generates more sales.
  • Branch out. How about high school and college alumni associations? Your writers group? Eagles or Rotary? Your church? Everyone you can send to the store for copies generates traffic and word-of-mouth for your book.
  • Consider a signing. Book signings are a great way to gather all of the folks you’ve been marketing to at one time - and crowds attract crowds. Bookstores are well connected to the readers in their communities and we would be happy to discuss a book signings for self-published authors whose books are being placed in our store.
  • Buy and read some of the following resource books   
    • The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published, by Arielle Eckstut & Henry David Sterry
    • Author 101: Bestselling Book Publicity, by Rick Frishman
    • The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron
    • On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King
    • A Novel in a Year: From First Page to Last in 52 Weeks, by Louise Doughty
    • Grammar Girl’s Quick & Dirty Tips for Better Writing, by Mignon Fogarty
    • This Year’s Writer’s Market: Where and How to Sell What You Write,  by Robert Lee Brewer

Thanks for your interest in HideAway Books!

Contact Heidi with any questions - 801-901-7320 or [email protected]

Download Our Consignment Form Below:

Files: 

Consignment Form

• Credit to Saturn Booksellers for their well thought out Consignment policy.