Getting Rid of All Those Unsold Books by Linda Carlson
Returns, hurts, remainders, overstocks—they’re all books you can’t sell to your regular trading partners. But what you call them is not nearly as important as what you can do with them to cut your losses or earn a profit. When shrinkwrap has been removed, covers have been scratched slightly, or revised editions are now available, many publishers resell copies—either to the general public online, at special events, or to wholesalers as bargain books. Options in addition to reselling include donating the books, preferably in a way that allows you to take a tax deduction, and using them as samples and review copies. PMA members use each of these methods:
Selling online through used-book sites
Some publishers sign up as used-book vendors at Amazon.com, Abebooks, and similar sites. You can discount a book slightly from retail and still make more than you would by wholesaling it. (For information on Amazon.com’s Marketplace program, select “Help” on the home page and scroll down the menu on the left until you see “Selling at Amazon.” At Abebooks.com, select “Sell books.”) Steve Carlson at Vermont’s Upper Access, Gordon Inkeles at California’s Arcata Arts, and Lynn McGlothlin at Michigan’s North Country Publishing are among the PMA members who use Amazon’s Marketplace. Others, with more books to sell, have created storefronts at Amazon.com.
Selling online via your own Web site
Add a “Bargain Books” page for earlier editions or badly damaged books. Older titles that are available only as scuffs on your Web site may draw traffic to it, as Richard Godwin at CGP/Apogee Books in Wheaton, IL, points out.
Selling at book fairs, street fairs, and craft sales
Judy Geary at North Carolina’s High Country Publishers reports, “There’s frequently a reader in the bunch who is delighted to find a booth with discounted books. Authors can make a real killing providing ‘local color’ and signed copies, even if the books aren’t perfect.” One caveat from my experience: If you have only one title, it can be hard to sell enough copies to make a profit after paying fees and travel costs.
Selling at bargain-book expos
Many of the big names in book publishing take booths at BookExpo in the spring to promote new titles, and tables at CIROBE in the fall to dump the old ones. The tables don’t come cheap at the Chicago International Remainder and Overstock Book Exposition: this fall the regular rate for a six-foot table was $1,175. But if you have dozens of titles and thousands of copies of each to move, it may be the place to take samples, covers, and an inventory list.
Wholesaling inventory to bargain-book dealers
You may recoup only a fraction of your cost, but some dealers will pay the freight on their purchases. American Book Co., in Knoxville, TN, which expects to sell 40 million books this year, calls itself the world’s largest remainder dealer. This past summer it had 12,000 ISBNs in stock, representing 15 million units.
Using PMA’s online Remainders Expo
For $25 a quarter, a publisher can advertise a title on the PMA Web site (see www.pma-online.org/remaindr/remain.cfm).
Donating to prisons, literacy programs, or disaster-struck regions
As explained in “Announcing a New PMA Project” in this issue and at www.lifetimeliteracy.org, PMA’s new lifetime literacy program helps publishers make surplus books available to such good causes as prison libraries. Franci Prowse at California’s White Rose Millennium Press sends books to Texas prisons. “Books of any kind are treasured there by thousands of inmates,” she points out, “especially those who are Latino, uneducated, or semiliterate.” Jeffers at Raven Tree sends bilingual children’s picture books that don’t sell to her local Salvation Army. “They give the books to kids in their programs; sometimes that’s a child’s first book,” she reports. Many libraries devastated by Hurricane Katrina or other disasters continue to solicit books, often on their sites or through publishing and writing associations.
Linda Carlson, who writes regularly for the Independent from Seattle, is the author of 11 books, including Company Towns of the Pacific Northwest (University of Washington Press).
When it comes to managing unsold books, book publishers face unique challenges. However, there are several strategies that can be implemented to ensure that these books don't simply go to waste. From reselling them on online platforms to donating them to relevant causes, publishers have a multitude of options that can help minimize losses or even turn a profit. By exploring different avenues, publishers can efficiently manage their surplus inventory and contribute to the circulation of knowledge in a sustainable way.