Yes and no. Every book published by Stardom Books is entered in the publishing databases that bookstores and retailers in most countries order from, so any store can order and sell it. But no publisher places a book on a shelf; the store decides what it stocks, and it keeps that space for established names or, in some countries, for publishers who pay for it.
How the trade works
Online stores are the easy part. Amazon in every market, Barnes and Noble, Walmart, Waterstones, Booktopia, Kinokuniya, Flipkart, Google Books, Apple Books and Kobo carry every listed title from launch. Physical bookstores work differently. A store carries very few titles, and it orders from the distribution databases when a customer asks or when the store chooses to stock a book. Being in the database is what makes either possible.
What a store demands to stock a book
If a store agrees to hold copies, the trade sets the terms: a retailer margin of at least 55 percent, and returnable stock. The store pays four to six months later for what it has sold, returns the rest to be pulped, and the author is charged for the printing, packaging and handling of the returns. Because margins cannot differ between retailers, the 55 percent then applies to every online store as well, which cuts the royalty on every copy sold anywhere. For most leaders, the shelf is not worth what it costs.
The practical route
Approach a local bookstore yourself, offer the 55 percent margin and ten copies on sale-or-return, and let the store pay as it sells. Stardom Books has arrangements like this with a few stores and pursues them once a book is published. It is a modest channel, and an honest one.
Where a leader's book actually sells
Three places. Online, where a reader who has heard the author speak or read an article goes to look. In bulk, when a company, a client or an institution buys copies for its people, which is often the largest line in a leader's royalty statement. And by hand, at talks and meetings, where a signed copy does what a business card cannot.
What to ask any publisher
Ask whether the book will be in the trade databases from launch, orderable by bookstores and libraries in 100 or more countries, and printed on demand close to the reader. Ask what the retailer margin will be and whether stock is returnable. And ask them to say plainly that they do not place books on shelves. A publisher who will not say it is selling something they cannot deliver.
Founder, Chief Editor and Publisher of Stardom Books, and creator of The Authority Forum. He has directed 260+ leaders to become internationally published authors. About the house · raamanand.com