Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. Many publishers optimistically overestimate the demand for their books, which results in excess inventory. As I’ve written before, dealing with inventory is one reason Print on Demand printing can make a lot of sense for publishers who are getting started. Everyone from big publishers to tiny self-publishers struggle to figure out how many people will buy their books.
To clear out their warehouses, most large publishers “remainder” (i.e. sell the books at a huge loss to companies that specialize in remainders) or “pulp” (grind up) unsold books. As a small publisher, you may not want to go to these extremes.
For example, suppose you have a garage full of cookbooks that were written by the local newspaper food columnist. What do you do if you ordered too many books and now have bunch of books to unload? Here are a few ideas for getting them out of your garage and turning them into money in the bank.
1. Go back and work the niche again. Many cookbooks focus on a narrow topic. For example, our cookbook Vegan Success: Healthy, Scrumptious Vegan Recipes for Busy People caters to a pretty small group: vegans. Think about where your market congregates. The obvious place to sell vegetarian or vegan books is health food stores. Many marketing plans look beyond the obvious. You need to expand your thinking. Vegans often are animal lovers, so buyers may be at animal-related stores, events and conferences. Many Seventh Day Adventists are vegan or vegetarian. Also investigate non-profits in the niche to see if they might distribute the book. (You may be able to craft a deal with tax advantages too.)
2. Tie in with the title or author of the book. If you don’t have a niche you can target, look to the book title and author for ideas. For example, suppose that local food columnist wrote a cookbook titled Old Home Recipes. Brainstorm a few businesses that relate to the word “house” or “home.” The word “house” conjures up ideas like “Welcome Wagon” groups. Maybe the local welcome group could include the book in their gift basket for new homeowners. A local furniture store in our town uses the tagline, “we make your house a home.” Maybe they could offer a cookbook as an incentive to people purchasing a new stove. The author also could take advantage of her local celebrity columnist status and ask the newspaper if they want to use the book as a premium to give people when they subscribe.
3. Get an Advantage Account. Many self-published authors only sell through craft fairs or local shops, particularly if they are a “local celebrity” of some sort. If you aren’t already selling on Amazon.com, get signed up with Amazon Advantage. People purchase books online, even from local authors.
4. Do demonstrations or teach classes. For a cookbook, doing cooking demonstrations is a natural fit. You’ll attract more people to virtually any event where food is available. After you show people how easy the food is to make and how good it tastes, attendees are motivated to purchase the cookbook. Along the same lines, when I did an introductory workshop about fundraising recently, I sold ALL of the copies of Funds to the Rescue: 101 Fundraising Ideas for Humane and Animal Rescue Groups I had with me.
5. Run major discount promotions. Get in touch with everyone you know and work together to run a closeout promotion that benefits everyone. Give people who help out a cut of the action, such as a commission, whether it’s members of your PTA group or writing club. Everyone can use a little extra fun money, after all. If you are online, consider contacting online colleagues and running the equivalent of a book-launch campaign with lots of bonuses. Offer big quantity discounts to move more books out the door.
If all else fails and you simply can’t get rid of the books, donate them to a school or library. Or investigate literary charities or organizations that ship books overseas. You get a tax break and the books avoid the pulping machine.