[Gary Wassner]

Yes, that makes sense. But how come then a chain like Borders or B & N automatically stocks certain imprints regardless of whether the author is new or not, whereas it in order for them to buy a small press title the publisher has to go through the small press acquisiton process each time. They have to send in a copy of the book/books, a press kit, a marketing plan, distribution chanels, etc. before they will consider the title. What I don't understand is why they seem so skeptical of small press titles. POD and vanity press titles I can understand, though POD really only refers to the publicaiton process and shouldn't impact on the quality of the author.

Am I wrong KatG? Do the major chains choose each title that they stock, or do they automatically stock the major imprints' releases?

[KatG]

Yes, that makes sense. But how come then a chain like Borders or B & N automatically stocks certain imprints regardless of whether the author is new or not, whereas it in order for them to buy a small press title the publisher has to go through the small press acquisiton process each time. They have to send in a copy of the book/books, a press kit, a marketing plan, distribution chanels, etc. before they will consider the title. What I don't understand is why they seem so skeptical of small press titles. POD and vanity press titles I can understand, though POD really only refers to the publicaiton process and shouldn't impact on the quality of the author.

Am I wrong KatG? Do the major chains choose each title that they stock, or do they automatically stock the major imprints' releases?

It varies. The main reason that they trust the imprints over the small presses is that they trust the imprints not to go out of business and leave them stuck with stock and no refunds. The imprints are part of a large publishing conglomerate that has a strong relationship with the bookseller and which will not leave that bookseller hanging. They have no such guarantees from small presses, and small presses usually cannot give them as favorable terms and benefits as the larger houses can. The small press, for instance, can't necessarily make it up to a bookchain in other ways such as special discounts or more co-op advertising if a title fails to sell and loses the bookseller money.

A second reason is that they don't trust small press to have titles as salable and well-produced as the imprints. Yes, many small presses put out quality product, but it's not a given, so you have to be screened first. The more familiar they get with the small press, the better the small press' list does in the market, the less hoops that press will have to initially jump through.

The third reason is that the large imprints have a slotting system, which lets the bookseller know how strong the publisher thinks a book may be. A large imprint also has sales reps who brief the bookseller on the whole list. But small presses don't necessarily have a slotting system and may not have the same sort of sales staff, so they want to get more information about what the small press is offering.

When it comes to the big imprints, the chains do a lot of central ordering. They will order set amounts, but it's based on past sales records (something a small press again may not have yet,) and it's flexible. If they've found that they sell about 50,000 of the imprint's lead title, 30,000 of the secondary titles, and 5,000 of slot (mid-list) titles, they'll order around those amounts. But if they see a lead author's sales have been dropping, they might stock less of his new one. And if the publisher is high on a slot title or the initial community buzz on it is good or if a buyer read it and really likes it, they might order more of it than others. They'll send different amounts of books to different stores, depending on what those stores have found sell best in their area. The individual chain stores also can order more or less of titles, depending on their regional sales base, so it's not entirely centralized.

The big problem they've had is that booksellers order too many copies of books, then send them back for returns, which hurts everyone. So they've tried lots of things in the past to improve the process -- rewards for booksellers to do smaller orders, just in time distribution methods, etc. Part of their reluctance to order big from a small press relates to that situation.

One problem the small sf/f presses have is that they are trying to sell nationally, not regionally. In the past, small presses have developed great relationships with independent bookstores and small chains, who can take more risks than the chains since they're dealing with much smaller numbers. But that helps you mostly with regional sales. To go national, you need the chains and the online stores. They aren't unreceptive to small presses -- they need small presses -- but in sf/f which is still mass market paperback driven, they'll proceed cautiously. The decline of sf/f specialty bookstores is a detriment to small presses, but maybe the increasing success of sf/f small presses will help bring back some of the specialty bookstores.