Many indie authors ask me:
“How do I get my book listed for sale on the Book Depository?”
There is only one criteria.
Your book must be in print and it has to be listed with either Ingrams or Neilson Book Data.
If your book is listed on either of these databases, the Book Depository will list your book. That doesn’t automatically translate into sales, but at least your book can be found via a search on the Book Depository website.
Great news for indies, if your book is POD, Print On Demand, the Book Depository will list and sell your book.
I wrote to them to have this clarified, here is an extract of their email to me:
“We’re pleased to list independent authors on our site. In order to do so we need biblio data, we collect this from Nielsen Book Data as our main source, and also from some of the wholesalers we use, such as Ingrams.
We source books from distributors rather than directly from individual publishers, so provided the books are distributed by one of the key UK, US or selected European distributors or wholesalers we can access them.
We source POD titles from Ingram and from Lightning Source.”
This is great news for Indie Authors! One more good reason to have your book available in print and listed with Ingrams, either via Create Space or Lightning Source, or both.
Once your book has been published on either Create Space or Lightning Source or via a publishing house, it takes 6 to 8 weeks for your book to be listed on the Book Depository, as long as it’s listed on Neilson’s or Ingrams with a unique ISBN. If you cannot find it after a couple of months, send them an email via the contact page, with your ISBN number, and they will check for you why it’s not showing yet.
For your general information, the Book Depository, started in 2004 and is now owned by Amazon. They purchased it in 2011 amid some controversy over the issue of fair trading.
The Book Depository is Europe’s fastest growing bookseller and the UK’s biggest online bookstore.
For a great deal on self publishing packages for indie authors, check out my publishing services website, Finite Publishing.
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10 comments
HMC
Great stuff! Thanks for sharing. Onto it now.
21/08/13131313
aishah
Good luck with the book, White Walls. I’ll look out for it on the Book Depository too!
22/08/13131313
James M. Copeland
I tried everything possible to get my books located at the site but was only able to get registered. They are to advise me as to how to do what’s wanted.
22/08/13131313
aishah
Hi James,
Did you email The Book Depository through their contact page and iform them of your ISBN? Also, perhaps you should check your ISBN registration and make sure the listing information is up to date and correct.
27/08/13131313
Peter Roberts
It’s not worth the hassle to get featured on Book Depository. If you’re using Createspace expanded distribution the only way you can get any royalty is to set your price at a ridiculously high price. I had my client’s book set at £10.99 giving me a total of £0.00 royalty ha!
They take a massive cut and you’ll find you will be giving your book away.
08/01/14141414
aishah
Oh Interesting, you would have to get something though, surely? I know the margins are small. In any case, you can’t stop it being indexed to Book Depository. However, in saying that, if someone purchased the book on book depository from Create Space, Create Space has a formula they stick with. The author should still have received a royalty from CS directly, not Book Depository, they are merely the ‘distributor’. The author should still have received a couple of quid from Create Space.
10/02/14141414
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[…] can sell their books on the Book Depository. According to Aishah Macgill, the only criteria is to have the book available via Ingram or Neilson Book […]
13/02/14141414
Louise Findlay
Does this work with Lulu?
29/01/15151515
Jason
Authors – You can also submit your book to http://www.ilikeebooks.com/submit
06/03/15151515
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