BookSense provides opening to independent bookstores

BookSense.com gives independent bookstores a way to have an Internet shopping site without making big technology investments. It’s the e-commerce arm of the American Booksellers Association’s s Book-Sense program.

BookSense uses the wholesaler Ingram Book’s iPage database to provide book listings for its 475 participating stores. Fulfillment is handled by the store or Ingram.

If your book is available through Ingram, it should be available on participating BookSense store sites, said Mark Nichols, BookSense director of marketing.

For books not available through Ingram, publishers can add a title to BookSense’s database as long as it has a valid ISBN. Send your title, ISBN, author, publisher, bibliographic data, and cover art to AddaBook@Booksense.com.

Paid placement is also available through BookSense, which operates a coop reimbursement program to help its members defray the costs of Web sites. BookSense handles the paperwork of aggregating offers from publishers who want to have their titles featured on BookSense sites for at least one month. Stores who accept the coop offer must order at least five copies of the promoted title, unless the publisher specifies a higher minimum.

The coop program provides for face-out display of physical copies of the book in the store, and display on the store’s Web site, and sales reporting.

A different BookSense program enables publishers to get reading copies of their books into the hands of local independent booksellers through its “Advanced Access Program.” Several times a month, Book-Sense e-mails over 1,000 booksellers, listing advance readers or finished books offered for review by publishers.

Booksellers who see your review copy have the option of carrying your title and nominating it for the BookSense “Picks” list of recom-mended books.

Advanced Access participants can expect to receive e-mails from 25 to 50 booksellers who want to review your book. No specific results are guaranteed from the program, but it is a tool for publicizing your title to people who can provide word-of-mouth advertising in their communi-ties. To enroll, send an e-mail to Peter Reynolds, pe-ter@booksense.com. Indicate the title, author, publisher, ISBN, subject category, publication date, the number of free copies you have to offer. Include a two-sentence description of the book and an e-mail address where booksellers can request their review copy.

Include all your enrollment information in one paragraph that can be easily inserted in a larger message to bookstores. Here’s an example:

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TITLE ABC by John Doe, (Publisher XXX, ISBN: 0-000-00000-0, $19.95, hardcover, September 2007, Mystery/Thriller). A two-sentence description goes here, maximum 50 words. XX number of Advance Reading Copies available.
mailto:yournamehere@emailaddress.com
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Don’t include Web site information, press releases, or cover art. It can take two to three weeks from the time you send your message until it’s seen by booksellers.
BookSense charges $100 per title, with discounts available for members of the Publishers Marketing Association. You can send a check payable to American Booksellers Association to ABA, 200 White Plains Rd., Tarrytown, NY 10591 ATTN: Sadie Evans. For information on how to pay with a credit card, send an e-mail to sadie@bookweb.org.

When you send review copies to BookSense members, enclose a thank you note and a reminder to “e-mail or write Dan Cullen (Dan@Booksense.com) if you like it.”
More information about BookSense is available by sending e-mail to Staff@Booksense.com.