Self-publishing's retail black hole

My book publicity is hitting the roof. I’ve just been interviewed by Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2 and Trisha Goddard on Talk TV, and will be featured in the Guardian’s Saturday magazine in March. I’m the subject of a BBC Reel video which has been seen almost half a million times in the last year, and my TED Talk is approaching 50,000 views. Jenni Murray interviewed me on Woman’s Hour for my book launch, and the publicity I’m still getting two years after publication is incredible – yet my book never been stocked in a UK bookshop.  

Why? Because I’m a self-published author. My book, LATE! A Timebender’s guide to why we are late and how we can change, offers original insights into a very common problem. One in five people struggle with punctuality, yet persistent lateness is a subconscious behaviour which time management books ignore. My original research has attracted such amazing media attention that my title hit number three in the Amazon Bestseller lists for Business Time Management Skills, and number four in Self Help Time Management this month.

Yet even though my book jacket is designed specifically to attract bookshop browsers, I’m forced into the arms of Amazon and Apple. As a non-fiction title, my paperback is achieving double the sales of my e-book and audiobook, yet no retailer benefits from all my publicity.

So why am I and other successful self-published authors not sold in bookshops? Because retail book buyers are hiding from us. Retail book buyers have concealed themselves behind such a curtain of secrecy, that we just can’t reach them to tell them about our success. After two years of beating my head against a brick wall, I’m running out of ideas. I’ve met all their criteria, distributed my paperback through a non-Amazon channel and made it available through Gardners Books. Every attempt to reach the big retail decision-makers in this highly centralised market has ended in failure.

Here’s what I’ve tried – what am I missing?

• Waterstones keep self-published authors at arm’s length by requiring them to fill in a submission form on their website. I submitted my book initially on publication, and then again once I was achieving good sales and publicity. Zero response.
• WHSmith book buyers can only be reached through emails sent via their customer relations department.  Zero response.
• I’ve investigated whether Gardners will promote my book to retailers, but they publicise new titles only.
• I’ve called in to my local bookstores, WHSmith and Waterstones. Waterstones staff told me they can only pass information on, and seemed very reluctant to do so. WHSmith told me they don’t support ‘local authors’.
• I’ve researched the names of key non-fiction book buyers, and sent them personal letters, with a review copy sent to the head office address. Zero response.
• I’ve searched LinkedIn, and found the non-fiction book buyer for Waterstones, plus other people in buying and marketing roles, written them a personal message explaining my publishing success and asking how I can submit my book. Zero response. 

I can understand the problem: if 750,000 books are self-published in the UK, and 90% of self-published books sell fewer than 100 copies, then a very small handful of buyers are targeted by a tsunami of individual authors trying to promote their single titles. No human being could possibly cope, so major buyers have tried to cut themselves off from all direct contact. Congratulations, you’ve succeeded, but at what cost?  

I’m still searching for the entrepreneur who will fill the gap in the market, and create a channel to sell successful self-published titles to the retail book trade.

Other business sectors have found alternative solutions – acquisitions editors shield themselves behind a network of literary agents, who act as filters to dredge out the gold from the dross. These agents in their turn deal with excess demand by cautioning “If you haven’t received a reply within 12 weeks, assume we aren’t interested.”

Amazon has designed a very sophisticated digital pathway, which diverts all but the most determined from finding a way through the AI maze on their website, and is very successful in minimising one-to-one communication, without closing the shutters completely.

I’m still searching for the entrepreneur who will fill the gap in the market and create a channel to sell successful self-published titles to the retail book trade. Ingram Publishing Services offers sales representation to independent publishers with a minimum turnover of £100,000, but they don’t deal with independent authors.

Pressure is building for a solution to this problem. While the global publishing market is predicted to grow at 1%, the self-publishing market is expected to grow at 17% per year, and with a self-published book market worth $1.25 billion a year, change is inevitable. Each year traditional publishers are transferring more of the costs and risks of publishing to their authors, and each year more authors are deciding to increase their control and margins by going it alone.

Book retailers, newspaper-run bestseller lists and literary festivals are all playing a significant role in protecting the traditional publishing industry by excluding self-published authors, but this discrimination cannot last. Eventually, financial pressures will force them to create an even playing field and open themselves up to independent authors. But until that happens, can anyone advise me how to reach a retail book buyer?