Getting Your Books To Market

A good book distributor provides three interdependent services: Sales, Marketing and Distribution. Find out more about how to work with a company that provides these services at our next meeting.

While it's fairly easy to list your book on Amazon, getting it into a brick-and-mortar bookstore can be difficult for a brand new self-published author. That's when a good book distributor can help. A distributor is the intermediary between the publisher and a store’s category buyers. Distributors put books in catalogs and send sales staff to pitch books to bookstore buyers. They are experts in wholesale book marketing and moving books into stores from warehouses. They can also negotiate contacts with stores for special sales, in-store displays, and any type of special promotion for books. Of course, all this service comes at a price, so you do need to budget for this kind of help.

Publishing is a tough business, especially now. A successful self-published book has several ingredients: a good idea, a good book and a hard-working author who will promote it. Even then it doesn’t guarantee success. But teaming with a good distributor will help give your book every chance to succeed.

Featured Speaker: Dan Thompson, Big River Distribution

Dan Thompson, President of Big River Distribution and co-founder of BlueBird Publishing, Inc., is a seasoned executive who has over thirty years sales, marketing and distribution in the music, film, and book businesses here in St. Louis. A native of Webster Groves with a bachelor's degree from Webster University, Dan has worked to strengthen the cultural climate of St. Louis and the surrounding regions through his various business endeavors.

His career has been diverse, ranging from a position with sales and purchasing at Pickwick Records to an account executive for MCA Universal. In 1980, he founded the video wholesale division of St. Louis based Sound-Disc, and named it "Sight & Sound" Distributing. This company opened the first video rental stores in St. Louis. Dan then became an Executive Consultant and VP with Ingram Corporation where he launched their entertainment division in Nashville. He later founded his own "regional" CD music distribution and manufacturing company called Blue Sky Distribution and Media Services. In 2006, Thompson founded Big River Distribution to support and sell "regional" books throughout the Midwest and nationally.

Our New Monthly Meeting Location:

We are moving our regular monthly meeting location to provide easier parking and a quieter setting for our meetings. We still meet on the second Wednesday of the month, but beginning with our September 8 meeting, our new "home" will be the Brentwood Community Center.

     Brentwood Community Center
     2505 S. Brentwood Boulevard
     Brentwood, MO 63144

Doors open for networking at 6:30 PM, meeting begins at 7:00 PM.
     The formal meeting concludes at about 8:30 with networking continuing
     after the meeting.

Our regular meetings are free to Members. Guests – $10.00 at the door, cash or check only.