I wrote a book! Will you carry it?
GUIDELINES FOR LOCAL AND SELF-PUBLISHED AUTHORS
Congratulations on completing your book. Writing and publishing a book is a major undertaking, and we applaud your effort. Chapters Books & Gifts supports Nebraska writers by stocking your books in our store and by hosting events at which Nebraska authors are featured.
If you are interested in stocking your book at Chapters Books & Gifts:
We are pleased to have the opportunity to sell your work in our store.
If your book is traditionally published and available through Ingram at a standard discount, with returnable terms, you can email us at chapters@windstream.net. Let us know of your connection to Nebraska and why your book is a good fit for our store, and we will consider ordering it.
We typically take self-published books on consignment at the industry standard terms (60% of the retail price to the author/40% to the store). We pay authors every January for books that have sold in the previous calendar year. If your inventory has had no activity for twelve months, we reserve the right to remove your title(s) from the shelf. Books that have not been picked up within three months after you have been notified that they have been removed from the shelf will no longer be our responsibility and may be donated to a charitable organization of our choice. Unfortunately, Chapters Books & Gifts cannot be held responsible for lost or stolen books.
If you want us to carry your book, please be sure it:
- Has an ISBN and bar code
- Has the title on the spine
- Is priced competitively with similar titles and similarly formatted books
- Is of a genre we carry and will be of interest to our customers
- Looks professional (consider hiring a professional editor, illustrator, and graphic designer)
- Will fit on our shelves
- Does not promote Amazon or encourage potential buyers to find or review it on Amazon
Please do not call us to tell us about your book. We prefer that you email us after you have done your research and verified that your book seems to you to be a good fit for our store. Be sure that you identify your connection to our store and tell us why our customers will want to purchase your book.
Fill out our Consignment Agreement here.
If you are interested in participating in our Local Authors’ Events:
We generally host events for authors each year, including a Nebraska authors' showcase in June. These events are book signings, but also offer opportunities for networking with fellow authors. When possible, we will offer informational sessions of interest to writers. Authors are expected to help publicize events at which they are featured—and events are much more successful if you do so.
Unfortunately, because of our large number of consignors, it is not practical for us to host individual signings for each of you, although we occasionally do host an event for an author.
If you would like to receive information about our events, please send an to chaptersbooksandgifts@gmail.com and tell us you’d like to be added to our local authors’ mailing list.
As an independent, local bookstore, we make it a priority to support local authors. We appreciate that in return you will support Chapters and other local bookstores by shopping in our store, promoting us on social media and on your website, and encouraging book buyers to purchase books from us, rather than from Amazon. We will gladly share your social media posts and help promote your book—but we will not display any promotional materials in our store, on our website, or on our social media sites if they direct buyers or reviewers to Amazon.
We look forward to working with you!
