Our members are often asked to act as sales representatives for very small houses and, sometimes, self-published individual authors. Although reps sell for many large and well-established publishers, their daily bread and butter can be the offerings and the success of small independent houses.
Reps are inclined to have a healthy respect for small or new publishing operations.
Our customers are booksellers in a highly competitive and cost-sensitive business and they are now intent on reducing the number of vendors they deal with and the expensive paperwork, time, and labor involved in dealing directly with publishers. A reasonable level of activity, we think, is probably a publishing program of ten or more new titles a year with a steadily developing backlist. The purpose of this document is to offer some information and advice to authors and publishers whose plans, for the time being, are focused on one or two or a few titles. We hope that their business will grow and reach a point where independent sales representatives can be of effective help to them in expanding their market, sales and profits. For every title published, regardless of its source, a distinct publishing process is followed.