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Key Topics in Sales & Marketing

Author Discounts
McFarland extends a special discount to authors. Authors and editors may purchase any McFarland book at a 20% discount. On their own book(s), authors are entitled to at least a 20% discount, possibly deeper when ordering in bulk quantities. Contributors (including essayists, forewordists, interviewees, and subjects of biographies), are eligible for a discount for their particualr book. Those interested in receiving a quote may contact:

Janie Sheets
Customer Service Representative
Sales & Marketing
jsheets@mcfarlandpub.com

Royalties
There are several questions that are frequently asked about royalties. Here are the essentials.

The royalty period specified in your contract covers paid sales from January 1 to December 31. Accounting work is usually completed a few weeks after the end of the period, and statements and checks go out in February. For more than 10 years, McFarland has on its own initiative calculated and paid royalties also at the midyear point. In those instances, the midyear royalty statements and checks are based on the period running from January 1 to June 30. Again, accounting work is usually completed a few weeks later, and those statements and checks have usually been mailed in August. Your contract, remember, requires only the "before March 1" payment; the midyear one is entirely voluntary on McFarland's part.

Royalties are based on paid sales. For every dollar that McFarland takes in, an author gets the royalty percentage specified in the contract. For example, if the contract calls for a 10% royalty and a book sells for $35, the author receives $3.50.

Some copies are sold at a discount, however, and the author's royalty is based on the actual selling price. For example, a bookseller may order the same $35 book at a wholesale discount of 20%, and may also be entitled to order on an open account with payment terms of 30 days. Although McFarland may ship the book on December 15, it won't become a paid sale until the bookseller pays off the $28 invoice on January 15. A 10% author's royalty in this case would be $2.80.

Questions about royalties can be directed to:

Lois Grubb
Business Manager
lgrubb@mcfarlandpub.com

Book Reviews
McFarland automatically distributes review copies to the appropriate major review media for U.S. libraries (Choice, for example). McFarland also sends review copies to select academic journals, popular magazines and online review outlets according to topic (reference, women's studies, and performing arts are some examples). Newspapers are not ordinarily a part of McFarland's review efforts, although there are some exceptions.

If you are aware of special magazines, websites or high quality blogs in your particular field that feature book review sections, it would be helpful if you could provide us with names of the periodicals, names of the book review editors or other key contact person, and physical mailing addresses. It is not uncommon for authors to suggest as many as five to ten contacts, and McFarland is typically generous with review copies. However, regardless of the exact number of suggestions you have to offer, please rank them in order of importance. Email your suggestions to assistant marketing manager Beth H. Cox at bcox@mcfarlandpub.com.

It can be difficult to predict when published reviews will begin appearing—it often depends on the nature of the reviewing medium. Also, although McFarland books traditionally perform well, reviewers make no promises that a book will actually be reviewed. An author may not be able to accurately judge the review media's level of interest until six or more months have passed.

McFarland will automatically provide you with scans or photocopies of published reviews. Scans of simple published listings or acknowledgments of "books received" will not be distributed. Another way to learn of published reviews is by visiting your local library and searching for citations in a periodicals database. If you come across a review that McFarland may not be aware of, please send a copy to Kristal Hamby.

The importance of customer reviews on internet booksellers such as Amazon cannot be overlooked. After the book is published, encourage your contacts, colleagues and others who have read and enjoyed your book to post customer reviews on Amazon (and secondarily, to those other major websites, as well). Customer reviews will have an impact on sales.

Conferences and Trade Shows
McFarland regularly attends and exhibits at the major library conferences. Major academic conferences are also part of McFarland's exhibiting plans. Consult our current conference schedule.

If you will be present at a conference where McFarland is exhibiting, please let us know (preferably at least a few months in advance). We'll make sure that extra copies of your book are on display. If you are attending a conference where McFarland is not exhibiting, it is sometimes possible to arrange for the display of your book through another party. Conference-related inquiries should be emailed to Beth H. Cox.

Booksignings
For those authors who plan to do booksignings (they're totally optional and can be fun, but McFarland doesn't necessarily encourage them), please contact your local bookstore or other relevant signing host directly. In general, bookstores of all sorts can host signing events for local authors. However, not all bookstores are happy to do so. Bookstores are approaching such events more and more from a business perspective rather than a community relations perspective, and some books may not match well with the store’s business model.

The bookstore will want to work out local arrangements (what day, what time, what exactly will happen, etc.) with you. They will want to work with McFarland to obtain books. The signing host should contact Beth H. Cox to obtain books at a discount. Although it is fine to do some early planning for books that aren't published yet, booksignings should not be scheduled until finished copies are in the McFarland warehouse. If you require further information, Beth can advise you about how to best arrange signing events.

Typos, Errors and Requesting Corrections
If you have detected a typo or an error for your book's website description, please email database administrator Virginia Tomlinson. In most cases, website-related correction requests are addressed within five business days.

If you notice missing information, typos or errors on other sites (such as Amazon or Barnes & Noble) and you are unable to correct them directly, please email Virginia Tomlinson. Availability messages from these retailers may fluctuate in the days after a book is published—this is normal. However, if incorrect messages about availability or publication date persist for more than a few weeks, email Virginia Tomlinson.

If you discover a typo or error in your published book, email us at corrections@mcfarlandpub.com. Correction requests for the text of books will be examined within a couple of business days, but may require a longer period of time for completion. McFarland will contact you should further information be required.

Ebooks
McFarland continues to be committed to our print books and are confident that print books will always be an important part of our publishing program. We are also excited to offer books in new electronic formats. McFarland publishes new books simultaneously in both print and electronic editions whenever possible, and will have ongoing efforts to get more of our backlist into ebook formats as capacity allows.

• Kindle and Its Cousins: The sales channels are still being developed, but Kindle is the breakout leader at this point. We have chosen to sell most Kindle editions at a list price lower than the print list price because the market expects it; and we do have lower costs in manufacturing and order fulfillment. (Production costs are actually higher because we have to produce and design for multiple formats. Marketing and sales administration costs are higher as well.) Google Editions and Blio are two other vendors that sell to an audience that is very similar to Kindle, and they likewise offer books at this lower pricing tier. We will learn if the lower pricing produces a justifiably greater sales volume, and will adjust accordingly as the trends become clearer. Please be assured that our goal is to maximize our revenue and your royalties.



• Ebooks for Libraries: McFarland has been primarily focused on the library market in past years. Libraries are in an historic transition. Many are experimenting with ebook collections. The models for this business are still developing and can be complex. Our ebooks to library vendors sell at the same list price as the print edition. Libraries may purchase an ebook for their collection in a way that is similar to a print book (a single user model). There are also new ways to purchase ebooks as well. One type of transaction allows page views so that a book can be evaluated for purchase. Another new type of transaction is a short term lease; the lease fee is a percentage of the list price. We are participating in all reasonable ebook library vendor activity because we feel that is the best forward-looking strategy.



• Ebooks and Royalty Implications: All ebook vendors require much deeper discounts than print book vendors. The ebook and print editions have different ISBNs, so the income from the two editions will be separate on your statement. Because of new purchasing models in the library market, there may be multiple transactions at unusual amounts, including some way below the print list price.

Google Book Search
Google Book Search is a project that enables users of the internet search engine to search the text of books (in addition to websites). Allowing books to be fully searchable without giving away the complete text is an enormous boon, and is an excellent tool for making books more accessible to a broader audience. McFarland has been a long-time Google partner. We have an agreement in place that allows Google to index many of our books for the Google Book Search project, and in those cases we have granted Google permission to display limited previews of text (generally up to 10%, though portions of every book are excluded from the preview). Separate, but related to Google Book Search, is an ebook sales initiative called Google Editions. McFarland offers books in a Google Edition whenever possible.

Library Markets
For over three decades, libraries of all sorts have formed McFarland's main market. McFarland regularly promotes its books to academic, public, and high school libraries in the U.S., and to select libraries outside the U.S. Many of these libraries make their purchases through wholesalers and book jobbers. Authors should feel free to notify their local public library or campus library of their book's availability, but no special effort to contact libraries is asked of our authors.

Retail Markets
The strongest retail market is internet retail. McFarland has strong relationships with Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and our books excel in the internet retail environment.

On the other hand, many bookstores are struggling, including the large chain retailers. Chain book retailers will carry McFarland books in their system for special order, but are unlikely to stock books in stores (the same applies to the majority of our academic publisher peers). Specialty bookshops (including IndieBound bookshops, museum shops and mail-order distributors) can usually make suitable arrangements with McFarland to stock and promote books on the store shelf.

It is perfectly fine for authors to introduce themselves (and their books) to a local bookstore or other bookseller. Encouragement from authors to stock their books can sometimes make a difference in local sales. McFarland also welcomes sales tips from authors of specialty booksellers. However, between in-store versus internet, remember that many bookstores are struggling and driving internet sales is likely a wiser investment of an author's time. Sales tips should be emailed to assistant sales manager Adam Phillips.

Other Markets
For applicable books, college classroom adoptions play a role in sales. If you plan to use your book in a course you teach, please inform us. For classroom-appropriate books that are multicontributor works, it would probably behoove the author/editor to inquire with their contributors about adoption possibilities. Please email Beth H. Cox for assistance with or to share your ideas about classroom adoptions.

McFarland successfully sells directly to individuals. Specialists, professionals and enthusiasts form an important market for many kinds of books. If you are aware of any unique opportunities to promote your book to a specialized group or professional organization, for example, please let us know. Email Beth H. Cox.