Publisher Partner Guidebook Updated With 2018 Deadlines

The Publisher Partner Program Guidebook for 2018 is now available to publishers who wish to efficiently and effectively distribute promotional materials to participating IndieBound bookstores.

“For 10 years now, ABA’s Publisher Partner Program has provided an easy and cost-effective means of communicating information to participating IndieBound stores. We now have nearly 200 Associate Member publishers and are delighted to be able to continue to offer them a variety of ways to reach booksellers across the indie channel,” said Matthew Zoni, ABA’s director of development and publisher relations.

To take advantage of Publisher Partner benefits, publishers must be Associate members of the American Booksellers Association. Membership dues are $400 per year. Publishers can apply for membership online. An Associate Member publisher is eligible to become a partner as long as it has books in print that are readily available for order.

The updated Publisher Partner Program Guidebook includes 2018 nomination deadlines for the Indie Next List and Kids’ Next List, as well as deadlines and sample rates for submitting materials to the monthly Red and White Box mailings and the quarterly Kids’ White Box mailing.

In addition to printed, four-color fliers for in-store distribution, the monthly adult Indie Next List and quarterly Kids’ Next List also continue to be distributed electronically as store-branded e-newsletters, powered by Shelf Awareness, that feature bookseller quotes and “buy now” buttons that lead directly to the purchase page for the title on the sending store’s website.

The Red Box mailing — actually a white box with a red sticker — is sent by the 15th of each month to 1,100 ABA member stores. It includes the ABA’s Indie Next fliers as well as marketing materials provided by Publisher Partners. Publishers can include a variety of marketing materials, such as shelf-talkers, easelbacks, bookmarks, and posters to support the Indie Next List or other new releases. Publishers can also include catalogs, special offers, and other items detailed in the guidebook.

The White Box is sent each month to 750 members stores that are active participants in IndieBound and ABA initiatives. The White Box includes galleys, advance reading copies, and finished copies of upcoming titles that publishers wish to invite booksellers to consider for future Indie Next Lists.

The quarterly Kids’ White Box is a dedicated mailing to 750 children’s bookstores, stores with active children’s sections, and members of the ABC Children’s Group.

The guidebook also explains how publishers can enroll in the Advance Access Program, which offers an opportunity to reach out to 1,100 independent bookstores with news of galleys, reading copies, finished books, or other materials available for review, without the minimum quantities required for the box mailings. Booksellers use the review copies to help them choose titles for the Indie Next List.

More details about the benefits of partnership, including information about electronic advertising in Bookselling This Week as well as subscribing to ABC Children’s Group programming, is available in the 2018 Publisher Partner Program Guidebook on BookWeb.