Christian Book Sales Representation

No one gets into publishing to have to worry about warehousing and fulfilling orders. Having your books distributed enables you to focus on writing and selling books and helps you save time and reduce costs.

BelieversPress provides you access to the services of STL Distribution, through a comprehensive book distribution program tailored to the needs of authors, ministries, and publishers.

STL Distribution North America operates two distribution centers, one in Tennessee and the other in Nevada. Ninety-five percent of customers receive their shipments in two days or less using standard ground shipping. STL is managed and led by committed Christians with many years of experience in serving the Christian publishing and retail industry.

Note: If you want your book in stock at sites like Amazon.com on your publication date, you must sign up for distribution and submit your title information at least 30 days before your publication date.

Professional publishers know that a sales force is key to selling their books. Now, a professional sales force is available to independent publishers as well.

The primary tool sales representatives use to sell books is the semi-annual catalog. Your book will be featured alongside other Christian books that are new releases or were recently published.

Benefits

• A professional Christian sales force, representing your book to bookstores and retailers
• Your book advertised in the STL catalog — used by Christian retailers and book buyers when ordering new stock
• Your titles are available for sale on the Believers Press Marketplace.
• Low cost – we are able to offer each author significant savings over pursuing a distribution solution alone.
• Your book is available for order from online retailers like Amazon.com, ChristianBook.com, etc.¹
• Your book is available for order by and represented to¹
  • Christian bookstores
  • Independent bookstores
  • Major chain bookstores such as Borders and Barnes & Noble
  • Major wholesalers such as Ingram, Baker & Taylor, etc.
• Zero expense to set-up e-commerce, credit card gateways, or merchant accounts on your own (unless you wish to).
• We process each transaction and pay you a portion of the sale.
• We handle all product fulfillment including product warehousing, order entry, picking and packing, returns and restocking, credit and collections.²
• Free freight to retailers — if a bookseller orders more than 15 products (from any publisher, including you) their shipping is free.
• Unlike most subsidy publisher distribution programs (who may charge you hundreds of dollars per year) your titles are returnable at no extra cost.³

Payments

When your book sells, you (the publisher) are paid based on who bought the book from our distribution partner. For details, see the Sales Representation Agreement below.

Payments are made on a monthly basis on monies collected.

Program Details

Not all books will qualify for this program. We will evaluate the sales potential of all books submitted to the program.

Materials Needed for Consideration

A finished copy of the book (or a PDF of the cover & text) along with marketing and promotion plans, trade reviews, and a note describing how the book meets the competition (what makes it unique).

Costs

A non-refundable fee (see above) must be paid in order to be considered for inclusion.

If your book is not selected for inclusion, it may be enrolled in the basic distribution service at no extra cost.

• Storage: 1.5 cents per book per month
  Storage costs are deducted from your payment.
• Freight: You will be responsible for the cost of shipping your books to each of the two warehouses.
  If you print your books with BelieversPress we’ll arrange to ship your books to the warehouses for you — be sure to notify your publishing coordinator of how many books you want shipped to each warehouse.
  
• Inventory Withdrawals: $0.25 per book + shipping (can take up to 30 days)
  If you decide to remove some or all of your books from the warehouse for any reason that is not a sale (e.g. you need a few boxes of books to sell at an event) you’ll be charged this fee.

Catalog Advertisement

All books selected for inclusion must purchase an ad in the next STL Distribution catalog (published 3 times/year).

If the book has already been published, or does not fall within the publish dates targeted by the catalog, the ad will be placed in the Recent Release section. Books to be included in the New Release portion of the catalog must be submitted approximately 12 months prior to publication.

Reach

• STL sends out weekly digital catalog updates to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CBD, Christian Books & More, Ingram/Spring Arbor, and Lifeway. Each bookseller chooses which books they will stock/list on their sites and in their stores.
• Once your books is in stock at Ingram/Spring Arbor (which can take up to 30 days from title submission) it will become available and “in stock” at online retailers and available for order by offline retailers that order from Ingram (the vast majority of all book sellers).
• Your book will be available for sale at the BelieversPress online bookstore as soon as it’s in stock at the warehouse.

Agreement

• View the basic distribution agreement [PDF]
• View the sales representation agreement [PDF]

¹ Although books are available for order by any bookstore, there is no guarantee that stores will stock a book.
² As the publisher, you are responsible for maintaining enough stock in the warehouse to fulfill orders.
³ We don’t charge you to make a book returnable, however we do charge a small restocking fee when books are returned. Books returned in unsaleable condition are donated to worthy charities or recycled.

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