In this section:
How to run a promotion to your network at extra discount
Other Ordering Issues (Inaccurate information, Non-availability, Non-visibility)
We aim to have printed stock in the warehouses by the first day of the month in which your book is published, so we place a print order the month before publication. It takes varying lengths of time to get into the shops:
USA: NBN needs up to 10 working days to process, pick, pack and ship books to a US customer by Standard Ground UPS. It will take longer at the end of the month when the warehouse is busiest (add 2 working days) or if the customer is offshore or hard to reach (add 5 working days), and if books need to be restocked from the printer (add 14 days). Large retailers, such as Barnes & Noble, buy centrally; the books go to their central warehouse, then out again, adding a week or so. For an event, allow two months and give as much notice as you can.
Canada: It can take an extra month, 30 working days, because of border customs. It can take longer to get books a few hundred miles from Pennsylvania to Ontario than a few thousand miles from England to Singapore. British Columbia is worse still.
UK: Our distributor in the UK, Orca Marston Book Services, supplies large wholesalers like Gardners and Bertrams daily, but for efficiency they only supply small independent shops once a week. Small shops allow for this by timing their order carefully, placing larger orders or using a wholesaler. Generally Orca needs 5 working days to process an order, pick & pack and deliver books to a customer on UK mainland. It will take longer if Orca receives the order after 4pm (add an extra working day), if customer doesn’t order frequently (add up to 4 working days), if customer is in highlands and islands (add 2 working days), and if books need to be restocked from the printer (add 14 days).
Other regions: For South Africa allow 5-6 weeks to deliver books which are in stock, China and Singapore 6-8 weeks, Australia & New Zealand 10-12 weeks.
Please note
Europe & the Middle East
Orca Marston distributes our books to individuals and trade customers throughout Europe and the Middle East.
Individuals (not trade); order with a credit card by emailing Orca Marston at direct.orders@marston.co.uk or phoning +44 (0)1235 465577.
America
National Book Network distributes our books throughout North, Central and South America. Tel: +1 8004626420. Email: customercare@nbnbooks.com. More info http://www.nbnbooks.com/contact
Australia & New Zealand
Brumby Sunstate. Tel: +61 232555552. Email: orders@brumbysunstate.com.au. More info at http://www.brumbysunstate.com.au/.
Bookreps Ltd. Tel: +64 94192635. Email: sales@bookreps.co.nz. More info at http://www.bookreps.co.nz/contact-bookreps-nz-ltd .
Elsewhere
Post a note in the HELP forum under Sales & Distribution/Sales to Authors. For more details see https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/jhp-how-to-order.html.
Most bookstores prefer to order through a wholesaler. The main book wholesalers in US are Ingram and Baker & Taylor, and in UK Bertrams and Gardners. Otherwise the bookseller can order through the distributor in their region, these are listed on the JHP website in How to Order.
If the bookseller plans to order in quantity for an event or other special promotion, they may need extra discount, delivery by particular day or have other requirements. If so, direct them to our website How to Order where they will find contact details for the distributor in their region and can contact JHP to negotiate terms. They can order on account or not, but non account holders will be asked to pay in advance by credit card.
The discount and whether returnable or non-returnable terms depends on the type of retailer, credit risk, order history and size of order. In USA, Australia and South Africa this is determined by the respective distributors NBN, Brumby and Hay House, elsewhere by negotiation with us, JHP.
Please let us know of any trade orders that you are involved in through the Help forum, under Sales & Distribution/Sales to Authors. We also gauge how many to print by looking at the Marketing page for any Promotion plans and Marketing Activities. Above all please advise any bookstores with which you are in contact to allow us time to replenish stock if necessary. We need at least three weeks’ notice for USA, UK and Europe, more for other countries.
Stores, for whom books are only a small proportion of their stock, may be able to order books through their usual wholesaler.
How to run a promotion to your network at extra discount
Occasionally we offer books at discount to readers or booksellers, or invite authors to offer this to their networks. These offers to authors are only effective for books by several authors with wide ranging and deep networks of potential buyers. Promotions are run at our discretion.
We set up a promotion code and an offer discount and special ordering details with each relevant regional distributor.
To run this promotion authors and JHP could:
To claim the discount readers would need to:
Promotions must be set up by JHP. If you would like to run a promotion, please post your request in the the Help forum under Sales & Distribution/Other queries. And make sure to add this promotion to your Marketing Activities and to share with JHP on the FB closed author group.
Other Ordering Issues (Inaccurate information, Non-availability, Non-visibility)
We spend a lot of time dealing with queries from people saying the book is not available. Very occasionally, it’s because sales are going faster than we expected, and we’re temporarily out of stock (usually two weeks max.). More often, the answers fall into the following kinds of categories:
Inaccurate information
Non-availability
Sometimes a bookstore in one part of the world or another complains that they can’t get hold of a book from our distributor. This is usually for one of the following reasons:
There’s a raft of similar reasons. Do let us know if you come across any problems. But be precise. Press the shop for details—“Which store? Which manager dealt with your book? What date was the invoice sent? For how many copies? What was the invoice or order reference number?" And send those to us, with the ISBN and title of the book. Distributors get thousands of orders from stores each day. They need the order reference to check. Virtually every time we look into this, the distributor is not at fault.
Non-visibility
The total number of books available in English is somewhere north of 30 million. The number available to buy online is over 10 million. The average number stocked in a bookshop (if it's a large one) is around 10,000. Most of these are backlist sellers relevant to the shop’s marketplace, which they know are going to sell. Some are new books, most of those are by well-known names. We can only get directly to very few of the 20,000 shops in North America/UK, they mostly buy centrally, or through wholesalers. So if it is not there, the most likely reason is that the information we sent out to the main buyer and wholesaler was not persuasive enough. Or, if it's a chain, they have allocated it to a few shops but not all of them. Or if they did buy it, and it is in the month of publication, it may because the book has not got to that shop yet. If it is later than the month after publication, it may be that the shop has had the book but sold it, and not reordered yet, or did not sell and has been returned. Most new books are only stocked for a few weeks and then returned if they are not selling fast enough.