For authors who want us to sell and distribute their books through bookshops and online retailers, active book trade sales and marketing are essential. We can simply provide you with all the fundamentals you need for your book to be available for sale with UK-based retailers, or we can take it further and actively promote the title to chain and independent bookshops, wholesalers and retailers on your behalf.
If you are looking to create media buzz around your book's launch, launching a publicity campaign may give you the coverage you are looking for in local and national media. Authors will work directly with one of our experienced in-house publicists, who will create and manage your bespoke publicity campaign to help increase your book’s visibility and generate interest.
Our digital marketing team will focus on generating customer reviews on retailer platforms and book recommendation sites, primarily utilising NetGalley, as well as other key sites such as Amazon. Our enhanced discoverability places your book on both Amazon’s ‘Search Inside’ and Google’s ‘Search in a Book’ platforms, allowing readers to browse a portion of your book.
An online paid advertising campaign places your book directly in front of a targeted audience using Google, Facebook, and Instagram. Visually engaging AI-generated ads are designed to capture attention and drive clicks, leading potential readers to retailer sites such as Amazon and the Troubador Bookshop, increasing your book’s visibility.
An author's website can act as a digital shop window for an author, as well as being at the core of all their marketing efforts. Our professional web developer builds cost-effective, flexible, and unique websites specifically for authors, and authors will work directly with them to have input on layout, content, and colour schemes while receiving the guidance and support of a professional.
If you have a manuscript and aren’t sure what to do next, we’re here to help. Whether over the phone, email or in person, our experienced team of self-publishing experts can answer your questions and explain how self-publishing with Troubador can help you achieve your goals.
Why is an online retailer showing my book as not in stock/available in 1 - 2 weeks?
Today retailers are a lot more cautious about immediately ordering in stock of an unknown title, and this has led to many retailers waiting to see what kind of demand there is for a book. This may mean that they list a book as avialble, but do not order copies into their warehouse. That is when an author may see a listing where it says 'available in X amount of time'. Once they see a demand for the book, the retailers are then more likely to order a copy to fulfil the order(s), and perhaps other copies to have for future sale. Additionally, the book trade can move quite slowly, so even though we have copies available in our warehouse, it still takes time for an order to be placed by a retailer, for our warehouse team to ship it, and for it to be received and processed by the retailer. Very often when a retailer or wholesaler has your book listed as 'out of stock' or 'temporarily out of stock', this is because there is an order in the system but it is moving slowly through it. We are only able to send copies of any book to a retailer if we have received an order from them; we cannot simply send copies to retailers ad hoc... not only would they be unlikely to pay for them, they would be likely to destroy them.
Why can't I see which bookshops are stocking my book?
While we will happily supply a retailer directly through our distribution setup, the majority of bookshops prefer to order their stock through a wholesaler (such as Gardners, the UK's main wholesaler). As this is a third party, we are not privy to their orders from retailers, and can only see the order they place with us for stock. We do not know which bookshops a wholesaler's order is then sold to by the wholesaler.
Why is an online retailer showing my book at a lower/higher price?
We set the RRP (the recommended retailer price) for our books. While retailers will purchase the book at that price (minus any trade discount that has been negotiated), they have every right then to list the book at whatever price they believe it will sell best at. We know authors worry that they are then losing out on their royalties, but rest assured, no matter what discount a retailer is listing a book at, they will have paid the same price regardless of whether they are discounting it. So if a retailer is discounting a book, this is a good thing as they will be funding that discount, and a discount will help the book to sell.
Can I apply a discount on my book everywhere?
No - the only website on which we can set a discount for a book is on our own bookshop, because that is under our control. All other third party retailers will choose what price they like to list the book at, in accordance with what they think will help it to sell best.
I've had a good review on NetGalley. Can you post this on Amazon?
Unfortunately, no. As your publisher, we cannot post a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or any other retailer or review platform, on behalf of a third-party reviewer. This is because the review would show with our publisher name against it, and a publisher reviewing their own title will (rightly) be considered to be biased. Amazon has very strict review policies, and the review would either not make it past their approval stage, or it would be removed very quickly. We do encourage anyone who leaves a positive review on NetGalley to also post it on Amazon, if they haven't done so already – but it is ultimately their decision as to whether or not they do this.
Our team of editors will work with you to deliver human-led feedback that produces a polished, engaging manuscript.
Market leading production and design services for authors at every stage of their self-publishing journey.
Quality ebook and audiobook publishing and worldwide distribution.
Bookshop, retailer and wholesaler sales managed from our dedicated distribution centre.
