How to submit your book to Waterstone's

Waterstone's is keen to support independent publishing, and recognises the rich contribution that independent publishers make to the world of books and literature.

Here is a guide for independent publishers/self-published authors on how to submit their books to Waterstone's stores.

Telephone: 0870 777 8712 (9.00am to 5.00pm) Fax: 0870 777 8714

E-mail address: isbn@nielsenbookdata.co.uk

Postal address:

UK ISBN Agency,Nielsen BookData, 3rd Floor, Midas House, 62 Goldsworth Road, Woking, Surrey, GU21 6LQ

Nielsen BookData is the sole provider of book information to Waterstone's - we do not accept information direct from publishers or suppliers. It is your responsibility to ensure that Nielsen BookData has an accurate record for each of your titles and to provide updates when things change. Nielsen BookData does not charge to carry a basic record (including a jacket image) but does have a subscription-based enhanced service.

A basic full record is one that includes ISBN, author, title, subject classification (including a BIC code), imprint and publisher, UK availability (e.g. In Print, Not Yet Published), UK price, format (e.g. paperback, hardback), territorial rights statement (which must state that the book is for sale in the UK) and UK publication date.

If you have not provided your title information to Nielsen BookData or you are not sure whether they have a full and accurate record for each of your titles, contact the Nielsen BookData Publisher Help Desk: Telephone: 0845 450 0016 or email pubhelp.book@nielsen.com New title forms or registration for NBD's online-editing service Pubweb, are available through their website at www.nielsenbookdata.co.uk

Please be aware that it takes up to six weeks for Nielsen BookData to editorially process new record submissions on their database.

Ensure that you have a Waterstone's-recognised distributor. Waterstone's tends not to buy books directly from publishers, so you must ensure that your book is available to order from a distributor with whom Waterstone's deals. If you are unsure about this, please contact Peter North (peter.north@waterstones.com) who can advise you on appropriate suppliers.

Once you are sure that your book is available for Waterstone's stores to order, you can begin the process of selling it in to us.

Waterstone's does have a central buying system, and it is possible for us to buy a title centrally and place it into a number of stores (please note this does tend to be for mass market titles). Alternatively, we can add a title to our Core Stock catalogue, which will prompt a certain number of stores to automatically order and stock it.

To submit a book to be considered for central buying/core stock, please send a copy, with a covering letter, to:

Peter North

Independent Publisher Coordinator

Waterstone's

Capital Court

Capital Interchange Way

Brentford

Middlesex

TW8 0EX

In addition to this, Waterstone's stores are also free to select and buy titles themselves, regardless of whether we have chosen to buy them centrally or not. Independent publishers/self-published authors are welcome to write to our stores to see if they would be interested in their titles. When writing your letters, you might want to include:

Please keep you letters fairly brief (a single side of A4 is ideal). The longer it is, the less likely people are to read it. Please email peter.north@waterstones.com for a store directory.

You are also free to go in and visit local stores. Please bear in mind, though, that staff may be busy with customers, and may not always have time to look at your book there and then.

Please do not telephone or email the stores about your book unless they invite you to.

peter.north@waterstones.com