[Discussioni] Request for Friends of GNU to help increase bookstore distribution.

[Lisa M. Opus Goldstein]

Dear Friends of GNU,


Recently several people have asked us how to get their local bookstore
to carry GNU Press books.  We asked one of the volunteers to write the
article below based upon his successful experience.

We appreciate people helping our books be more widely available.
There is no need to contact us first, but you can if you like.  We can
send you copies of sales literature and catalogs for you to show to
bookstore buyers.

We are especially hoping that people living outside the USA will help
out. Except for a very few stores, most people have to buy on-line or
have their store special-order a single copy for them.  It would be
nice to give people the opportunity to browse the books first.

Best Regards,

-- 
Lisa M. Goldstein           opus a gnu.org
Managing Editor, GNU Press
Business Manager,           Tel 617-542-5942
Free Software Foundation    Fax 617-542-2652


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Instructions to Friends of GNU on how to get GNU Press books into
their local bookstores.


First visit the website www.gnupress.org to familiarize yourself with
the current title list.  Click on the "Information for Resellers" link
[http://www.gnupress.org/resellers.html], and notice which books are
being specifically marketed to bookstores, and what points are being
made in the sales pitch.  Also click on the "Upcoming New Titles" link
[http://www.gnupress.org/upcomingtitles.html], to see what titles are
on the horizon.

Contact several bookstores in your region with good-sized technical
sections.  Don't select more than one branch each of chain
stores. Find out whether they stock GNU Press books, and whether or not
all their distributors stock GNU Press books.

If the bookstore does not stock GNU Press books but one or more of their
distributors does:

Call or visit the store and ask to speak to the person in charge of
technical book section.  (The average person working on the store
floor cannot help you in this matter.)  Ask why they don't hold GNU
books in stock. Point out to the bookstore that the GNU project
provides many of the main programs used by programmers and system
administrators, and that they are missing stocking the definitive
books for these programs. This may be sufficient to encourage the
bookstore to inquire to their distributor.

If some or all of the bookstore's distributors do not supply GNU Press
books: Ask the bookstore employee the name and telephone number of the
distributors they purchase from - doing the same for 3 or 4 computer
bookshops will give a good picture of the main distributors in your
region to focus on.

Telephone the distributors to verify whether they do or don't stock
GNU Press books. If not, find out the name of the person responsible
for specifying which books the distributor stocks.

Tell the purchasing manager you are ringing on behalf of GNU
Press. Explain what the GNU project is, making sure the purchasing
manager is clear the GNU project publishes definitive books for a
range of programs published as part of the GNU project, and that the
programs are common to many. Point the purchasing manager to the
www.gnupress.org web site. Sometimes a purchasing manager will be
sufficiently technically oriented to discuss the ubiquity of programs
such as GNU Make and GCC. Once the purchasing manager has understood
these issues, he is likely to want to see samples of GNU Press books,
perhaps two or three titles to get a feel for the breadth and depth of
coverage and the quality of writing style. At this stage, you should
contact GNU Press to co-ordinate. Send email to <press a gnu.org>.

When making your sales pitch, good books to mention are GNU make, MDK
and Free Software Free Society. This gives a cross section of
technical manual, 'fun' book and philosophical book.

Find out when it is convenient to contact the purchasing manager,
after he has received the sample books. Call the purchasing manager
around the designated time. If he isn't available, repeat contact
attempts in around 10 day intervals.

When the purchasing manager has agreed to carry GNU Press books, a
contract will need to be drawn up. This should be done between GNU
Press <press a gnu.org> and the distributor directly.

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