We receive emails from independent authors and publishers every day and know how daunting it can be trying to figure out the best way to get your book onto the shelves of bookshops. To hopefully help to save you some time and headaches, we’ve collected together as much information as possible regarding our submission process which we hope will help to demystify things a little.

We love to support small presses and DIY publishing projects as much as we possibly can, but we also want you to have as much information as possible regarding how we work (and our limits) in order to avoid any unnecessary disappointment.

How should I contact you?

Email is always best, and for bonus points please use:

submissions@pagesofhackney.co.uk

What information should I provide?

The more information you can send about your book the better, but typically the really crucial details will be:

• The title, author, publisher, and ISBN of your book (if applicable)
• Its RRP (The price we would be selling it for)
• Our discount (A percentage of the RRP minus the cost price, or what we would pay for it. Typically we’ll require this to be 40%, although depending on the nature of your book this can sometimes be flexible)
• Ordering information (Will we deal with you directly, or with a supplier or distributor? If ordering direct, what are your terms of sale?)
• Why you think it would be a good fit for us

That last one is perhaps the most frequently overlooked detail, but this definitely one of the most important things you could tell us. We strongly recommend familiarising yourself with the shop and what we do (via our website and socials, and particularly our bestsellers) before contacting us, and ensuring you’ll be able to explain why your book would work well on our shelves.

How soon can I expect a reply?

We endeavour to answer all emails about stock submissions as quickly as possible, however we receive an extremely high volume of emails from independent authors and publishers telling us about their books for consideration, and as such we are not always able to reply to every submission we receive.

Can I give you a call or drop by in person to discuss?

We are an exceptionally busy shop with a small team, and as such are unable to discuss submissions by phone. Occasionally we might ask to schedule a meeting in person to discuss your submission further, however email should always be used in the first instance.

Can I send you a copy of my book for consideration?

Sample copies can sometimes be a useful part of our decision making progress when considering submissions, however we already receive far, far more than we could ever hope to give our full attention to. Before sending an unsolicited sample copy to the shop, it’s always best to send us an email first giving us the above info, and offering a sample copy (which sometimes we may take you up on).

Why aren’t you willing to stock my book?

If we decline your submission, we’ll always do our best to explain the reasons for our decision at the time. In general though, please remember that we are a very small shop in which every inch of shelf space is precious, and it simply isn’t possible to keep the shop operational without being highly selective in our stock choices.

Ultimately, our decision will always come down to whether or not your book is right for our customers and community. There will be undoubtedly be many bookshops out there for whom your book likely be a great fit and do very well, but please don’t take it personally if we don’t feel that is the case for us.

This could never be a hard and fast set of rules, but hopefully these guidelines will prove helpful if you’re thinking of submitting your book to us for consideration.

Further information is also available from the Booksellers Association, who have produced a more comprehensive guide that also covers some of the points above. This is a really excellent resource that provides lots of additional guidance to help authors and publishers approach other independent bookshops.