BookBaby Expands Focus to Publishers, Offering D2C Tools

E- and print book distribution service BookBaby has a reputation for working primarily with self-published authors. The company touts the motto, "Make the little guy look big," which BookBaby chief marketing officer Steven Spatz says the company achieves through promotional tools that connect authors with book review sites and PR firms, ecommerce services, and a large-scale distribution.

This week at BEA BookBaby launched a new initiative, offering publishers of 50-plus titles a year a significant discount on its services. Spatz explains the program below.

What's BookBaby's big announcement for BEA 2014?

BookBaby has been working with publishers and agents and people with large backlists, but we really focused on the single, self-published author. We had publishers and agents in these programs, but they weren't exactly right for them. We found out that they need the ability to upload a larger number of files to us at a discount. The program we're announcing at the beginning of BEA is this wholesale initiative.

If you produce over 50 books a year with us, we have pricing tiers that are based on volume. These provide very deep discounts from our regular rates, up to 30%. Even if you are a publisher doing a modest quantity of books, like a college press or a local press, you can easily qualify for this and get some substantial discounts.

That's what publishers have really wanted. They want something that rewards their volume. Publishers can now bring their volume to us and take advantage of all the great things on the backend that self-published authors benefit from.

Do you have publishers who are already signed on for the new program?

No. We based this off of a lot of research and talking with authors about what their needs are. We're not the type of company that goes in to prime the pump.