Special Sales: New Opportunities for Book Publishers

Brian Jud leads a dual life. If you meet him in a professional context, he’ll hand you two business cards. The first is for his company, Premium Book Company LLC, which specializes in book sales to special markets. Jud’s been doing this for years, and he and his partner Guy Achtzehn (pronounced like oxen) are whizzes at finding bulk sales opportunities for the wide range of books they carry in their catalogue (www.promobookstore.com). Jud’s second business card touts his role as Executive Director of APSS: the Association of Publishers for Special Sales.

Jud, whose name you may recognize as a regular Book Business blogger, stopped by our offices yesterday on his way to a site visit at Philadelphia’s Wyndham Hotel, which will host the association’s annual conference on November 8th and 9th. Aside from bragging about our excellent local restaurant scene and warning Jud not to let attendees accept any suggestions to eat at Bookbinder’s while they’re in town, we asked Jud to tell us what participants have to gain from attending the APSS Book Marketing Conference.

Jud took over the directorship of AAPS (and changed it from its former name of SPAN) early this year, and has been working hard to grow membership by increasing member benefits, such as a monthly newsletter, the annual conference, and other events yet to come. Jud also wants to emphasize that the group, in its new iteration, is complimentary, rather than competitive to, the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), a group founded by Jan Nathan, someone whom Jud greatly admires. With its focus on special sales opportunities, members can learn to add revenue to their independent publishing efforts.

With a roster of speakers including keynoter Sumya Ojakli, Senior Director, Special Markets at Simon & Schuster and other experts such as Amy Collins, formerly of F+W and now of New Shelves Distribution and Midpoint Trade Books president Eric Kampmann, Jud promises valuable conference takeaways including learning:

• How to sell more books non-returnable
• How to become more profitable
• How to negotiate
• How to prospect for buyers
• How to negotiate large quantity sales

“I’m very big on content and value,” says Jud. “I want to make sure everybody leaves there saying ‘wow, this was great.’” Attendees will also be invited to attend a follow up webinar three months after the event to check in and ask questions. Jud explains: “I’ve been to a lot of these conferences and get back to work and go back to the old routine.” He wants, he says, to take what attendees learn and “make sure they do it!”

See here for more info on the conference.