Local Authors & Makers
Consignment at All My Friends Books
We are proud to be able to carry work by people in our community. Here is how our consignment program works, and how to apply to it.
Traditionally published and widely distributed? You do not need this form.
If your book is available to order through Ingram or another major distributor, we can stock it the same way we stock any other new book, with no consignment agreement needed. Please just get in touch directly at info@allmyfriendsbooks.com.
Why consignment has its own process
Consignment works the opposite way from nearly everything else in the store. With the books we buy from publishers and distributors we pay for the stock up front, and it is ours to sell. With consignment, the work remains until it sells and we pay you your share afterwards.
The difference is not only in bookkeeping. Consigned stock is tracked in a separate system from the rest of our inventory, so receiving, restocking, returns and payouts are all handled with you directly rather than through our usual ordering process. It takes real time from a small team, which is why we take applications rather than accepting everything offered to us.
So this form is the start of a conversation. We read every application and we will get back to you on a decision.
Our consignment terms
- The split
- 60/40 in your favour. You receive 60% of the retail selling price of every copy sold, and the shop keeps 40%.
- Pricing
- We agree the retail price with you when the books come in, and mark it on the copies we hold.
- How your books are shelved
- Books by local authors sit in their genre sections alongside everything else, with a small yellow sticker on the spine so customers spot them naturally while browsing.
- Checking in
- We review consignment inventory a couple of times a year, to pay out what has sold, ask for more copies, or return anything that has not moved. You are welcome to ask for an update at any point in between.
- Payouts
- Your balance is available to collect in the shop at any time, and we will email you when there is something waiting.
- Unsold copies
- Anything that has not sold comes back to you. We will never return books without telling you first.
What we look for
Not every application ends in a yes, and a no is almost always about shelf space and fit rather than the quality of your work.
- A real connection to Cortland, Skaneateles or Central New York. You live here, you grew up here, or the work itself is rooted here.
- A finished book: edited, properly bound, and with a cover that holds its own next to everything else on the shelf.
- Work we can picture a reader for. We stock what our customers ask for, and shelf space is genuinely limited.
- A retail price in line with comparable books in the same section.
- Its own ISBN where possible, which makes a title far easier for us to track, reorder and sell.
What happens after you apply
- You send the form It reaches our team the moment you submit it.
- We read it Please give us a couple of weeks. If we need more detail, or would like to see a copy, we will email you.
- We agree the details If it is a fit, we confirm the retail price, how many copies to start with, and when to bring them in.
- You drop the books off We receive them into our consignment system, shelve them, and email you a confirmation listing exactly what we took and at what price.
- We stay in touch You hear from us when copies sell and when there is a payout waiting for you.
Apply to the consignment program
The more you can tell us here, the faster we can give you a real answer. Fields marked * are required.