Self-Published/Local Author Guidelines

Congratulations on publishing a book!

If you are an author local to Sacramento, we can possibly accept your book for our Local Authors shelf. If you’re an author outside of Sacramento, but would like us to consider selling your book in our store, please read our criteria and your options below. While we would love to be able to accept every self-published book, we don’t have the space or staff resources to accept all indie-published books.

Sales Options:

Consignment

As a service to Sacramento area self-published authors, Capital Books offers a consignment sales program as a 60/40 split of any book sales (you keep 60%, and we retain 40%).

Purchase through your distributor

If your book is available through a popular distributor (not Amazon), please list that on the form below. We consider Amazon to be a direct competitor of ours and will not ever purchase any books through them. We will also not carry books published by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or AuthorHouse.

Self-published books:

Capital Books defines “self-published” as any author who has paid (or otherwise arranged) to have their work printed, either personally or through a professional print-on-demand company.

Use of a printing/print-on-demand service. Authors who start their own publishing companies to publish their own writing are considered self-published. Books published by small presses that don’t distribute their books through Ingram or similar distributors with normal bookseller terms (minimum 40% discount and returnable) are also considered self-published.

Does your book meet these requirements?

Please read the following guidelines:

• Your book must appear to be professionally produced. Was the cover designed by a graphics professional? Was it copy edited by a professional?
• If we’re to support your book sales, we request the same of you. By us carrying your book, we ask that you refer your followers to Capital Books to purchase your book from your website and social media. We ship anywhere in the U.S.
• Your book must have an ISBN must be assigned to the book and printed on the back cover.
• It must be priced comparably to other titles of its size and genre.
• As mentioned above, your book must be distributed by Ingram offering at least 40% discount and be returnable.
• It may not contain any racist, sexist, homophobic, or overtly dogmatic content.
• Understand that Capital Books will not market your book or put up posters or bookmarks for it. We simply don’t have the space.

It is helpful to get your book into bookstores and libraries if it has received a few professional book reviews (e.g., not your friends/family). If you need assistance with finding reputable review companies, we can refer you to some.

Submission guidelines for consignment books

Authors must agree to the following terms:

• Authors must list Capital Books as a retail location prominently on their website and marketing materials. The more you encourage your readers to come into our store, the more your book will sell here! The initial consignment period is three months.
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• Due to space limitations, we will accept only two copies to start with. If your book sells at least one copy during that period, Capital Books may choose to extend that period for an additional three-month period until all copies have sold. Once all copies have sold, Capital Books will contact you regarding restock and issue you a check for 60% of the retail cost of each book.

If your book fails to sell during its first or any subsequent consignment period—or if Capital Books wishes to return your books for any other reason—we will contact you to issue you a check for any sold copies and return your unsold books. Authors are responsible for all return shipping costs, and Capital Books is not responsible for any loss or damages incurred in the returns process. If you fail to make arrangements for pick-up or return of your books in four weeks following notification, they will be donated.