A salesperson’s role in publishing is to be the liaison between the retailer and our publisher. We talk to retailers about the titles we publish three to nine months before publication, and we manage to get their feedback and discuss plans for how we will work with them to help sell books to their consumer base. We then take this feedback, along with our own knowledge of the market, and use it in the publication process internally with our colleagues in editors, marketers, PR, publishing, design and many others. Sales are handled from the beginning of the acquisition process to discuss where we think the offer will sell best, right up until the book is published to make sure we have enough stock in our warehouse, and we work with our accounts to make the most of any opportunities that may come our way.
There are many different areas within the sales team that involve selling a title, whether it’s servicing accounts such as Waterstones or Tesco, dealing with digital retailers such as Kindle Books or Apple, dealing with independent bookstores or museum gift accounts, and even managing retailers, wholesalers and bookstores in overseas territories from Australia to Latin America, and everything else in between. An important part of the sales team, which is vital to our well-oiled machine, is the inventory team, which monitors stock shipments and makes sure that books get into shops at the right time. We work closely with all divisions of the publishing business to ensure that every book has the best opportunity to reach as many people as possible.