Asia for Kids Independent Publisher and Producer Distribution Program
1. Will you carry my book?
Yes, we can if it meets the criteria such as below:
* Be of interest to children, parents and educators. (i.e., books on childrearing)
* Related to languages and cultures (people, food, holidays, costumes, customs,
geography, music, etc.)
* Be readily available. Book - in print. video - product ready.
* ISBN stamped on cover, UPC or ISBN on videos and audio.
* Toys are safety-tested.
* Books do not have gross misrepresentation or contents which may "hurt" people.
* Definite and clear terms (i.e., a discount schedule) are available and products
are available.
* You are willing to send us data in a standardized format
* You have a set retail price for the book and will not ask us to set its price
* You must have the right to sell the item.
But before you send us a copy of books or sample
of products, please read through this guide and learn how to get your products
into the catalog.
2. How do you decide which books to carry?
Our mission is to help parents and teachers locate great resource to learn about
languages and cultures. In our printed catalog, only the items we could highly
recommend after a rigorous review process are selected. On the internet, more
people want variety so we are more likely to choose your product assuming it
meets the above criteria.
3. I sent you a copy of our book, which
meets your all your criteria, but it hasn't shown up yet. Why not?
There are several possibilities. The least likely is that it got lost along
the way. Unlikely, but possible. The most likely is that you forgot to send
us a disk with the data on it, or submit the data online, or that there was
a problem with the data. It is also possible that sufficient time has not yet
passed. It may take up to 8 weeks for a book, video or toys to be included in
our catalog once we have all the data in hand for it.
A great cover or good photograph add significantly to sell your product to consumers.
We strongly recommend that you either send us an image of your product by sending
us a cover scan. Please see our guide to adding content for best possible selling
opportunity.
4. I'd like to see my book reviewed by your editors/review board.
Can I send you a copy to make sure that happens?
We can't promise to review every item sent in for review, for many reasons.
The first is simply a lack of resources - we don't have thousands of editors
for the six thousands of children's books published each year! We carefully
select, from among the review copies and products that we either solicit or
receive, a handful of books and products to review and add to our printed and
web catalog.
5. How can I get you to display my
book's cover or pictures?
You can still make your book's display page look quite nice by taking the time
to add content - other reviews, author's comments, jacket information, etc.
Our guide to adding content explains how to do that.
6. Where and to whom may I send a review copy?
Send review copies of books, video, software and other related items to:
Asia for Kids
Attn: New Product Review Editor
4480 Lake Forest Dr. Suite 302
Cincinnati, OH 45242
Please be sure to send the review items to the
correct address and be labeled as above,
7. I sent you a review copy of books or products and haven't heard
whether you like the book or not. Why aren't you getting back to me ?
We cannot provide feedback on every submission we receive. It is solely
our discretion as to what we choose to review. If we have chosen not to review
a book, it may be for many reasons such as too many books to review, too many
items of same topic. Sometimes we may re review and include the items at a later
date.
Major publishers, producers and manufacturers send
us carefully selected review copies of books, video, audio and toys they think
will interest us, with no obligation on our part. We know that small publishers
don't always have the resources to do that, but it is the way we have to operate.
We have limited resource and we need to use it wisely. Send us your product
for potential distribution. Even if we don't select it for our printed catalog,
we may include it for our online web catalog. You can help us add content to
your listing.
8. How do you determine the price at which you sell books?
Our prices are determined by the discount terms at which we buy your product.
The net price we pay, suggested list price and things such as payment terms
and freight impact how we price the item. Legally, we are free to set
the price for the items but we consider the suggested retail price.
9. What is a discount schedule, and how do I get one?
A discount schedule is a set way of determining how you will sell books as a
wholesaler. In most industries, suppliers sell goods at a set rate based on
quantity, and the retailer then "marks up" that price to whatever they wish.
The publishing industry works the opposite. There is a standard publisher's
price set, and they offer the book to a retailer at a percentage off that price.
Some publishers have a flat discount regardless of the quantity. A graded discount
schedule might look something like this:
1 copy, 20%
2-9 copies, 40%
10-24 copies, 45%
25+ copies, 50%, and so on
Setting a reasonable retail price and a good discount schedule is a challenge for the small publisher, who may also has higher per book costs. If we carry only one book from a publisher, and they require us to buy 5, 10, or sometimes even 50(!) copies in order to get a discount that will give us any reasonable profit, we probably won't want to work with that publisher. We will list their books, but may have to add a surcharge to the price in order just to cover our costs. If you are serious about wanting to sell your book, set a discount schedule that will encourage booksellers to try you out without great risk.
Our recommendation to small publishers is that
they participate in our Independent Publishers Program, with books sold at 55%
off the cover price, regardless of number sold. The first is the best and fastest
way to get your books in front of customers.
10. What is an ISBN, and how do I get one?
ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number, a unique, 10-digit number
that identifies a particular book edition. It is a global bibliographic standard,
and our tracking system uses ISBN exclusively, and we cannot substitute anything
else. ISBNs are assigned by R.R. Bowker, 121 Chanlon Rd., New Providence, NJ,
07974.
11. Do you sell on commission?
Our Small Publisher's Program is essentially a commission-based program.
12. How can I correct
an error in my listing?
To correct a listing, send an email to info@afk.com
with the book's title and ISBN and a clear, brief explanation of the problem.
It may take 3-5 weeks for the problem to be corrected.
How to submit information? Please provide
information listed below info.
Publisher/Organization name: (Required)
Contact person: (Required)
Contact e-mail: (Optional, strongly suggested)
Street address 1: (Required)
Street address 2:
City: (Required)
State: (Required)
Zip or Postal Code: (Required)
Country: (Required)
Publisher phone: (Required)
Publisher fax:
Discount schedule: Required unless book is available through Ingram or Baker
& Taylor. Use quantity and percentage. This is the schedule through which
you will sell to us, and it must begin with one book. Separate graded prices
by semicolons, i.e., 1-5 40%; 6-20 45%, etc.
Book Listing Information - repeat for each ISBN
ISBN: (Required, no dashes)
TITLE: (Required)
SUBTITLE: (Optional, use for that part of the title that would normally appear
following a colon behind the title)
SMALL PUBLISHER ID: (Required for members of our Small Publisher Program, otherwise
leave blank. This identifies this as a Small Publisher Program title. Please
send at least one copy of the book with your data.)
SERIES NAME:
AUTHOR 1: (Last name, first name, middle name or initial. Required except for
books where illustrator or translator is only attribution.)
AUTHOR 2: Optional, use same format as for author.
AUTHOR 3: Optional, use same format as for author.
ILLUSTRATOR 1: Optional, use same format as for author. For picture books with
same author illustrator, your books will be most easy to find if you repeat
the name in this field.
ILLUSTRATOR 2: Optional, use same format as for author.
TRANSLATOR: Optional, use same format as for author.
SUBJECTS: Optional. You may list up to 5 subjects, separated by semicolons.
BOOK TYPE: Optional. Use either Picture Book, Chapter Book, or Nonfiction. Other
entries will be ignored.
AWARDS: Optional. Format - Award, Year. You may list up to 5 awards, separated
by semicolons. Example - XYZ Award, 2000; Outstanding Book for Children, 2000.
BOOK TYPE: Optional. Use either Hardcover Book, Paperback Book, Chapter Book,
or Nonfiction. Other entries will be ignored.
MINIMUM AGE/READING LEVEL: Required. Must be one of the following: (1 - Baby/Toddler
(0-2); 2 - Preschool (3-5); 3 - Early Reader (6-8); 4 - Middle Reader (8-10);
5 - Advanced Reader (10-12); 6 - Young Adult (13+); 7 - Parenting; 8 - Educational
Materials. Please use only the number, not the description.)
MAXIMUM AGE/READING LEVEL: (Required if minimum age is 1-6, otherwise leave
blank for parenting and educational books. Use schedule above. Minimum and maximum
age may be the same.)
EDITION NO: (Optional. Use 1, 2, 3, etc.)
EDITION NAME:
PAGES: (Required. Use zero if unavailable or innappropriate.)
PUBLISHER: (Required)
BINDING: (Required. Choose one of the following: MM (Mass Market Paperback);
TP (Trade Paper); HC (Hardcover); LB (Library Binding); AC (Audiocassette);
AD (Audio CD); VHS (Videotape); CL (Calendar); SP (Spiral-Bound); RB (Ring-Bound);
CD (CD-ROM); PT (Textbook); BB (Board Book); BT (Book with Toy); Other, Please
Specify)
LIST PRICE: (Required. Use US$, include cents.)
PUB DATE: (Required. MMYYYY)
DISTRIBUTOR(S): (Optional. Please specify local or national distributors who
carry the title, separate by semicolons.)
SPECIAL DISCOUNT: (Optional. Use if this title has a special discount schedule
than your other titles. See instructions above for entering discount schedules.)
END: Required. Use this for the end of each unique record of information
END ALL: Required. Use this only once to mark the end of all information
Submitting Your Information
Once the data are in, name the file by your six-digit ISBN prefix plus the month
and year (e.g. 004040-08/98). Copy it onto an Iomega Zip disk or "floppy" (i.e.,
standard 3.5" disk). Macintosh or PC formatting are both acceptable.