Alibris lets self-published authors open up shop in book bazaar

To help self-published authors better promote and sell to readers, Alibris Inc. has created Author Stores, which lists books in numerous marketplaces and online stores.

Once an author signs up to sell through an Author Store, she can list her books once and the books then will be promoted and sold worldwide on marketplaces Alibris.com, Alibris.co.uk and Library.Alibris.com, as well as the online stores of Barnes & Noble, Borders, Chapters Indigo, eBay, Half.com, Waterstone’s and others. Once she lists a book, it becomes part of the Alibris data feed, which is routinely sent to its online bookseller partners.

Authors can customize their Author Stores to showcase their books through various promotional tools, including a personalized biography and photo, blog, custom URL, and custom merchandising and catalog tools.

“Authors are central to the Alibris marketplace,” says Brian Elliott, president and CEO of Alibris, No. 116 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. “Our dedicated customers and business partners come to Alibris looking for selection and to discover new books. Over a third of our marketplace sales are new books—most of those solidly in the ‘long tail’—and through the new Author Stores sales channel and its dynamic features, authors can promote and sell more books.”