Confirm trade distribution and terms
Confirm wholesaler availability
Confirm that bookstores and libraries can order your book through the major wholesalers they actually use, with stock or print-on-demand availability showing in their systems.
Authors often hire help with this: metadata or distribution.
Why it matters
Bookstores and libraries order from wholesalers because it is convenient, and they rarely make exceptions for one title. A book that is not orderable through the account's wholesaler is functionally unavailable to that account. Checking three to six months out gives time to fix a missing listing before outreach begins.
Your part
- What you do
- Verify. Someone else may do it. Inspect the result yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Publisher and Author and Distributor. Publisher or distributor arranges; author confirms
- When
- 3 to 6 months before publication, before bookstore and library outreach (Confirm trade distribution and terms: twelve to three months before publication, before preorders open)Checked September 14, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Your part changes with your publishing route.
How to do it
The full walkthrough
A wholesaler buys books from publishers and distributors and resells them to bookstores, libraries, and online retailers, usually shipping quickly from its own warehouse. Most independent bookstores and many libraries order almost everything through a wholesaler rather than from each publisher directly. In the United States, Ingram is the dominant wholesaler for bookstores, and since Baker & Taylor ceased operations in early 2026 it supplies most libraries too; Brodart, Bookazine, and others also serve libraries. If your book is not available through the wholesaler an account uses, that account will often not order it, however much they like it.
Availability means the wholesaler's system shows the title, the correct ISBN and price, and either stock on hand or a print-on-demand status the account can order against. It also involves terms (the discount and returnability) that affect whether a bookstore will bother, and those have their own item.
Wholesaler availability normally follows from the distribution arrangement, so the question is who to ask. At a publisher or a hybrid press, ask which wholesalers carry the book and whether stock will be in place before publication, and expect Ingram wholesale to be the answer more often than not, which is fine as long as you know it. If you publish the book yourself, availability comes from your platform's distribution settings: print-on-demand through Ingram's network is the usual route, and the ebook has its own wholesale routes.
You cannot log into wholesaler systems yourself, but you can ask a friendly bookstore or librarian to look the ISBN up and tell you what they see. That is the most reliable check there is.
Common mistakes
- Assuming that being on Amazon makes a book orderable by a bookstore.
- Never asking anyone with wholesaler access to check the record.
- Confusing the ebook's wholesale route with the print edition's.
- Pitching bookstores before the wholesaler record exists.
Identifiers for Confirm wholesaler availability
Set a status on any record and it joins this step. All book identifiers.
| My status | Identifier | Why this matters | Yours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ingram The wholesale catalog most bookstores and libraries order from, plus IngramSpark, the self-publishing platform that feeds into it. | This decides whether a bookstore or library can order your book through the channel most of them use, and on what terms, so when a shop says it cannot order your book this is usually where the answer sits. Ingram's data also reaches many retailers and library vendors, so an error in the record can surface in several places. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask whether the title is in Ingram wholesale, at what wholesale discount, and whether it is returnable, since those are the two terms a bookseller checks before ordering; if you publish the book yourself, you set the discount and the return policy in IngramSpark, and both have real money attached. Get the discount and return terms in writing, then check that the title record matches the other major listings. | Nothing to record | |
| Baker & Taylor (closed) A former U.S. library wholesaler that closed in January 2026; this record is kept for history, not as a route to libraries. | Older advice tells authors to get their book into Baker & Taylor, and following it now costs you time for nothing. The live question is which wholesaler each library uses today and whether your book is orderable there. Ask the library which wholesaler it uses now. Common current routes include Ingram, Brodart, and Bookazine, but the library's own answer controls. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask the publisher or distributor which library wholesalers now carry the book. A self-publisher normally checks that Ingram availability is in place, since that is the usual route into library wholesale. The useful answer now is the name of a wholesaler through which a library can actually order your book. | Nothing to record |
What done looks like
- The wholesalers carrying each format named and recorded.
- Stock or print-on-demand status confirmed in the wholesaler's system before publication.
- ISBN, title, price, and publication date correct in the wholesaler's record.
- A bookstore or librarian has looked the ISBN up for you and confirmed it is orderable.
- Any gaps (a wholesaler that does not carry the book) known before you pitch accounts that use it.
Evidence. Done means someone says the work happened. Verified means you checked the confirmation, link, or public record yourself.
Ask your publisher
Copy this into an email. Replace the bracketed parts with your details.
Sources and last checked
- Official source
- Official source (opens in a new tab)
- Last checked
- September 14, 2026
- How confident we are
- Verified
Rules and deadlines change. We last checked this information on September 14, 2026. If you see something that needs updating, please tell us.