FAQ For Book Publishers

WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR INDIGO TO PURCHASE MY BOOKS?

Indigo establishes commercial relationships only with the legal entity that distributes your book; we describe this form of organization as a “Book Vendor”. See our Book Vendors FAQ for further information.

If you are a book publisher without physical distribution capability, Indigo is unable to establish a commercial relationship with your organization. Please see below for information about acquiring a distributor.

If you are a publisher with distribution capability (either within your company or through a third party) and would like Indigo to consider your books for our customers, please send an email to NewPublisher@indigo.ca. This email should be brief (3 to 4 sentences regarding the type(s) of books that you publish, including the target audience market). The request will be reviewed and directed to the appropriate category manager. If there is interest in establishing a commercial relationship Indigo will contact you further for discussion.

I DO NOT HAVE A DISTRIBUTOR. WHAT DO I DO?

To find out information on distribution in Canada, including a list of distributors, please visit the “Association of Canadian Publishers” at: https://publishers.ca/industry/#distribution

As you consider your choice of distributor, if you are not located in Canada, please take into account the ability of your distributor to accept returns from Canada.

Additionally, please see the FAQ for EDI which further elaborates on Indigo’s requirement that your organization (or your distribution partner) be able to transact via EDI.

WHAT TYPE OF BOOK FORMATTING DOES INDIGO REQUIRE?

The book must have an ISBN and EAN barcode on the back cover of the title.

Additionally, the following are all factors that impact the customer experience and therefore may impact the decision made by our Category managers as they select books for sale in various channels.

• The presence of a Canadian retail price listed on the book’s front or back cover
• The quality of the print and book binding process; this includes the requirement of the title to be printed on the spine. This ensures that our consumers can still read the title if the book sits spine-out on the shelf.
• There can be exceptions to square spines, but only for certain subjects within our stores such as “children’s books”.

DO YOU ACCEPT LOCAL AND REGIONAL INTEREST TITLES?

We do accept Local and Regional Interest titles. The decision to purchase is influenced by many factors such as:

1. Uniqueness of the title
2. Media – How will you be promoting your book?
3. Pricing – Retail price must be competitive.
4. Professionalism of packaging.
5. Title must be fully returnable.

Please contact NewPublisher@indigo.ca for submission requirements.

WHAT IS BOOKNET CANADA?

BookNet Canada is a non-profit organization that develops technology, standards and education to serve the Canadian book industry. BookNet Canada now has a data service for publisher’s ONIX and image files. It is called “BNC BiblioShare”.

Please refer to: http://www.biblioshare.org/

If you become a vendor with Indigo, we encourage you to submit your bibliographic data to BNC BiblioShare, at the same time that you send the data to Indigo Books & Music Inc.

For all other inquiries, please contact us at NewPublisher@indigo.ca

WHAT IS CATALIST?

CataList is an online tool for marketing, selling, and ordering books. It was created by BookNet Canada.

Our Category Managers require that all titles released after December 31st, 2013 be on BookNet Canada’s CataList. This applies to all catalogues and sell sheets for Indigo Category Managers.

For more information, please refer to http://www.booknetcanada.ca/catalist-for-publishers.