Consignment & Consignment Event Guidelines

Author Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in placing your book at BookShop West Portal. If your book has been published by an established trade publisher, and we decide to carry it, we will purchase it directly from that publisher. If that is the case, you are welcome to send us notification of your book's publication to info@bookshopwestportal.com

If your book is self-published we offer you the opportunity for us to sell it on a consignment basis. On consignment, the book remains the property of the consignor until sold and BookShop West Portal is not responsible for lost or stolen merchandise. If you would like your book considered for stock, please follow our consignment guidelines:

All consignment requests must be made in writing. We regret that we are unable to accommodate walk-in visits or telephone inquiries.
 
- In keeping with our general inventory, only books published with a printed and bound spine and displaying an International Standard Book Number (ISBN), and a price will be considered. For consignors able to meet these conditions, our normal terms are 60/40, i.e., we take a 40% discount.

- To submit a book for consideration, please drop off a one-paragraph letter including your contact information, ISBN and price information, any promotional materials and publicity plans. Do tell us why you think our customers would be interested in your book. We tend to have a bias for authors who live close to our shop, but there are many factors that we consider. These materials should be sent to info@bookshopwestportal.com, mailed to 80 West Portal Ave, SF 94127, or dropped off at our front desk. If we feel your book may have a market with our customers, we may request a review copy, which should be sent to the store along with a self-addressed stamped envelope.

- Due to our busy schedules, this review process can take several weeks.

Event Guidelines
 
In-Store Events

BookShop West Portal hosts authors for readings throughout the year. We have several criteria, but our decision usually comes down to whether we feel our customers would be interested in meeting the author.

To consider an event, we require that the author be able to attract at least 50 attendees. Because of the size of our shop, an author event hinders the browsing of our regular customers. Due to economic realities, we have to sell enough books each day to pay our bills. That translates to our goal of 50 people at an author event.

We schedule readings on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and every other Wednesday at 7 pm.

Occasionally we will consider events on other evenings or other days, but those are exceptions.

Out-of-Store Events

We are happy to sell books at private publication parties, business and civic meetings, clubs, churches, synagogues, conferences, and gatherings of all sorts. We will travel anywhere within California if the meeting or conference is large enough. Over the years we have sold books at hundreds of places, as far away as Long Beach, and as close as homes in our neighborhood. To sell at out-of-store locations, we need enough potential buyers to pay for our time and work, and we need access to electricity.