I <3 bookplates. Here’s some tips for authors, booksellers and publishers. (Misshelved #5)
Since the spring of 2020, it often seems like the whole world has been gathering exclusively online, as in-person parties, happy hours and other celebrations went digital—and author events changed too. Books that once would have been signed in front of crowds of fans in a packed bookstore are now autographed in quiet moments behind store doors still closed to the public or, more likely, have been replaced by bookplates that booksellers can insert into books regardless of the author’s location.
Though independent booksellers are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel as stores reopen to shoppers and more and more authors begin to make their way back to in-person events calendars, digital events aren’t going anywhere—and for better or worse, neither are bookplates. So let’s talk about best bookplate practices for authors, publishers, booksellers and everybody in between!
When we talk about bookplates in this sense, we’re not talking about ownership bookplates: those little stickers you insert into the front of a book that label it as belonging to the reader. (This book belongs to the library of Jurgen Leitner.) We’re talking about author-signed bookplates, which are small stickers often affixed to an end page or title page of a book in lieu of an author signing the book directly.
A big chunk of the problems that arise with bookplates stem from poor bookplate design. Other issues come into play when shipping bookplates. For booksellers, storing bookplates can also be a huge challenge. Luckily, I have some ideas to address all of these difficulties and more! Read over these do’s-and-don’ts and see if you can learn anything new.
DO:
Measure bookplates during the design process to see if they will fit nicely in the book. You don’t want a bookplate so small that it’s hard to stick properly without looking weird, but I’ve also encountered many bookplates so large that it’s difficult to bookplate properly without covering up much of the design of the page. (Looking at you, Simon & Schuster Children’s Books. Your bookplates are as wide as the page!)
DO:
Make sure your bookplates are actually some sort of sticker and not, uh, something else. We recently had an author just send cards with no sticky stuff on the back, which … defeated the purpose of the bookplate. Author Jackson Pearce recommends transparent stickers, if you can swing it, as they more closely mimic signing on the page and avoids many sizing problems. Be warned, however, that transparent stickers are more expensive and take longer to sign, because it takes much longer for ink to dry on the transparent material.
DO:
Print the author’s name on the bookplate. Authors, I adore you, but many of your signatures are illegible when viewed out of context. Is that an M or a Z? Putting your name on the bookplate itself guarantees that booksellers (or fans who receive it separately from the book) will know whose autograph they’re looking at, especially if they drop the bookplate on the floor by accident. As I have done. Several times. If including the author’s name in the bookplate design is not possible because a publisher or bookstore supplied a generic bookplate to sign, just include the author’s name on a piece of paper attached to the stack of bookplates via rubberband or paperclip.
DO:
Brand your blank bookplate. If you’re a publisher or an author, subtly slap your name or logo on there. (This also helps bookstores determine who the bookplate belongs to if shipped without a name slip.) If you’re a bookstore, having bookplates with your bookstore’s name on them serves as almost-free publicity down the road … especially when paired with autographed stickers with your bookstore’s name on them. (To the people selling books signed at Oblong for marked-up prices on eBay with the Oblong stickers still on the cover: Thanks for sending us customers, you silly beans!)
DON’T:
Make a bookplate perfectly designed to fit in just One Area or just One Book. Customizing bookplates for each individual book you publish or write is a big waste of money … and very hard for booksellers to track. Leave out individual titles or book-specific design elements and focus just on your authorial or imprint brand. I love that Philippa Gregory sent out bookplates for her new book, but I don’t love that the bookplates feature the title of her new book, because it means I can’t use them to help sell the earlier books in her series. Y’know?
DO:
Ask bookstores if they’re interested in bookplates. Signed books sell better. They just do. If there’s a bookstore you love that you suspect would like to carry your book or already does, sending them bookplates is a great way to help sales. Of course, ask before you randomly send bookplates—dropping them an email should do the trick!—but they’d probably be happy to take a few or a hundred, depending on the store.
DON’T:
Randomly send bookstores bookplates. I know I just said this, but bookstores need to make sure they have stock prepared. Communication is the key to a good publisher/bookstore or author/bookstore relationship, and it’s not a great idea to leave booksellers feeling confused or unprepared. Take the two minutes to send them an email first, and it will save you money on bookplates and postage stamps in the long run.
DO:
Mail individual or small quantities of bookplates in a regular envelope with a postage stamp. If you’re sending so many that you can’t justify using a regular envelope, put them in a simple unpadded envelope and tape it securely before sending it as a First Class package. Tape ensures the package won’t get torn during shipping and the many bookplates you spent hours signing won’t go flying all over the post office.
DO:
Send bookplates to authors to sign and ship back to you. If you’re a bookstore or a publisher, the best way to do this is by packing blank bookplates using the method above and by including a prepaid return envelope with the original package. This streamlines the process for the author and ensures that the bookplates will be shipped back to the correct location.
DO:
Organize your bookplates. Okay, this tip is just for the booksellers in the room. You’re likely juggling a whole bunch of signed bookplates, and keeping them rubberbanded together in their original envelopes in some cubby is just impractical. We’ve found the best way to manage them at our store is to start a bookplate box. When bookplates arrive, they get placed in a clean regular envelope (the sort you would send letters in) with the author’s name written on the front like so: LAST NAME, FIRST NAME, all caps for max legibility. The envelopes then get placed in the box alphabetically , with any notes you need about the bookplate written on the front of the envelope. (For instance, Molly Baz’s bookplates need to be plated with the circle on the left side, as her signature is just a squiggle and it’s otherwise difficult to tell what direction they need to go.) Put that box on a storage shelf somewhere safe with some blank envelopes tucked in the back, and you’ve got yourself a nice and easy organizational system that any staff member can understand.
We're still going strong over on the Misshelved podcast! Since our last episode, we've featured independent bookseller Cecilia Cackley talking soccer with award-winning author Yamile Saied Méndez, bookstore owner Meg Wasmer talking about science fiction with Murderbot author Martha Wells, and children's specialist Stephanie Heinz talking about the power of local community with renowned author-illustrator Melissa Sweet.
Have you listened yet? Here's the spiel: Take a peek into the minds of independent booksellers and their favorite authors with the new biweekly podcast series from award-winning bookseller Nicole Brinkley. (That’s me!) Each episode, meet an independent bookseller and listen in as they talk to one of their favorite authors about books, publishing, and the world we live in. Start listening now on your favorite podcast platform to meet your next favorite independent bookseller.
Nicole Brinkley has short hair and loves dragons. The rest changes without notice. She is the manager of Oblong Books. Her opinions are her own. If you like this newsletter, consider supporting her on Patreon.
This essay was edited by Stephanie Appell. Read more of Stephanie's work at bookpage.com, where she is the children's and YA editor, or say hi on Twitter @noseinabookgirl. Her opinions are also her own.
Incredible resource, thank you for sharing all these bookplate-related insights. Very helpful!