The Blad; or an Advance Information Sheet (AIS)
by Nick Thorne
It
was back in December
1988 that we opened the door to our shop and it was not long before
the first 'rep' came a calling. Right up until comparatively recently
a Publishers Representative could easily be recognised at a hundred
paces by the several large brief cases that they lugged around with
them. Today, it seems that more often than not, these bags have been
thrown in the bin in favour of the easier to carry laptop computer which
will be loaded with digital versions of the same old tools of their
trade. Before I entered the retail book-trade it had been only aircraft
pilots, going through airports with this size of case in their hands,
that I had seen. The difference between the former and the book reps
was that our publisher's sales people usually carried at least two of
these capacious bags. Very often the rep had to resort to dragging them
around their patch on small collapsible trolleys.
So what was it, in these bags? What did they need to bring to show the
bookshop's buyer that must have caused many a strained muscle and the
odd hernia? It was the Basic Layout and Design Sheet, or as the reps
often referred to them: "Blads". Another name I have seen
used is the AIS (Advanced Information Sheet) and most publisher's representatives
had one on each title that they were hoping to get orders for from the
shop on that day. More often than not, when seeing a rep carrying a
large publisher's list nowadays, it will be a page on the computer screen.
If you are self-published, however, then you need to produce your own
AIS information sheet to distribute to bookshops and the media and you
should get some printed.
As an independent publisher, intent on selling your book into a shop,
you will need to approach the bookbuyer in a professional manner and
in the format that they are used to. Your blad should give them the
information in the format that they have become accustomed to receiving
it in. So do not make it an overblown glossily-designed piece. In fact,
this may only distract them and they may not be sure just what it is
for. The result being that they do not take in the information, so hampering
what the blad is setting out to achieve. All that is needed is as follows:
- A single side of A4 paper.
- Bibliographical information.
- Publication date.
- ISBN.
- Price.
- Binding (paperback or hardback).
- Extent. ( i.e. number of pages).
- Colour (For illustrated books is it Colour throughout or X number of colour and Y number of black and white or simply Black and White illustrations?).
- Format (size can be expressed as 'Royal Octavo', ' Crown Quarto', 'Trade Paperback', 'A format paperback', 'B format', etc. or as dimensions such as w225 x h260mm.).
- General Fiction, Thriller, Crime, Science Fiction, Travel Writing, Biography, Autobiography to name a few.
- BIC Classification. (Book Industry Communication see http://www.bic.org.uk)
- Age ( 5+, Adult etc.)
- Preview picture of the book's cover.
- A brief synopsis of the book.
- An About the Author paragraph.
- Key selling points of the title.
- Contact details.
You should have some of these printed off to give to the bookbuyer. I believe that you should do this even if you are going to leave them a free copy of the book. The blad or advanced information sheet is handy reference for them to refer to when you have gone and refresh their memories as to what your book is about and, of course, give them a clue as to which section it might fit into their shop!
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Go to: www.WriteYourWayToFreedom.com
