For Indie Authors

Hello! Thanks for your interest in working with us to get your books into the hands of readers.

Our shop has been stocking indie authors since we opened in our current location in April 2025. That means we've learned a thing or two about how we prefer to work with authors, and also what sells (for us!). Please read below for a non-exhaustive list of tips and preferences.

If your books do not match this criteria, we hope there are no hard feelings on either side! We are a small shop with limited shelf space and a specific customer base. But, that could always change in the future.

(1) We do not work with authors who use AI, either in their writing or in their jacket design.

This is NOT us passing judgment if you do use these tools; however, it is something that comes up often enough for us that we feel the need to address it upfront. If you are serious about getting your book(s) into indie bookstores, we recommend you budget for a graphic designer to either update current covers or design future covers.

We feel fairly confident that this is feedback you'll hear time and again from booksellers (and our customers), so while using AI does save you money in the short-term, it could also be costing you opportunities in the long-term.

(2) We only (or at least 99.99% of the time) work with Pittsburgh-area authors.

Reason being, folks vastly prefer reading from LOCAL authors, not just indie authors. Does that mean you have to live in Pittsburgh proper to work with us? Nope! Typically, the authors we carry live no more than an hour from the shop. (Not a hard-and-fast rule, but a good frame of reference.)

(3) Our best-performing genres in the indie space are:

Fantasy, romantasy, science fiction, romance, horror, mystery/thrillers, adult fiction, picture books, and middle grade/chapter books. Obviously, this is a wide range so hopefully your books fit somewhere in there.

We do NOT do well with young adult; it's just a very choosy market that relies heavily on word of mouth. We also do not have a lot of success with non-fiction. Again, it's a saturated space where sales tend to favor buzzy books.

(4) We prefer to buy stock wholesale instead of selling on consignment.

It just helps clear up some of the unnecessary paperwork. We are very selective about the books we bring in, so luckily this means that we haven't run into any situations where we are forced to sell slow-moving stock at a discount.

Of course, in the rare event that something isn't selling or perhaps we're just over-stocked, we'd love to work with you to buy your books back instead of having to discount our inventory.

(5) We greatly value working with authors who are also frequent visitors at Woolly Bear.

No, this does not mean you have to buy a book every time you stop in! What this does do, though, is tell us that you have been in the shop often enough to know what we sell. If you do not see comp titles (or books similar to yours) on the shelves, that probably means we're not a good match. It also tells us that you are active in the Pittsburgh literary community, which is obviously a good thing!

(6) We expect authors to let their readers know LOUDLY AND FREQUENTLY that their books are stocked at Woolly Bear.

Unfortunately, there is A LOT of noise online today. While it can feel like you're just adding to the noise when you post about your books, it is actually the most helpful thing you can do to sell books once you successfully stock them in a bookstore!

You do not have to have a large social media platform to work with us, but it is VERY discouraging to see authors who haven't posted on their pages in several months, or even years. Posts do not have to be complex; they can be as simple as a quote from the book and a caption tagging all the places your book can be found!

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