About

ROUNDHOUSE GROUP: REPRESENTATION & DISTRIBUTION

The Roundhouse Group is a major distributor of adult non-fiction and children’s books throughout the UK & Europe and, for selected lists, the Middle East, Africa, Indian sub-Continent, and South America.

The Roundhouse Group comprises four sales divisions:

ARTS

Roundhouse Arts focuses on modern, urban, fine, practical & graphic art, architecture, design, graphic design, and photography.

GENERAL

Roundhouse specializes in general interest subjects, inc. business, crafts, film, food & drink, health & self-help, history, lifestyle, literature & language, medical, mind-body-spirit, natural world, music, sport & fitness

TRAVEL

Roundtrip Travel is dedicated to maps, guides, and travel writing

CHILDREN’S & EDUCATIONAL BOOKS

Roundabout is our children’s and young-adult specialist division

PROFESSIONAL SALES REPRESENTATION

We still believe the best way to sell your books is to visit our customers in person.

We work with a well-established team of sales people in the UK & Ireland* and sales agencies in Europe – selling regularly to over 2,000 live accounts, including:

Retail: chains, independents, museums, universities, special interest, etc.
Wholesale: Bertrams, Bookspeed, Gardners, etc.
Children’s specialists: Madeleine Lindley, Scotia & Chameleon, etc.
Library Suppliers: Askews, Bertrams Lib., Coutts, Dawson, Holt Jackson, etc.
Educational & Academic: Blackwell’s, Kent Book Co., Peters, etc.
Export: all major stockists of English-language product throughout Europe and beyond
Online: Amazon, Aphrohead, The Book Depository, Tesco, Waterstone’s, W H Smith, etc.
Book Clubs & Direct Mail: Incentive Plus, Reader’s Union, Rompa, etc.
Non-bookstore accounts: art & craft, photography, garden centre stores, etc.

ONLINE SALES

We work closely with our preferred partner The Book Depository (www.bookdepository.co.uk) to maximize online sales and promote new titles and backlist. BD offer free delivery of your books worldwide.

SALES CYCLES & SALES CONFERENCES

We run 4 sales cycles each calendar year to maximize appointments with buyers and to dovetail with our major customers’ buying budgets and promotional cycles. This avoids ‘bumping’ titles from spring to autumn/autumn to spring and provides for as close to a global publishing date as international shipping allows or promotional imperatives dictate.

Twice yearly we run a 2-day sales conference (January & July) at our office facility in Brighton & Hove and welcome regular participation from our client publishers.

LISTING

We are a subscribing data contributor to Nielsen BookData, the leading provider of book-related information services to more than 110 countries worldwide.

SUPPLY CHAIN

Our pick/pack/despatch & invoicing is contracted out to Orca Book Services (www.orcabookservices.co.uk), part of Marston Book Services – the largest independent book distributor in the UK servicing not only the UK & Europe but the rest of the world, and is part of our package. Client publishers benefit from not having to negotiate separate agreements, micro-manage their overseas logistics or invoicing & collection. Orca is a subscriber to Pubeasy.com, giving booksellers 24/7 online access to your titles.

SHIPPING

We ship weekly from the USA and regularly from Australia and on-demand (by road) within Europe in association with major logistics providers.

OUR SERVICES

Our preferred method of working with client publishers is the well-established “on-consignment” stock system. You deliver stock to our nominated shipper (in your country) and we do the rest. We account for books sold on a monthly basis and remit moneys to you (by direct bank transfer) less our agreed discount.

Alternatively, for smaller/medium-sized and specialist publishers we offer a “firm purchase” deal. You deliver stock to our nominated shipper and we pay you 120 days from invoice date, less our highest discount This option suits publishers who want to minimize administrative work and associated costs.

Or we are pleased to offer a basic representation and distribution service at fixed percentage rates or share-of-net-proceeds.

OUR TEAM

Alan Goodworth, CEO, Roundhouse Group
Matt Goodworth, Marketing Manager, Roundhouse Group
Dennis Buckingham, UK Key Accounts
Bill Gills, Director, Roundabout (Children’s lists)

ADDITIONAL SERVICES

In addition to professional representation and distribution, our services include:

Production of Trade advance information sheets
PR & Publicity: basic services included or specific campaigns at cost in association with our dedicated professional provider
Sales office backup: includes all the usual “back office” routines such as queries, questions, chasers, returns requests, maintenance of title database, etc.
Book fairs: participation at trade book fairs (London, Frankfurt, Book Expo USA)
Print-on-demand and short-run printing
And, where requested, advice and comment!

Roundhouse Group, your one-stop solution to UK & European representation & distribution