Q: When should I use the All Titles search form and when should I use the Children's Titles or Profiled Titles search forms?
A: Use the All Titles search form when you want to run reports for all of your titles regardless of whether they are adult or juvenile, profiled or not. Use the Children's when you know you only want to
search for juvenile titles (adult titles are automatically filtered out). Use the Profiled Titles search form when you're looking for sales, demand, and bibliographic data for titles profiled on YBP's approval plans only.
Q: Which is the quickest way to access the information: 'Display in Pub Alley' or 'Email'?
A: For very large reports, it may be quickest to email the report to yourself.
Q: If I email a report, what format is it in and what information will it
include?
A: Title reports are Excel spreadsheets that include ISBN level sales, demand, backorders, inventory, and select
bibliographic information. Similarly, Market reports are Excel spreadsheets that include market and submarket sales breakdowns as well as select bibliographic data.
Q: What is the Add Multiple ISBN link on the ISBN/Title field?
A: If you would like to search for a group of ISBNs that you have in a spreadsheet or Word document, simply click the Add Multiple
ISBNs link to open up the dialog window, then copy and paste the list from your spreadsheet or Word document, click "Add" and the list of ISBNs will populate the ISBN field.
You can add up to 100 10-digit and/or 13-digit ISBNs at a time. There is no need to format the list; the system will
automatically parse the list.
Q: Is there a limit to the number of titles retrieved in a search?
A: No, but in the interest of efficiency, after 2000 records, the system will
prompt you to email the report to yourself (or a colleague using the email option on the menu bar of the search results
page), or refine your search. Note that the maximum number of rows for a single Excel report is 65,000. Reports with more than 65,000 titles will fail to generate, and no email will be delivered.
Q: What is the YBP Profile Date?
A: This is the date that YBP profiles the book in-hand and makes it available
for sale in the YBP system through approval plans.
Q: How do I search by imprint?
A: The imprint box shows all of your imprints highlighted. To select one or more, hold down the CTRL key and click the imprint name(s).
For other imprints or a mix of yours and others publishers', click the "browse" link to search and select imprints directly from the imprint pop up menu. A keyword search box is at the top of the screen. Search results are highlighted so that you can identify the best match to your search criteria. When you click an imprint name, that imprint shows up in the Selected Imprints box. Our imprint list is updated regularly.
Also, note the "My" option before the alphabetical listing. This lets you quickly reload all of your imprints.
Q: What are Speedstock titles, and how do I search for them?
A: Speedstock titles are those designated by B&T as fast-moving books requiring special attention and stocking considerations. To locate Speedstock titles, using the Universe box, you can select All, Published, Speedstock, Not Yet Published or Out of Print titles. You can search
for your own Speedstock titles or any other publishers'. Speedstock titles reflect a 'moving book' icon on the title level reports on-screen and a yes/no indicator in the Excel reports (Totals).
Q: Can I search for titles with reviews and awards?
A: Yes, there are hundreds of "mentions" that you can choose from. Click the "search" link to browse and select a list of the key review sources, awards, award nominations, and B&T promotional programs that interest you. The search and select mirrors the functionality of the imprint browser and the BISAC and LC browsers. Note that you may need to try multiple entries for publications like Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. In other words, try "LJ" and "Library Journal" or "PW" and "Publishers Weekly". In search results, titles with reviews, awards or other mentions will have a paper and pen icon to the left of the publication date. Click this icon to see
a complete list of mentions that a title received. On the title information page for an ISBN that has been reviewed in Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Choice, or Booklist, you will see links to the appropriate publications just below the cover image. Click these to access those independent websites and search for actual review text (Choice and Booklist require paid subscriptions to do this).
Q: Can I search for titles featured in B&T Promotional Programs?
A: Yes, there are hundreds for "mentions" that you can choose from. Click the "search" link to browse and select a list of the key review sources, awards, award nomination, and B&T promotional programs that interest you. The search and select mirrors the functionality in the imprint browser and the BISAC and LC browsers. On the search results, titles with reviews, awards or other mentions will have a paper and pen icon to the left of the publication date. Click this icon to see
a complete list of mentions. You can access this list from the Title Information screen as well by clicking the "full list of reviews, awards ..." link in the right-hand margin. Please note, most but not every B&T promotional program is coded for inclusion in Publisher Alley.
Q: Can I search for titles by first printing quantities?
A: Yes, use the Initial Print Run field on the All Titles and Children's Titles search forms. You can look for print quantities in a range or over or under a specified amount.
Q: Can I search for titles by ad budgets?
A: Yes, use the Ad Budget field on the All Titles and Children's Titles search forms. You can look for budget levels in a range or over or under a specified amount. Please note, this information is a new title information requirement at B&T so it will be available mostly on new titles.
Q: What kinds of 'notes' can I search for on Profiled Title searches?
A: The notes field is data entered by YBP's book-in-hand profilers and it's a bit of a catch-all where you can search by keyword for
author affiliations, review citations for New York Times Book Review and Times
Literary Supplement (NYTBR & TLS), secondary imprint listings on the verso,
subject keywords such as 'civil liberties', reprints, and book awards.
Q: Can I search by editor?
A: Yes, type the editor's name in the Author/Editor field. You may also use the "Other Responsible Party" field to search
for illustrators, photographers, narrators, and translators.
Q: Can I search for multiple LC ranges or multiple BISAC codes?
A: Yes. Click the radio button for LC or BISAC and then click the "browse" link to search for and select one or more individual codes and/or ranges. You may also type in LC Classifications or
BISAC codes in the free text field. Click the arrow icon and your entries will appear in the subject box above.
Q: How do I run a bestseller report?
A: Use the Sales Criteria box on the search forms.
Select the second radio button called "Show titles with" then enter a
figure for units sold >= (say 200) and select a predefined date range. If
you want to see bestseller reports regularly, you can save the report query by clicking the "Save Search" icon after your search returns. You can also use this field to search for worst-sellers too. Note that there is a selection of preconfigured bestseller reports available for daily email delivery on Alley Talk.
Q: How are 'My Imprints' populated?
A: When your company signs up for a subscription, we include the imprints
covered by your company's subscription agreement (this may be some or all of your
imprints).
Q: How do I search for competitive imprints or my imprints combined with competitive imprints?
A: Delete your imprints and then click the "browse" link at the top of the Imprints box
to select the names of the imprints you would like to include. Click the "My" button to include your imprints. For best results, we recommend limiting searches to 15 imprints or less.
Q: How do searches by Profile date and Pub date differ?
A: Profile date is YBP's book-in-hand date. The Pub date is set by the publishers and is updated in Pub Alley as often as the publisher updates B&T and YBP.
Q: How do I find sales for a group of titles priced in a certain range, say
$100-$150?
A: On any of the title search forms, scroll
down to the List Price field in the bottom section of the forms. You can use
>=, <=, or range. Enter 100-150 as a range.
Q: Can I sort the results of reports?
A: You can sort your report after it has run.
Simply select the "Sort" button from the top menu bar and specify
your primary and/or secondary sort preferences, click OK, and your report will refresh. Note the default sort
is sales in units descending then by imprint ascending.
Q: How can I look for sales trends for one or several of my titles?
A: The Summary Sales report allows you to compare sales for all of your titles or
titles by imprint for up to
3 date ranges. The summary report will display time periods (and show percent changes between the 1st and 2nd and 2nd and 3rd periods)
in the order your entered them. For chronological reports remember to enter,
for instance, 2001 in the first date range box, followed by 2002, and then
2003. To compare sales for individual ISBNs (yours or others) in up to three time periods, bring up the ISBNs in search results and add them to a Sales Comparison report.
Q: What data does Publisher Alley include?
A: As a general rule, Pub Alley includes all titles published since January 1997 (with sales since January 1999) that Baker & Taylor, YBP Library Services, and Majors Education Solutions represent in all channels. We have included too most active deep backlist titles published prior to January 1997.
Q: Do net sales reflect only my company's titles?
A: Yes. You see net sales and list sales for your own imprints. For all others,
you see list sales only. Also, you may sort by net sales on the search results pages.
Q: Where are the on-hand and on-order figures coming from?
A: The on-hand and on-order figures are aggregated, representing totals for the
Baker & Taylor warehouses (Momence or IL, Somerville or NJ, Commerce or GA, Reno or NV, Dallas or TX [now closed: historical sales only], Indianapolis or IN, and YBP/Contoocook or NH). To see inventory by warehouse, click on the on-hand or on-order figures.
Q: Are there units on-hand that are NOT visible in Publisher Alley?
A: Yes: Pub Alley does not show units that are being picked or allocated. These are committed to Baker & Taylor customers and will quickly convert to units sold.
In addition, B&T places inventory on reserve for a select group of accounts in order to support special promotions and specific inventory needs. Reserve inventory is sometimes not included in “on-hand” totals within Pub Alley.
While inventory is on reserve, it is available for purchase only by one designated account. The expectation is that the account will sell through all or most of that inventory, though there is no guarantee. Unsold stock is returned to available inventory when the program ends: normally, programs run no more than several weeks.
Q: The ISBN I'm looking at has a firm on-sale date in the future. However, Publisher Alley shows that some units have already been sold. How can this be?
A: B&T provides a "Street-Date Shipping" option to its customers. Those who sign and return a Street Date Shipping Early Ship Agreement can view and reserve inventory of not-yet-published titles (as allowed by publisher guidelines). Read more here.
Q: What is the difference between demand and sales?
A: All books ordered from B&T generate demand for the quantity ordered. If the book is in stock it will generate a sale. In this case the demand and sales numbers will be the same.
At the time of order entry the customer has the option to backorder or cancel any books not in stock. If the customer backorders the title, the demand appears at the time of order entry and the sales number will occur when the product comes back into stock and is shipped to the customer.
If the customer instructs B&T to cancel books that are out of stock, the demand will appear when ordered, but there will be no corresponding sale either now or later.
We include the following order types in Pub Alley demand figures: a. Approval, b. Continuations, and c. Special buys to support special customers or events.
Occasionally with demand from very large customers that order electronically multiple times a day from all warehouses, the actual demand is filtered before it appears in Pub Alley to more accurately reflect the true customer demand.
Sales are invoiced orders. Demand may be higher than sales if a). A title's publication date slipped, b). If B&T did/does not have enough stock on-hand to fulfill orders, etc.
Q: How do I see detailed bibliographic data on titles?
A: Click the ISBN links on the reports or right-click your mouse to open a
separate window. The separate window is useful when you want to look at
detailed title information on many titles in a long list.
Q: Do you distinguish between US and UK editions of titles?
A: Yes, however the top level title reports only reflect whether an edition is
considered a US edition. To see whether a title is a UK edition, click on the
ISBN link for full bibliographic data.
Q: What is Net Price?
A: The amount YBP/B&T paid for the ISBN (or list price minus the
YBP/B&T discount).
Q: How are net sales calculated?
A: These are your dollar sales at YBP/B&T cost, less customer returns to
B&T.
Q: How are list sales calculated?
A: These are your dollar sales at list price (which may be average list price if the price has changed over time), less customer returns.
Q: I multiplied list price x unit sales and my figures don't match those displayed in Publisher Alley. Why would that be?
A: List price can change over time; we show the most current list price. Also, UK sales are converted to dollars, but the conversion
will often yield a dollar list that differs from the US list price.
Q: Can I see sales by market or channel?
A: Yes, from the Title Sales Report, check the boxes to the left of the ISBNs of interest (or Select All) and then click the "Markets" icon from
the horizontal menu bar. This will enable you to see list sales by
market (Retail, Library, International, Govt/Other and Majors) and submarket. To analyze sales by market for one or more of your imprints, email yourself
reports from the Markets view and then sort the Excel report by the market and publisher columns. Also, you may elect to email yourself a markets report
from the title search screens. Please note: the system allows you to view 50 or less titles at a time in markets view. To see more titles than that, please email yourself a markets report.
Q: What do you mean by Govt/Other?
A: Government refers to books sold to government entities at local, state and
national levels. Other refers to sales to entities such as YBP/B&T
employees and other domestic wholesalers.
Q: What are Internet Sales?
A: Internet sales are sales to web-based stores such as Amazon.com or
independent retail stores that may have their own online presence through
BookSense.com. Internet sales may also include occasional web-based sales to
professors and libraries.
Q: What are International Sales?
A: International sales are sales to any non-US address, with the exception of any Internet sales shipped outside the country (those are classified in the Internet market channel). International sales are broken down into retail, library, and government/other submarkets.
Q: What are Majors Sales?
A: Majors sales are sales through our medical division known as Majors Education Solutions. These sales are broken down into Retail (including sales to college bookstores and hospital libraries), Hospital, and Library/Academic (including medical libraries). The Majors-related data includes present demand, sales going back to January 1, 2002, and nightly product updates.
Q: What are YBP sales, and are they broken out?
A: YBP sales are not broken out specifically. However, all sales from the NH warehouse are linked to YBP, which serves the academic library market. To varying degrees, the following types of libraries purchase through YBP: research, college and university, corporate, public, school, agricultural, art, government, historical society, law, medical, military, museum, music, technical, and theological.
Q: What are YBP approval sales?
A: Click to learn about the YBP approval program. Generally speaking, every book issued by an approval plan publisher is profiled for potential sale on approval to academic libraries. In addition, select titles from other non-approval-plan publishers are profiled through the AP Plus! program. Read more about the types of books featured through AP Plus!
Q: Where do the Market Breakdown figures come from?
A: These are combined sales by market from YBP, Majors Education Solutions, and B&T.
Q: How are the Returns figures obtained?
A: The returns figures on the Summary Sales reports represent total returns
from Baker & Taylor to the specified imprints for the period(s) entered on
the Summary Search form. (Note: returns are batched, so the returns figure
could be larger than the sales figure in
some instances). On the title search forms, returns are for individual ISBNs and again returns mean overstock returns from B&T back to the publisher. Customer returns are already reflected in the sales figures.
Q: How do I search for returns by time period?
A: If you run a title-level sales report for a specified time period, the returns period will match. In other words,
if you want to research your returns by title for the period of 6/1/05-6/31/05 then you would run a title report with a sales criteria range of 6/1/05-6/31/05.
Q: I received a Vendor Stats report from my buyer at B&T, and it does not match a Publisher Alley Summary Report for the same sales period. Why?
A: There are a few differences between a Vendor Stats report and a Summary Report:
Q: Do we link editions of titles?
A: Because of the differences in how YBP and B&T link editions of titles, we felt it best not to link titles in Pub Alley.
Q: What is the "exclude titles in series" check box on the Profiled Title screen?
A: If you're running a pricing study or title comparison report, you may want to exclude titles in series since those titles can be priced high enough to skew
results significantly. To exclude titles in series, click the check box. This option is only available on the Profiled Title search form.
Q: How do I know whether my press is required to do category buying?
A: Contact a member of the Pub Alley team. We will check this for you.
Q: How are the categories determined, and who assigns them?
A: A category assignment is most often based on the primary BISAC code the publisher associates with a title. In the case of Spanish-language books, the category assignment is based on the language designation. This means that the publisher's metadata ultimately determines the category assignment.
Q: Which buyers are assigned to which categories?
A: For a list of buyers, category assignments, and contact information, click here.
Q: What is a "User-Defined Region"?
A: For the purpose of state sales reports, this feature allows users to quickly reference groups of states that they will include regularly in reports. For example, if a user ("Joe") is responsible for sales in MA, RI, CT, MD, and DE, he can create a custom region to include these states. "Joe's Region" will appear in the drop-down selector for every report created in that account.
Q: How do I create a "User-Defined Region"?
A: Expand the "Preferences" item in the left-hand list of site areas, and click "Manage Regions." Click "New" in the top menu bar that appears. This produces a dialog box where you select states to include (maximum 17) and give the region a name. Once the region is saved, it will be available in the drop-down box when you create state sales reports in this account.
Q: Are there any types of sales that are excluded from the state sales reports?
A: No. The reports include traditional sales and consumer-direct fulfillment (CDF) Internet sales that B&T processes for Amazon, Borders.com, etc.
Q: What is represented in the category called US Territories & Military?
A: The eight US Territories with sales available are as follows: American Samoa (AS), Federated States of Micronesia (FM), Guam (GU), Marshall Islands (MH), Northern Mariana Islands (MP), Palau (PW), Puerto Rico (PR), and US Virgin Islands (VI). Shipments to military post offices are represented by AA, AE, and AP. For information on military post offices, see http://www.shipitapo.com/info/apo_fpo_guide.php.
Q: Are the sales associated with bill-to or ship-to addresses?
A: With the exception of CDF transactions, all sales are associated with their ship-to addresses. CDF sales are associated with the state or country of the Internet retailer who partnered with B&T to create the sale.
Q: On the state sales report management screen (where the names of my reports are displayed) there is a column that indicates the number of titles in each report. In one case, the number shown here is higher than the number of titles actually displayed when I open the report. Why is this?
A: The number of titles indicated on the management screen reflects the final number of ISBNs that you selected. Only titles with sales in the selected sales period range appear in the actual report.
Q: For one ISBN in my state sales report, there is only title data--no sales are visible. Why is the title included in the report if there are no sales?
A: When this occurs, it's an indication that the title did accumulate sales in the date range selected, but not in the geographic areas selected. You can confirm the number of sales per month by viewing the sales and demand grid on the title information page for that ISBN.
Q: When comparing the same title over the same sales period, the Non-US category in the state sales report reflects more sales than the International category in the Markets view. Why is this?
A: This is due to the treatment of Internet sales. In the Markets view, all Internet sales-whether domestic or international-are assigned to the Retail/Internet market. They are NOT counted again in the International market.
Q: I created a state sales report to include NJ (for example) and reviewed the results in Excel. Why are there sales assigned to NJ that are also considered "International" in the market breakdown on that same spreadsheet?
A: Most often, sales associated with a domestic address and an international market are shipments from B&T to freight forwarders in the US. In this case, the ship-to address determines the geographic assignment, and the bill-to address (a foreign entity) determines the market.
Q: I receive monthly international reporting by imprint and country from Pub Alley (a separate reporting service). How do the totals in these reports compare to the "Non-US" totals in Pub Alley?
A: The customized monthly reports include international sales on all titles, even those published before 1997. Pub Alley does not typically contain sales data on pre-1997 titles. Also, the customized monthly reports do not contain CDF sales data because of inconsistencies in the CDF country coding.
Q: What profiled series types are there?
A:
Q: What is the best way to search by Series Title?
A: Perform a keyword search. If you use the Profiled Series search form, the match will only run against titles in profiled series. If you
perform a keyword search in the Series Title field on the All Titles or Children's Titles search forms, the keyword match will run against profiled and non-profiled titles.
Q: How do I use the 'Volume ISBN' field on Profiled Series Search?
A: If you're looking for a series with a specific volume in it you can use the
volume ISBN field. The result will show series level sales data and will
contain links so that you can drill down to ISBN (volume) level sales data.
Q: How do I find bestselling series?
A: Use the Sales Criteria box. Select the second radio button and type total
units sold as >= "n" or type in a range. Don't forget to select a date range
too; Calendar YTD will be the default date range.
Q: I can't find my series by ISSN. Am I doing something wrong?
A: Many series lack an ISSN, or we may not have this information in our
database. If this occurs, please try a Title search.
Q: Can I find a series with no sales since x date?
A: Sure, you simply use the Sales Criteria section of the Series Search form.
Select the second radio button. Select total units sold "<=", type zero
into the free text box, and then select a date range.
Q: What is a Watch List?
A: A Watch List is usually a small group of titles that a subscriber wants to
monitor closely. The Publisher Alley system automatically refreshes the sales
based on the sales period the user selected. Watch Lists show list sales only.
Q: How do I create and add items to a Watch List?
A: After you have run a Title or Series Sales report, select the items you want
to watch by clicking the check box to the left of each title. Then, from the
top menu bar, click "Add to Watch List". You'll be prompted to: 1.
add the title(s) to an existing watch list, 2. add the title(s) to a new watch
list and name the new watch list 3. Select a sales period for the watch list 4.
decide how you want to access the watch list from within the application. You
can show the watch lists on the home page and/or in the watch list drop down
menu at the top of the application. By default, the report will always show up
on your Watch Lists main page which can be accessed from the main menu by
clicking Preferences->Watch Lists.
Q: Is there a limit on the number of Watch Lists and Saved Searches I have?
A: No, you may have an unlimited number of Watch Lists and Saved Searches.
Q: What is a Saved Search?
A: A saved search allows you to run a report and save the report parameters.
Q: What is the difference between a Watch List and a Saved Search?
A: Titles on a Watch List can be pulled from multiple searches: the results
have been saved. Titles on Saved Searches can change: the search parameters have been saved. From the Home page you can either click the name of the Saved Search to see
the search screen with your parameters filled in or you can click the "run" link to run the search again.
Q: Can I email myself a saved report or a watch list?
A: Sure. Once you have "viewed" a watch list or "run" a
saved report, you can select the "Email" button from the top menu bar item.
Q: How do I rerun a Saved Search?
A: Select the report you want to run (from either your Saved
Searches link on the Home page, your Saved Searches drop down menu at the top of the application, or your Saved Searches main page
under Preferences), click the name of the report, view your parameters, and then
hit the submit button to run the search again.
Q: How long can a Watch List name be?
A: A maximum of 32 characters.
Q: Can I sort my Watch Lists page and Saved Searches page?
A: Yes, by clicking on the column headers. Clicking on a column header changes the sort direction.
Q: Why do Watch Lists default to Subject sorts by LC Class?
A: Because you have the ability to add titles to a watch list from numerous
searches, some being BISAC subject searches and others being LC class searches,
we have set the watch list default to be LC Class (which is assigned to a title
over 99% of the time).
Q: How do I print a report?
A: On the sales results form, click File and then Print from the browser's navigation bar. Please note: Internet Explorer and Firefox have different protocols for printing from HTML. For long lists, we recommend printing from IE.
Q: Can I email myself a Saved Report or a Watch List?
A: Yes, use the email icon in the top navigation bar on the Results screen for
each. Be sure to either Select All records, or a subset of records by clicking
on the checkbox to the left of the titles you want to include.
Q: What format are the email reports in?
A: Excel spreadsheets.
Q: How do I set my browser preferences so that the color bars on the Market
reports show up properly when I print?
A: There is an Internet Explorer setting that enables the color graphs on the Markets tab to print. On the IE toolbar, select "Tools", and then "Internet Options". Select the last tab called "Advanced" and scroll down to the section called "Printing". Under Printing, check the box for "Print background colors and images", click "OK".
Q: What data does Publisher Alley include?
A: As a general rule, Pub Alley includes all titles published since January 1997 (with sales since January 1999) that Baker & Taylor, YBP Library Services, and Majors Education Solutions represent in all channels. We have included too most active deep backlist titles published prior to January 1997.
Q: What are the browser, platform, and resolution requirements?
A: IE 7.0 or higher or Firefox 3.0 or higher and 1024 x 768. Mac users should use Firefox, though Safari does perform well. The original Mozilla browser is no longer supported by the Mozilla project. If you're a Mac
user, please let us know. Javascript and cookies must be enabled to ensure correct operation of the site.
Q: How do I change my password?
A: In the left-hand menu bar, choose Preferences, My Account. There are two
password boxes. Type in a new password and then retype the password in the
Confirm Password box. Click "Save".
Q: How do I set my ISBN preference of 10 or 13?
A: In the left-hand menu bar, choose Preferences, My Account. Select your preference by clicking one of the two radio buttons under the heading called ISBN Format Preference.
Q: How do I compare paper and cloth sales?
A: On the title sales search forms select the Bindings
that you're interested in comparing (cloth, paper, eBook, etc.). Then, once you've
run your search, the results will display the sales by edition for each title.
For custom sorting and additional calculations, you may want to email yourself
the Excel version of the report.
Q: How often is the sales data updated?
A: The sales figures are on a 2-day delay (except for sales data in Snapshots, which is updated daily). The monthly demand figures are updated daily. However, on Tuesdays, neither sales nor monthly demand is updated due to constraints associated with weekend sales. On-hand and on-order numbers are updated hourly during business hours, Monday through Friday.
Q: Is the system ever down for maintenance?
A: We will minimize regular business hour maintenance and do most maintenance on weekends. A "system is down" note will be posted on the login
screen. Publisher Alley updates run nightly between 9:30 PM ET and 1:30 AM ET; during this time, system performance is impacted.
Q: Can anyone manage users?
A: No, there are designated administrators for Publisher Alley at your company. Feel
free to email us atcustomerservice@puballey.com if you don't know who they are.
Q: How do I sign up for Publisher Alley?
A: Contact your company's Publisher Alley administrator. If you don't known who
that is, our customer services team would be happy to help you. Please call 800-258-3774 or emailcustomerservice@puballey.com.
Q: How do I enter multiple entries in a field, say multiple ISBNs?
A: Use the "Add Multiple ISBN" link above the Title/ISBN field. You may copy and paste in 10- and/or 13-digit ISBNs. Or, type in multiple entries; separate each entry by a semicolon and a space.
Q: How do I need to enter dates?
A: Dates may be entered as mm/dd/yy or mm/dd/yyyy; or you can use the calendar options.
Q: How do I print the News items?
A: You may print News items by opening the item and then right clicking your mouse to select the "print" option.
Q: How do I know if my report has resolved completely?
A: A report has resolved fully when the data feed update box on the bottom left-hand corner shows up.
Q: Where do I find the BTKEYs?
A: Click on any ISBN to see the full Title Information screen. The BTKEY is in the top section of the form to the right of the "ISBN" field, also known as "Product ID". The BTKEY is also referenced in the last column of All Titles reports in Excel.
Q: Where do I find imprint code and/or vendor code?
A: Next to the Publisher name in the "Publisher" field on the Title Information screen, which you get to by clicking any ISBN link. The codes are also present in Excel reports.
Q: Does Pub Alley include "record created" and "record modified" information?
A: Yes, you'll find these dates in the header section of the Title Information screen, which you get to by clicking any ISBN link.
Q: What are profiler title ratings?
A: During the book-in-hand profiling process, YBP's bibliographers assign a title rating to each book to help librarians qualify their acquisitions in relation to other books
in a category.
Q: Where does the title bibliographic data come from?
A: The bibliographic data originates from Baker & Taylor and YBP. When we have items that have been
profiled in both the US and the UK, we will use the US data. Where we have
multiple profile dates, we'll display the earliest. When we
have differing publishers for multiple editions, we will show the US publisher;
then the cloth edition.
Q: What are the definitions of content levels?
A: Like title ratings, during the YBP profiling process, YBP's bibliographers assign content levels to every book.
Q: Where do the ad budget figures come from?
A: Publishers supply the ad budget figures to B&T through their regular title information feeds or spreadsheets. Ad budgets are mostly available on frontlist titles and very spotty on backlist titles.
Q: Where do the initial printing figures come from?
A: Publishers supply their initial (first) printing figures to B&T through their regular title information feeds or spreadsheets. Initial printings are
mostly available on frontlist and not backlist titles.
Q: What is the first receipt date?
A: This is earliest date that a book has been received at B&T or YBP.
Q: How are BISAC codes assigned to titles?
A: For accuracy, publishers should assign BISAC codes to their own titles; when they don't B&T may assign between 1 and 3 codes. BISAC codes are updated on average 2 times a year and are available at the Book Industry Study Group web site at www.bisg.org. Publisher Alley incorporates new codes when they are released.
Q: How do I submit new titles to Baker & Taylor?
A: Publishers have several ways to submit titles:
1. New title adds can be submitted using B&T's web template. The address is http://edi.btol.com/PublisherSubmissions
The web template is for publishers who have less than 10 titles to add or for drop-in titles from major publishers.
2. Publishers wishing to submit more than 10 titles should contact bttitles@baker-taylor.com for B&T's title template. If you are already using the Excel title template then add the new titles to the template and submit it to newtitles@baker-taylor.com.
Q: I have title that is not showing up in Publisher Alley. Who should I
contact?
A: Email customerservice@puballey.com or use
the title feedback form in Publisher Alley. You will see this link in the
upper right-hand corner of the Title Information screen. Note: On average, it takes 7-10 business days for new titles to be added to B&T's databases and an additional 1 to 2 days
for titles to appear in Publisher Alley.
Q: Where do I send price updates, title corrections or cover images?
A: You may email price changes to pc@baker-taylor.com; corrections and title updates to datafix@baker-taylor.com; and cover images to coverimages@baker-taylor.com.