Our Story

About Consortium

Consortium grew out of a book wholesaling cooperative, established in 1985 in the Twin Cities, Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota, to become an internationally respected, full-service North American distributor. Along with our core businesses of sales and distribution to the trade, academic, library, wholesale and specialist markets, we have earned an excellent reputation as an advocate for independent publishers.

As our expertise grew, and our reputation for good service became known, so did our client-publisher base. Though most of our publishers work from within the United States, we have many publishers from outside – we have an international flavor. Consortium currently represents more than 90 independent publishers from the United States, Canada, the UK, Continental Europe, India, and Australia, enabling these publishers to reach the diverse North American trade and academic audiences for their books.

Consortium’s staff understands the importance of ideas; our aim as a distributor is to introduce those ideas—some that may not otherwise be heard—to the wider world. Consortium’s work stems from an award-winning literary tradition and the company has built on that background to expand into other areas. We are delighted to be able to foster innovation and excellence in a variety of publishing fields, especially politics, history, social studies, theater, GLBT, art and design, sustainability/ environmental studies, literature and poetry—our publishers’ authors are among the most distinguished and honored in the publishing community. To our customers, Consortium represents a source of books of quality and distinction.

In today’s marketplace, even the best books can fail to find a readership. Avoiding this fate requires careful planning and positioning, a solid marketing program and talented salesmanship. Not only does Consortium provide these services, we deliver them in a creative, dedicated and customized way. We respect the individuality of each of our publisher-clients, and we understand that activities beneficial for one publisher may not work for another.

Consortium’s members of staff are highly adaptable and forward-looking – most of them have been publishers themselves; we are aware that in our ever-changing industry, we all need to be flexible.

As we continue to expand, we will continue to serve our publishers, our customers, and most important, the books that we are entrusted to guide through the marketplace to the hands of readers, in a differentiated manner. The core of our business lies in our understanding of the needs of many types of independent publishers.

Click here for a Consortium brochure, complete with a current publisher list and information for prospective publishers.

For more detailed contact and ordering information, click here.

Prospective Publishers

Required for Submission

  • One or more sample titles.
  • An overview of your company and current distribution
  • Brief overview of your current or prospective publishing program including a list of frontlist and backlist titles, publication dates, author and promotional information.
  • Current catalog (if available)

Please send submissions to the following address:

Consortium Book Sales & Distribution
Attn: Publisher Acquisitions
The Keg House
34 Thirteenth Avenue NE, Suite 101
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55413-1007

cbsdinfo@ingramcontent.com

Outside the United States and Canada, please send submissions to:

Managing Director
Ingram
5th Floor
52–54 St John Street
Clerkenwell
London
EC1M 4HF

Email: ipsuk_enquiries@ingramcontent.com

We are not able to take calls to see if your book has arrived, so please use a form of shipment that can be traced (UPS, FedEx, certified mail) that provides you with a receipt for proof of delivery.

For more information, click here to download a brochure.