How to Order Shearsman Book Titles


Trade Orders

With effect from from ISBN 978-0-907562-34-5 to 978-0-907562-99-x (and any ISBNs beginning 978-1-905700- or 978-1-84861- ), trade orders for our publications — which are produced on a short-run digital and print-on-demand basis — should be routed through Gardners Books in the UK, or through Ingrams or Baker & Taylor in the USA. If preferred, we can also supply wholesalers ourselves. For all older publications, orders should be made direct to the press where possible.


We can supply most current titles ourselves within the UK from stock.

Retail Orders — Direct from the Press

UK domestic orders

Our online store accepts credit card payments via the Worldpay system, and we do not retain any of the financial information here. All UK orders are post-free. Elsewhere in the world, depending on the postal zone you're in, it's free from £40 and up for a single order. 

NB. With effect from 2020, shipping to the USA has become punitively expensive, and our rates now reflect this. Since over 95% of our titles are available through the usual online retailers in the USA, we recommend that buyers from the United States order through those channels. The $ retail price is higher than in the UK, but this difference is more than covered by the postage charges we would levy here.

Smaller offshore orders (ex-USA) carry a postage charge which varies from area to area, and also varies with the weight of the book. We can also accept direct orders by mail, provided that full payment in pounds sterling accompanies the order. Again, it's free within the UK, but you should assume that postal charges will apply for small orders offshore, just as on the website. We request that those wishing to order by credit card do so through our website, as it is more secure for all involved, and we have no desire to store such information. We have ceased supplying any EU country, except the Republic of Ireland, following the EU's introduction of new rules for small-value cross-border sales. See below for further information.

Overseas orders — U.S.A.

We recommend that North American customers use their local online retailers to source our titles, so as to avoid the enormous new shipping charges that apply to the USA.


We recommend using the Shearsman online store or such other online outlets that stock our titles: The Book Depository in the UK (which ships post-free anywhere in the world, and which always discounts heavily ahead of publication), Amazon in the USA or the UK, Barnes and Noble in the USA. Based purely on service, The Book Depository and Barnes and Noble can be safely recommended, and the former can be used by anyone, anywhere, at a very attractive cost. It is however now an Amazon subsidiary, for those of you who might have objections to that particular connection and we therefore also recommend UKbookshop.org or, in the USA, Indiebound. The former is currently very slow indeed in updating its database and, the last time I checked, their listings of Shearsman titles were more than a year out of date. Indiebound is current.


Overseas Orders — E.U.


We are no longer accepting orders from EU countries EXCEPT the Republic of Ireland, as the cross-border taxes have made it problematic and we have found shipments are being subjected to long delays in a number of countries, incur punitive import duties, or are returned to sender. Ireland is exempted from this as, like the UK, Ireland does not levy VAT on books. In order to handle such cross-border sales we would have to register for VAT in every single EU country, and make regular small payments to the tax authorities in each country where we do have a sale. Alternatively we would have to set up an EU-based subsidiary company and register that with the relevant local authority, and pay them VAT for the whole EU. Both options are much too onerous for a small operation like ours. 


Would-be buyers who are E.U. citizens are recommended to use Amazon in their home countries (although we do often see them charging inflated prices — be warned ), Abebooks (an Amazon subsidiary), or alternative retailers such as bol.com (Netherlands), Casa del Libro (Spain), FNAC (France), genialokal.de (Germany), thalia.de (Germany). All of these stores are able to source our books easily and quickly.


From UK Booksellers

Ordering Shearsman titles in the USA

Any bookseller in the UK can source books from us but, in practice, many will not order small quantities from independent publishers. Our books are available through their normal ordering channels, however, and don't let them tell you otherwise. If they say that the distributors are out of stock, tell them to order anyway: the system works very well and restocking happens very quickly—do not be brushed off by sales clerks who don't know what they're talking about, or don't have systems that can clarify the situation.


99% of our list can also be sourced through online retailers such as Amazon  in the UK or Waterstone's (online as well as physical), or Wordery, which will assist those who wish to purchase by credit card and would prefer not to use our own online store. Most titles are available within 24 hours. To us it makes little difference whether you use our own store or other online retailers. A sale is a sale, and we all need retailers. We would love it if our books were easier to find at UKbookshop.org, but at the moment their database is so far behind that only our backlist appears there.


All titles published in 2003 and later for which we have the US sales rights can be ordered through outlets such as amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Indiebound, or Powell's (but the latter tends to charge a premium), as well as through normal US retail channels, provided they have a relationship with our wholesalers, Ingram Book Company or Baker and Taylor. For orders direct through the Shearsman online store we can ship direct to buyers from our US printers, but please see above for the problem of shipping costs. Our new titles are often discounted just after release by Barnes and Noble.


The main wholesalers for Shearsman titles in the USA are the Ingram Book Company and Baker & Taylor. Please note that a number of titles are sold in the UK only, where we do not have North American rights.

Ordering Shearsman titles in the Republic of Ireland

Some of our Irish titles, as well as Michael Smith's co-translations of Vallejo, are available from Books Upstairs, 36 College Green, Dublin 2. Books Upstairs will order titles from us when necessary.

Other publications should be ordered direct from the press or from online outlets in the UK. 

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