Distribute Your Self-Published Book (Part 1)

Distribute Your Self-Published Book (Part 1) Judy Cullins c 2003 All Rights Reserved Where is your book now? With a distributor? In a book store? Or, did it already die an early death after a few months? New self-published authors often believe they need a distributor to sell a lot of books. They want to use Ingram or Baker & Taylor because they think they need to get their book into the "brick and mortar" bookstores like Barnes and Noble. Authors go through many hoops and snags to accomplish this-- what I call the "traditional publishing nightmare" of inefficiency and lack of support for authors. Usually the author only gets around 10% royalties and has to pay back all promotion expenses such as book signings. So many hoops, some give up. So many authors I speak with who have gone this route still have hundreds, even thousands of unsold copies littering up storage space. Talk about discouragement. Distributors Can be Dangerous to Your Book's Health and Your Wallet One author wrote, illustrated, and marketed six beautiful children's books. Her books were well reviewed and received. For some time, the profits rolled in until her distributor went bankrupt, owing her $160,000. After she stopped crying, she decided to take her books on the road