“Reject the tyranny of picked. Pick yourself.” ― Seth Godin, Poke the Box
I recorded this several weeks ago. So, these thoughts are actually from a few weekends ago.
Hi everyone. Well, I have to tell you, I had the most eye-opening weekend. It would appear that we are sorely in need of a course on publishing. Publishing. I’m not even talking about self-publishing at this point.
That photo represents me in 2010 and 2011, obsessively checking my Amazon rank and blogging incessantly and with the intention of sharing my experiences as an indie author.
As I have stated here and elsewhere, I’ve spent the past few years losing money. I can’t begin to make enough to cover book production and other expenses, let alone live on what I make from selling fiction, at this point.
Well, this is something I’ve had to work up to talking about. There is so much conflicting information out there about self-publishing that it’s not even funny.
This continues our series from the end of Part Five.
The distribution part
As a POD published author and a self-published author, the biggest hurdle you face to getting your product placed in bookstores is the infeasibility of allowing your books to be returned for a complete refund if they aren’t sold. Not to mention the penalty you as the publisher get socked with for shipping costs. The alternative is for the bookseller to destroy the books. Both a financial waste and hardly an eco-conscious approach. But it’s been standard practice for a long, long time. Unfortunately, booksellers continue to insist upon doing this and traditional publishers continue to follow this practice, cranking out large print runs instead of finding ways to use modern technology to create new solutions.