Distribution Truths

Comment

Comment by Gary Roberts on July 23, 2010 at 4:00pm

Sandra

Speaking as a retired librarian, it's near impossible to get your own title accepted and purchased by a public library by simply showing up and offering your work. Libraries work through any one of a number of companies (B&T, Ingram, Wiley and so on) and avoid individual authors and small publishers. You should try to get your book reviewed in one of the library journals as a start. If you can interest a local public library in your book, you may then have an inroad to one of the librarian email lists or blogs that are also used by collection development people.

Try asking your local Madison library people to talk up the title to other librarians. It could work in your favor. With the tight budgets for libraries everywhere, choice of titles has become even more of hurdle as well as an indication of how well a particular library is doing.

Comment by Sandra Adell on June 22, 2010 at 7:22am

Hi, Everyone!

Things are looking up! My application to Baker & Taylor was accepted, so now I have a distributor. I would love to hear from any of you who might be working with B&T. I am targeting especially public and academic libraries and Baker & Taylor has a stronghold on that market. When I went to some of the libraries in Detroit and Chicago, which have lots of libraries, I was told over and over again that the collection development librarians only order through B&T. Here in Madison, Wisconsin, since I'm a local author and this is a small library market, copies of my book were ordered through Amazon. Librarians in the larger cities said that they only order through B&T. Distribution is so key to our work. So much for selling books out of the trunk of our cars.

Comment by Philip F. Harris on April 23, 2010 at 8:31am

All Things That Matter Press publishes exclusively through Amazon. We have over 50 books and have, overall, been pleased with the quality and support from Amazon. Titles that take off well are put into expanded distribution which gets them on B&N, Ingrams, B&T, Books-A-Million, Amazon.uk, .de and France. These channels are a killer on royalties but they are books sold that might not have. Our emphasis in on-line sales and we make almost no effort to get into brick and mortar stores. Amazon corrects mistakes and never asks for any flaws in books to be returned. We use MobiPocket for ebooks since they automatically generate the Kindle version of the book-they are owned by Amazon.

Comment by Theresa M. Moore on April 20, 2010 at 3:51pm

I sell direct from my site and also Kindle. The print books are on Lulu and Amazon. Still, sales are slow, and now we have a volcano to contend with! LOL.

Comment by Steven Kern on April 19, 2010 at 11:57am

Looking for ways to get your books out to Amazon, publishers or even individuals that may buy your book from your personal website?

I work for a fulfillment company that can help when it comes to the; storage of books, shipment of books, taking orders etc. We currently work with clients who fulfill orders to Amazon and other distribution points they use to sell their books and I would be more than happy to help in any way I can when it comes to your books. It doesn't matter if you need orders shipped daily, weekly or even quarterly just let me know what you need and I will do what I can.
Feel free to email me and I will answer any questions you may have and do what I can to help save you time, money and worry.

Thanks,
Steven Kern
steven@dwmailllc.com

Comment by Nina M. Sipes on February 19, 2010 at 7:30pm

I have not used Books on Demand with Amazon, but I have used IUniverse with Barnes and Noble. Then I am listed with Amazon. Their quality is VERY good. I was very impressed with IUniverse's quality of book layout and very happy with the end result. However, if you wish to be your own fullfilment facility to Amazon.com, you can get your own printing done and have the same arrangements with Amazon.com or at least I do. See examples:
The Proving Zone: Tory's Story by Blatant Appeal and So...Teach Them to Read & Write...Easily by Nina Sipes. The Zone story is by IUniverse and the other I take care of. Both are at Amazon.com

Comment by Cindy Downes on February 17, 2010 at 11:25am

Has anyone used Books on Demand with Amazon.com? How does the book look? Have your used the Expanded Distribution Services? Any tips for someone looking to distribute a self-published book through Amazon?

Comment by Gail J. Kump on January 25, 2010 at 3:48pm

Sandra, Confessions of a Slot Machine Queen is a great title. Is it fiction or non-fiction memoir? I would love to see the jacket art if you can post.

Comment by Sandra Adell on January 23, 2010 at 7:51am

Thanks for the information, Gail. It was very helpful and has confirmed what I was doing intuitively, which was to start with Amazon Advantage. My book, Confessions of a Slot Machine Queen is in press now and on schedule for a February 5, 2010 completion date. It's exciting!