Common objections to this advice, like «but if I self - publish how will my
book get into bookstores or get major media placement» will be addressed in other answers.
This is easy to measure but the truth is that it is extremely difficult to
get into bookstores as an independent author.
Self - published authors can't even
get into bookstores on a nationwide scale, much less at the front of independents or Barnes & Noble or elsewhere unless they've already found such great success that the stores need them more than they need the stores.
On the other hand, if you want to achieve the challenging goal
of getting into bookstores, you have to be patient and go through the whole process of writing (and re-writing, and re-writing) a manuscript until it is professional enough to be accepted at a traditional publisher.
Publishers Weekly How to Create a Successful Self - Published Children's Book Self - publishing a children's book isn't all fun and games Digital Book World Blurb Does Deal With Ingram to Help Indie
Authors Get Into Bookstores Self - publishing services provider Blurb has launched a series of initiatives designed to help indie authors get their print books into bookstores, -LSB-...]
Certainly those standardized categorical identifiers are important for bookstores and libraries, but as authors have discovered, their books aren't
getting into bookstores anyway, at least not without massive amounts of legwork involved in contacting individual store owners and convincing them to stock their books.
If we're not with a publishing house and aren't distributed by anyone (or just through the Createspace options), do we have much of a
chance getting into bookstores other than local shops like Half Price Books and Book People?
When Amazon first broke open the floodgates with the indie epub revolution, resistance to one - person
presses getting into bookstores or on library shelves was near - total.
While you may possibly be able to talk your local bookstores into carrying your self - published book, the only way to
get it into bookstores across the nation is by getting a distributor to carry it.
As you can see, there is a lot more that goes into publishing a paperback — and that doesn't include all of the other work
around getting it into bookstores, which you don't have to do, but I probably will.
That is a very key point because I can't hope to
get into a bookstore near you with my novel, but I can hope that you'll get an email from Amazon recommending my book (if you currently buy books in this genre anyway).
The reason this can occur as much as it does is that a lot of authors are completely unfamiliar with how books
typically get into a bookstore, and of the pressures on a bookshop owner and staff.
Trying to
get it into bookstores on my own just seemed so troublesome and expensive, and not likely to bring me many new readers unless I sent them there in the first place — which clearly is the dilemma of the major publishing industry as well.
That's assuming you can
get into bookstores at all: most indie shops will only take self - published books on consignment, and big chain stores won't stock them, period.
The latter can
get you into bookstores but the downside is you have to pay to use them and you aren't guaranteed shelf space in those stores.
Getting into a bookstore is more of a source of pride and an additional source of physical promotion through book signings and getting on shelves.
It is still NOT easy to
get into bookstores, especially if you're using Amazon's Createspace — booksellers have too much antipathy towards the company.
But the myth that has indie writers believing they have to go to New York to
get into bookstores has slowed the growth of this side of indie publishing.
After all, you saw on Create Space that they could
get you into bookstores and libraries all you have to do is click the «extended distribution for bookstores and libraries» button.
The chances of
you getting into a bookstore are slim, very slim.
Unless the small press has a dedicated, exceptional sales team committed to marketing your book and
getting you into bookstores (which some do, so check carefully), they are unlikely to be able to market any more effectively than the author can (and often less so).
I do well with my books but would like to
get into bookstores.
To
get into bookstores and libraries (Barnes and Noble and Books - A-Million), you need to be in a wholesaler.
Don't know if having my book with Lulu will
get me into bookstores and libraries, though.
You probably will need a publisher to
get into bookstores — though a lot of my successful indie friends have been selling foreign rights recently.
Generally, I don't recommend trying to
get into bookstores or focusing on live events such as book signings, but it's important to address WHY I don't recommend them, since most first time authors will persist in achieving visual markers that match the «writer fantasies» they grew up with.
So «
getting into bookstores» isn't a super thing — it looks cool and makes you feel good for awhile, and yes it might help sell lots of books.
So if
you get into bookstores you might almost make a living.
If you still want to
get into bookstores anyway, for non-financial reasons, there's nothing wrong with that — my friend Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur just wrote a post on how to get into bookstores (it's easier than you think).
Since I'm not trying to
get into bookstores, I chose the free ISBN.
Other topics include: advertising, book launches, crowd - sourcing, Pinterest,
getting into bookstores, indie bookstores, book fairs, events, and contests.