Last year just before BookExpo America, Ingram Book Company announced that smaller publishers would have to have a distributor of record in order to continue to do business through them.

There are four stages in the life of every book: writing, producing (printing & binding), distributing and promoting. Each step is a uniquechallenge and each challenge must be met. Authors write and promote, publishers produce and distribute and self-publishers do all four. Now let’s look at distribution.

There are thousands of bookstores in the U.S, but it would be a monumental and expensive proposition for you to sell your books to each of them personally.

The margins are low—you gross less than $4.50 on every $10 book. You get crummy display space—just the spine of your book shows. And let’s face it—the competition is awful.