Surprising How Little Self-Publishers Know About Distributors/Wholesalers

I read a lot of self-publishing lists and the thing wanna be authors/publishers are always asking is what's the big deal about getting a distributor for my book?

They read about how much of the pie the distributors and wholesalers want for handling a book and they say no way i'm paying anybody that.

Well that's fine if you're a hobbiest, or only going to sell your book from your website, or going after a very specific niche. If the book isn't professionally done and hasn't got any pre pub reviews/marketing it won't matter anyway because the distributors/wholesalers won't handle the book anyway.

If your crazy plan (like mine) is to get in all the bookstores, well, you have no choice. The only way you can do that is by having a distributor. You might be able to get away with just having a wholesaler but I doubt it.

The chain book stores only buy from distributors for the most part. The independent bookstores prefer to buy all their books from one source thus a distributor or wholesaler.

A wholesaler is a place where a store goes to order books. A distributor sells to the book store directly, a significant difference. When all is said and done, though, you're going to end up giving these folks half or a little more than half the price of the book.

Welcome to publishing.

Michael LaLumiere
www.staggerleebooks.com