If you're considering submitting to a smaller publisher, one of the things you should investigate before you send your work out is what sort of distribution deal that publisher has. Because if it doesn't have a proper distribution deal in place, its books (for which you can read your books) just aren't going to sell.
But what does that mean? How does distribution work, how does a distributor differ from a wholesaler, and what implications does all of this have for your work? Over at Writer Beware, bestselling author Cathy Clamp explains. Read it now, bookmark the article, and next time you're considering submitting your work to anyone other than a major publisher you'll know what questions to ask, and how the answers might affect you.
5 comments:
How true. I self-pusblish, and I was thrilled to be accepted by a firm that has many bookshops throughtout the UK, but left to find my own distributor. Having selected a small one, and negotiating very good terms, I then found that I was responsible for sending the books to the various shops myself. And as we are in the middle of artic conditions with little moving on the roads, you can imagine the rest of the story....
Carole.
Very imformative. Thank you.
It's a really valid point. And let's not forget that the likes of Amazon are basically only a virtual shop window, where you're just one among the very many.
Thanks for the link, Jane!
Thanks much - I'm going to share this with other writers I know who are so thrilled to have a publisher that they don't consider these details.
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