Hi guys,
I'm going to be self-publishing my first book (humourous sci-fi type stuff) and I'm getting a little bit confused about the whole distributor thing!
Firstly, I'm in the UK so I'd especially welcome advivce from UK authors, but info from anyone would be great!
I've been filling in the form to get an ISBN from Nielsens (you get a block of ten) and it asks you to state your distributor. I'm a little unsure what to do here because:
1) I'm self-publishing using a company name that I formed, but I don't particularly want to have to deal with orders (if I get any!) which I believe I would have to if I put my company on the form as the distributor?
2) I'm self-publishing through Createspace print-on demand and Kindle for online sales
3) I'd like my book to be accessible to bookshops, but I'm unsure about their Extended Distributors option as from researching online it sounds like you cannot get into UK bookshops through this. It sounds like many UK self-publishers use LighteningSource or Lulu as a second distributor
Does anyone have any experience or advice on this? It sounds like I am better putting my own company as distributor on the ISBN form as I keep the flexibility for now. Am I able to change distributor etc for particular ISBN's anyway by telling Nielsen? Surely if I have to buy ten, then this can't be fixed!!
Thanks for your help in advance, as you can tell I'm even confused with some of the basics of this process!!
Matt
Hi Matty,
Check out Fast Pencil. http://www.fastpencil.com/
This is an affiliate link, which costs you nothing extra, http://www.fastpencil.com/?ref=lbcreative-fp
You can print high quality books in quantities as small as one. You can also get distribution through them.
Also, before you self publish on Amazon, consider submitting to their Amazon singles program, where they publish your work and provide additional support. From reading some of the older reviews (which are probably way out of date) it appears to me that this might be a good choice.
Cheers Alan!
I've figured out the answers to my questions (with a bit of help from amazon and Nielsen - they are actually both very good at dealing with your questions) so I'm already well under way. book should be launched end of January. They look like a useful tips though, so worth checking out for next time!
I remember reviewing your excerpt ages ago. When you publish it, drop me a line and if I've got spare cash I'll get a copy.
Ah cheers mate, that's much appreciated! I will let you know.
