When going the self-publishing route, knowing and understanding your sales strategy is crucial. If you’ve done your research, you’ve probably seen the word “distribution” in a number of contexts. If you want to know what it means to have your book distributed, you’ve come to the correct place!
Book distribution is defined as
Getting your book into the hands of distributors is what we term distribution, or “wholesale distribution.” For instance, Ingram is one of the most well-known content distributors worldwide, and with their support, over forty thousand retail locations, educational institutions, and public libraries are able to provide books for sale. To put it simply, distribution is like a catalogue service from which bookstores choose which titles to stock.
Rewards for Spreading It Around
The main advantage is that it is easily accessible. Having your book accessible through Amazon’s network is helpful, no matter how you feel about the company. If you want to sell books, you need to distribute them to the places where readers congregate. For some, the obvious choice is Amazon.
Making your book available for retail distribution is also quite easy. Hence, there is no valid excuse not to.
Troubles Associated with Dissemination
Print distribution in stores has two major flaws. The first is that you must fulfil ALL retailers’ standards. It typically means conforming to Amazon’s standards, as they are used as a yardstick by nearly every retailer. There may be limitations to work around if your book has unusual formatting or components.
As a second, more visible issue, store markup will be something you’ll have to deal with. There is another name for this, and it’s wholesale. These stores will add a markup of two to your base price (in the case of Spectra, this is the print cost). This is an example of what you can do with our cost estimator. The book has been printed in Standard Black & White Ink and is 200 pages long (US Trade Paperback).
Paper-Based Dissemination
For print book distribution, the first step is getting your manuscript in the correct format that can be used by our retail partners. We’ll walk you through the process of completing the metadata and submitting your file. The most crucial point to keep in mind is that the metadata you upload to Spectra and the metadata in your print files must be identical.
Library Book Sales
Offering your book as an ebook gives interested readers access to a more affordable, portable, and flexible version of your work. Your ebook will be distributed to all major ebook retailers owing to Spectra’s extensive network of distributors. There are a few key differences between publishing a book in print and publishing an ebook, but the essential facts for each are largely the same.
All metadata should be consistent, but for an ebook it is especially crucial because retailers look at the metadata with a very critical eye, and any discrepancy might result in a rejection, requiring more time spent correcting and resubmitting.
What does it mean to distribute something?
We have discussed how to distribute your book and the benefits and drawbacks of doing so. Nevertheless, we haven’t yet gotten down to the meat and potatoes of what distribution is and how it operates.
To begin, know that direct sales through Spectra’s bookstore will always yield the most earnings. We have better payouts, and our distribution system will make sure your book looks great.
