Good morning, friends —
I’ve got a bit of news that might affect how you buy my books — and maybe even help some fellow indie authors along the way.
📚 The Indie Bookstore Conversation
Winston Malone, over at Storyletter XPress Publishing, is opening his own indie bookstore. When I shared my author page from Books2Read, he replied enthusiastically — but with one hiccup:
“I’d love to carry your books,” he said, “but they’re too expensive to order.”
At the time, I had my print books set up through Draft2Digital (D2D) with a 20% wholesale discount. That worked well enough for online distribution, but Winston explained he would need at least a 35% discount just to break even — and ideally more, to make a profit.
As a small business owner myself (in spirit if not in storefront), I get it. If I were running a shop, I’d want a margin that made the effort worth it.
🔍 Time for a Change
So, I did some research.
Turns out, D2D’s print-on-demand pricing doesn’t give me much wiggle room. Lowering the price to offer a better discount would leave me with almost nothing in royalties.
But there’s another option: IngramSpark. Through Ingram, I can set my own wholesale discount and price points — which means I can support indie bookstores like Winston’s without losing royalties.
Here’s the plan:
eBooks will remain available via D2D / Books2Read
Print books will soon move to IngramSpark, with bookstore-friendly pricing
🛠️ What’s Next?
I’m currently revising The First Book of The Draoidh’s Cearcall. Once that’s done, I’ll format the interior for print, finalize the PDF, and submit it to Ingram.
I’ll let you know how it goes — especially for those of you walking the same indie path.
Thanks, as always, for reading and supporting this journey.
Till next time
Interesting. I have had my book listed in Ingram Spark for a bit now but I lacked an outlet to tell bookstores. I had thought some about trying to reach out personally to independent sellers but I didn't really know how, other than making personal visits, like someone I know here in Virginia. I don't have the luxury of traveling all over to market my books. I'm open for suggestions.
Yeah, I'm kinda stuck that way. I work with a small publisher who has the say over how the books get published and the price. I'll keep this in mind, though, for the Freelan series books. I'll most likely end up self-publishing since they're too long for that publisher and I doubt, considering the content, that any publisher will touch them except one I've found but who requires MSs to be submitted through an agent (as if I could find one who would even consider handling that series). Tough row for authors to hoe, setting AI aside.