As a follow up to yesterday's post about the advantages of self-publishing, I thought I'd relay the one thing that I think is the best thing the Big Six can do that POD publishers can't do, and most certainly, self-published authors can't do. And that is they get their books into bookstores. I mean chain bookstores, like Barnes and Nobles, and even stores like Walgreens, Walmart, and Costco.
And that's a huge thing. It's a big deal. After all, shoppers shop. And where do they shop? At stores. And if they are shopping for books, they shop at bookstores. Even at Costco, I've seen shoppers stop by the book section and browse, and then buy books that were there for them to browse. That's a major way of selling books. Having them in stores for buyers to buy.
Self-published authors can't do that. And POD publishers, like the ones who published my two books, can't do that, either. Because a POD book has to be paid for to be printed, and that's not how bookstores or other stores operate. Not for books, anyway. And for that reason, the Big Six, and other publishers who aren't POD publishers have an advantage. They get their books into bookstores, and buyers buy their books.
Sure there are online shoppers, but how many of those buyers know about the many online publishers who sell online, as in their own websites, or Amazon, and other online sources. There is limited exposure doing it that way. And that's what it's all about. Exposure. Without exposure, selling will always be an uphill battle. Having your book in a bookstore levels the field.
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