Yay! Another question from a writer. ;D

Sorry fans, another blog for aspiring and published authors. Booooring for you I know. Will get something exciting for you up soon. ;D

A question from an author.

I do have one question, right off the bat, pertaining to Lightning Source: I've noticed that when I receive shipments of my books, the box always says Lightning Source on the outer label, and yet I am currently through WestBow. What is the connection there? Can I go directly through Lightning Source? Is WestBow a "middle man?"

West Bow is Thomas Nelson's POD. This actually means nothing other than Thomas Nelson decided to attempt to make a little money off those authors they won't publish traditionally (which means anyone who doesn't write targeted Christian fiction.) As a side note, I find it humorous that they infer an authors work will show up in Christian Bookstores. I wonder if it's accidental that they don't mention West Bow books aren't anymore likely to show up in Brick & Mortar Christian bookstores than if the author would've chosen Iuniverse (B&N's POD) or Create Space (Amazon's POD) or have gone straight through LSI (Ingram's POD)

Oh, the question. If you are with West Bow and the box your books come to you in say LSI then there is only one conclusion to draw. West Bow, Thomas Nelson's POD is using LSI Ingram's POD to print and distribute their books. By doing this your book shows up in Ingram's catalog (as a POD of course) AND I'm assuming West Bow also has your book approved for distribution to the Christian market through Spring Arbor thus supporting the idea that your book will show up in Christian bookstores.

So yes, West Bow is a middle man. You could go to LSI yourself and do everything they can do and probably for a lot less. And if anyone from West Bow or Ingram or LSI wants to chime in, well, you can forget about it. The author asked me. ;D