This is just a simple reminder as to how things work in the publishing industry. Best-Sellers are determined by the number of books that bookstores buy from publishers. Large publishers, specifically the ones around since the beginning of time, have a working deal with bookstores (the specifics put in place during the depression.)
Bookstores automatically buy in bulk from large publishers to help large publishers with inventory. In return, large publishers don't care to ever see the books again. This overstock, in the past, was tossed out the back door into the trash with the covers torn off because it used to be that publishers did require that the covers be returned. Eventually, not even that mattered.
Now the overstock is resold to "returned from the bookstore" vendors such as Books-A-Million. And in most cases it isn't the publisher benefiting but rather corporate bookstores and the publisher's chosen distributors.
My second publisher used one of the "bigger" distributors. The books that were returned from bookstores were supposed to go back into my publishers inventory for my publisher to deal with. On two separate occasions, two very different things happened.
On one occasion, twenty copies of "Forever Richard" ended up at Books-A-Million. My publisher had no knowledge of this and Books-A-Million only buys "returned from the bookstore books." The only conclusion to draw was that the "distributor" sold the "returned from the bookstore" books to Books-A-Million themselves.
In the second instance I purchased author copies from this distributor and received "returned from the bookstore" books instead of new copies.
How did I know?
They still had the Barnes and Noble "Signed by the Author" stickers on them. They were books I'd dropped off at Barnes and Noble in Metairie, Louisiana that were returned to my publisher's distributor but not to that "particular" place in my publishers inventory for my publisher to deal with. I received dated and signed copies of 20 books as "new."
I've said all of that to say this. Over there on the left side of this page are links where you may purchase my books from my publisher. Please use these links to purchase my books if you think you might fancy to read one. They are exceptionally priced and are available in paperback and in all e-book formats. You WILL NOT find my books in the larger corporate bookstores because they will not carry books that do not utilize an "industry" standard return policy that will sink a publisher who never sees their returned books as is the case with my publisher's distributor.
Bigger distributors do get the books back but they seem to have a very real problem following their own rules to make certain "returned from the bookstore" books end up back in the publisher's inventory. A VERY REAL PROBLEM.
So in spite of the few accolades my books have gathered, I'm no further ahead in the game of selling what I write and distributing as someone who has never published a book before. And to add insult to injury, even if I sell quite a few books at several events, those numbers won't go toward making it a "best-seller" because the only books counted are the ones sold to bookstores who won't carry my books because I don't adhere to that ridiculous return policy.
Do I care?
Of course I care. I've no way of getting my product out there. No way of making the money back I've invested. Did I know this going into publishing? Do I look like an idiot (I realize that's a loaded question. HA!) But no! Who would have ever guessed that things were that messed up in publishing.
The next book in my Thirsting for Blood Series is due out soon. Obviously with very little opportunity to make my investment back, I have to take time to find other ways to make money to account for "earning a living." One of two stray cats left on my doorstep recently incurred vet bills of well over $500 dollars. I just don't want anyone thinking that I have a steady income of royalties coming in. If you buy a book I make a little something something.
The release of Cyn No More will depend on how soon money comes in from sales of my other books. Sorry. That's just the way it is. Most could care less. This is just for those few who do care. ;)
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