This is not my usual Thursday Tea Party. I don’t have a bunch of personal updates, and Fae corps updates are on their blog (including a call for Submissions.) I have a pre-order up. But all of that is not enough for a blog post. Half the time I feel at a loss to come up with a full post…So I asked a friend for ideas. She said tips, and recipes…Yikes. That would work…I guess… So I have been struggling with what tips..or recipes…or wtfever….

Then I realized that I have been doing research for Fae Corps that I could let you in on. We have for the last few books been using the Beta Print program with Draft2Digital. We use them for ebook distribution. I have looked into other ebook distributors. Each has their own issues. Smashwords expanded distribution requires far too strict a format, Amazon is too narrow a distribution. I have looked into quite a few. We have noticed quite a few issues this time with the print books. Quality is always a concern with a small press. The distributor’s customer service is working to correct the problems, but we feel like we may want to change who we do our print books through in the future.

So I went into research mode. Draft2digital print….no color. paperback only. cheap author/proof copies. no upfront costs Amazon print…..no color. paperback only. cheap author copies. proof copies funkily marked. no upfront costs. Ingram Spark……upfront costs. color/B&W. Hard cover/Paperback. (tbh I didn’t look any farther than the upfront costs…… And the one I think that we are going to go with……… Lulu….No upfront costs. color or b&W. The author copies are still cheaper than retail.

I feel like asking has helped. I asked in various writing groups. A surprising number suggested Ingram Spark. They do allow the small bookstores to return. It is an amazing idea, but the upfront costs are something that shies me away. If it costs me money to publish, well it seems like a bit of a scam to me.