[AlbertCory]

Correct on Distribution & Prestige. If you claim trad publishing isn't necessary at all, then explain to me how you get:

1) placed in bookstores

2) on the "upcoming books" circulars that the trads send out to likely "author talk" venues

3) reviewed in mainstream media

[drakonka]

Ingram Spark provides global book store and library distribution.

[AlbertCory]

In practice, that just means if someone walks into a bookstore and asks for your book, they can buy it without going through Amazon.

[drakonka]

Yup, and if they think it'll sell then book stores can stock up more. Many book stores don't stock unless the book is distributed as returnable (in case it doesn't sell). Whether self pub or trad pub, unsold books returned by stores come back out of the author's cut. In many cases it doesn't even make sense for the author to physically reclaim returned books as the shipping and storage are more expensive, so they get destroyed.

[AlbertCory]

the funny bit is, you have to set a "retail price" in every country they operate in, and if you set it too low, the bookstore has a loss on each book. So you have to keep increasing the price until the margin is positive.

just in case someone in Australia goes to a bookstore and asks for it :)