Blog Dis
Those elitist b*stards
2025-10-02
Who are the elitist b*stards in your life? I have an easy answer to this question, from the perspective of an Indie author: conglomerate bookstore chains.
The word anarchist I rarely, if ever, use to describe myself. I'm a pacifist at heart but if pushed, then I have the potential to behave like a ruthless warrior, at least when it comes to emotional intent, rather than actual physical violence. I'm of the opinion that explosive devices are not the answer either. But I must confess. I would love to plant an egg-kaboom in the underwear of those managers responsible for stocking books in major bookstore chains.
Following my appearance at Ottawa's Comic-Con in early September, toward the end of this three-day selling event, I was approached by a sales rep working for Indigo books, who proposed the idea of me holding a book signing at their Indigo store on Rideau Street. Honestly, the idea intrigues me but there was a caveat, as there are typically caveats when it comes to large bookstore chains, generally indicative of their need to control profits, those items sold in their stores. Their caveat is that I am obligated to create an IngramSpark online account, similar to my Amazon KDP account, to create a profile and add my newest novel, POM, before I'm welcome to show up for a signing, to sell my seventh novel POM, after which, Indigo expects to take 45% of the profits vs the standard 35/65 consignment split that is the accepted standard with independent bookstores. With this potential book signing, I am expected to place an online order for author copies from IngramSpark, receive them with me absorbing the shipping costs, haul them to their store location, and sell them. And, providing I'm able to sell no less than ten copies, Indigo will agree to carry my title on their shelves, for only a three month period.
It all sounds promising, doesn't it? Nope. Assuming I can move ten copies and place paper copies in their store, if the copies end up getting beat up as paper copies are known to do, with curious readers, Indigo takes no responsibility for the care of the copies, and the author is advised to have insurance in place. 🤔I've been down this road before and I know where it leads. This is the road that many independent authors have to face when their books are tattered and worn, without having earned a penny, and the author has no choice but to absorb the cost. By the end of Comic-Con, and after I made back the cost of my table twice over, I went for a stroll on the exhibition floor, to find that Indigo rep, only to learn that Indigo had also bought a table to sell copies of their author's novels at Comic-Con. And here is where I diverge to take another road, in terms of my views. It's not enough that these large bookstore chains occupy the largest percentage of sales of paper books to include online sales, they want to capture every percentage of book sales in every other venue event, outside their chain bookstores.
Finally, another Indie author approached me who was walking thru the convention floor. He introduced himself, and paid me a lovely comment on my novel's cover, citing it as "Gorgeous!" [I gave him the name of my graphic designer
@fantasy_art_z
] and then he began to rave about his book signing experience at Indigo, to which I had asked, "How much did you end up making?" His reply, "Oh! I didn't see a penny. But I sold 10 books!"
There are independent musicians, independent record labels, independent filmmakers, independent film companies and independent photographers. But for some odd reason, the Indie author is considered the lesser of all entities. As I've known from the beginning, writing is an uphill battle, more so if you're a writer who doesn't have a large book chain behind you. I'm OK with this, frankly, because I chose this route willingly and with intent, knowing that being an Indie author would mean I'd get to create the story I want, to write it the way I want, to finalize the graphic cover design the way I want, all of which requires sub-contracting out work to a principal editor, copy editor, proof-reader, graphic design artist, and even a web-designer to re-design my author site. Recovering this outlay of costs requires moving plenty of books in person, the old-fashioned way, to make appearances at events, pitch books, sell them, and make back your money, given that I purchase my books from Amazon KDP at my author's discount. It's still hard work and there's no feeling quite like it, as I've said earlier, to make my table cost back twice over, while moving copies of novels.
The Indie books awards is up next, to include the Reader's Favorite awards, two upcoming activities on my list for 2026, as well as to review the IngramSpark online publishing site to determine if it is worth my effort to pursue the Indigo book signing. But I gotta say, at the outset, reviews of IngramSpark are not all that positive, citing high printing costs and low royalties, lengthy shipping times, issues with quality inconsistency, poor customer service and a platform that is difficult to work with... and these are just some of the cons I've read. In this regard, Amazon KDP has it down to a fine art.
Like I was saying earlier, I don't expect this writing business to be easy, not by a long shot.
The word anarchist I rarely, if ever, use to describe myself. I'm a pacifist at heart but if pushed, then I have the potential to behave like a ruthless warrior, at least when it comes to emotional intent, rather than actual physical violence. I'm of the opinion that explosive devices are not the answer either. But I must confess. I would love to plant an egg-kaboom in the underwear of those managers responsible for stocking books in major bookstore chains.
Following my appearance at Ottawa's Comic-Con in early September, toward the end of this three-day selling event, I was approached by a sales rep working for Indigo books, who proposed the idea of me holding a book signing at their Indigo store on Rideau Street. Honestly, the idea intrigues me but there was a caveat, as there are typically caveats when it comes to large bookstore chains, generally indicative of their need to control profits, those items sold in their stores. Their caveat is that I am obligated to create an IngramSpark online account, similar to my Amazon KDP account, to create a profile and add my newest novel, POM, before I'm welcome to show up for a signing, to sell my seventh novel POM, after which, Indigo expects to take 45% of the profits vs the standard 35/65 consignment split that is the accepted standard with independent bookstores. With this potential book signing, I am expected to place an online order for author copies from IngramSpark, receive them with me absorbing the shipping costs, haul them to their store location, and sell them. And, providing I'm able to sell no less than ten copies, Indigo will agree to carry my title on their shelves, for only a three month period.
It all sounds promising, doesn't it? Nope. Assuming I can move ten copies and place paper copies in their store, if the copies end up getting beat up as paper copies are known to do, with curious readers, Indigo takes no responsibility for the care of the copies, and the author is advised to have insurance in place. 🤔I've been down this road before and I know where it leads. This is the road that many independent authors have to face when their books are tattered and worn, without having earned a penny, and the author has no choice but to absorb the cost. By the end of Comic-Con, and after I made back the cost of my table twice over, I went for a stroll on the exhibition floor, to find that Indigo rep, only to learn that Indigo had also bought a table to sell copies of their author's novels at Comic-Con. And here is where I diverge to take another road, in terms of my views. It's not enough that these large bookstore chains occupy the largest percentage of sales of paper books to include online sales, they want to capture every percentage of book sales in every other venue event, outside their chain bookstores.
Finally, another Indie author approached me who was walking thru the convention floor. He introduced himself, and paid me a lovely comment on my novel's cover, citing it as "Gorgeous!" [I gave him the name of my graphic designer
@fantasy_art_z
] and then he began to rave about his book signing experience at Indigo, to which I had asked, "How much did you end up making?" His reply, "Oh! I didn't see a penny. But I sold 10 books!"
There are independent musicians, independent record labels, independent filmmakers, independent film companies and independent photographers. But for some odd reason, the Indie author is considered the lesser of all entities. As I've known from the beginning, writing is an uphill battle, more so if you're a writer who doesn't have a large book chain behind you. I'm OK with this, frankly, because I chose this route willingly and with intent, knowing that being an Indie author would mean I'd get to create the story I want, to write it the way I want, to finalize the graphic cover design the way I want, all of which requires sub-contracting out work to a principal editor, copy editor, proof-reader, graphic design artist, and even a web-designer to re-design my author site. Recovering this outlay of costs requires moving plenty of books in person, the old-fashioned way, to make appearances at events, pitch books, sell them, and make back your money, given that I purchase my books from Amazon KDP at my author's discount. It's still hard work and there's no feeling quite like it, as I've said earlier, to make my table cost back twice over, while moving copies of novels.
The Indie books awards is up next, to include the Reader's Favorite awards, two upcoming activities on my list for 2026, as well as to review the IngramSpark online publishing site to determine if it is worth my effort to pursue the Indigo book signing. But I gotta say, at the outset, reviews of IngramSpark are not all that positive, citing high printing costs and low royalties, lengthy shipping times, issues with quality inconsistency, poor customer service and a platform that is difficult to work with... and these are just some of the cons I've read. In this regard, Amazon KDP has it down to a fine art.
Like I was saying earlier, I don't expect this writing business to be easy, not by a long shot.
