Why is it that self-published authors are forced to use a book distributing agent to get their books into book stores?

I think it’s a shame that places like Bargain Books and Exclusive Books refused to accept my novel simply because I didn’t approach them via an agent. Were I to do that, I would get paid much less for a book I spent months on, and which I created with my own imagination.

Do these book stores not realise that self-publishing is very much the future for writers? An author can even self-publish and sell his or her book on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, yet these stores are still holding on to old methods of doing business.

It might be sounding as if this is a case of sour grapes, but it’s only despondency at how difficult it is to get a book into a store. Not one of the stores I approached was very welcoming; in fact, most of them seemed aloof and quite put out. They acted as if they were indignant at my audacity to approach them.

The only store that readily agreed to take a copy of my novel and place up a poster advertising the book was … wait for it: a bakery! Classic Bakery in Thornton Road, Crawford is one of my favourite bakeries, and they’ve just become the BEST!

I will persevere and make a greater effort to market the novel. I know it’s worth it!