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Originally Posted by Rbneader
As I understand it, until recently the ordering system for bookstores kept POD books in their own category and made it hard for bookstore owners to stock POD books. That also bureaucratically impacted the ability of libraries to order POD books I think?
I think there was a post by Ms. Rusch about it, I'll see if I can find the link.
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This referenced it:
http://kriswrites.com/2013/05/15/the...hifting-sands/
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We investigated, and discovered this:
Earlier this year, Baker & Taylor changed its policies in regard to self-published titles. Instead of segregating them to a different part of their website (as if all POD books smelled bad), B&T mixed the books into the general population. Then, B&T changed its discount policy on POD books. Now, POD books qualify for the hassle-free returns policy. Certain bookstores—those with good credit, who ordered a lot of copies through B&T—qualify for as much as a 45% discount on any POD title. These gold-plated bookstores can get another 6% discount off their bill if they pay within 30 days.
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DWS also refered to the change here:
http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/the-n...ctive-on-2013/
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The biggest event for indie publishers in 2013 was the silent removal of all labels about POD printed books from the Baker and Taylor and Ingrams catalogs. This allowed bookstores, depending on their credit, to get indie published paper books at varying discounts from 25% to 42%. So indie books starting in the summer of 2013 started slowly making their way through normal channels into bookstores. And many indie published books found their way into the ABA Indie Bound book program this last fall, mostly without the indie publisher even knowing it was happening.
This one change last summer will turn out to have a large impact for many indie publishers in 2014 and beyond.
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Noting that THE RABBIT... took two and a half years to go viral it was probably released while Ceatespace titles were still flagged as POD (and hence Indie) but lost the flag later. As word of mouth spread and people asked for it it moved through the distribution system just like any tradpub title.
Both KKR and DWS are great resources for those interested in tracking the ongoing disruption and evolution of publishing.
Highly recommended sites both.