I just did a search of the top ten online stores for books and guess what, mine are there. All this time I was thinking that they were on Amazon and Barnes and Nobles only. Boy was I ever surprised.
I mean, when it comes to talking about books for kids and as an author being a part of the world of published books in stores, I am thrilled. We are talking bookstores such as Borders, Abe Books, Buy.com, and Powell's, Books A Million and I-Bookstore to name a few. My books are there! I even bookmarked the spot where I went and saw a few of my book titles in India and other places in the United Kingdom. Can you imagine that?!
I tell you, I see all of this with my own eyes and it makes me wonder; how do authors keep track of all this? How do they keep track of their sales when their books are here and there and everywhere and with different bookstores.
Something else I think about is the fact that some of the places I explored, I found out that some of the titles are selling as new books and you could get them at a cheaper price as used books. Yes, I am saying a couple of my books are selling as used. I am not understanding that at all. Did someone buy the book and return the copy to the store? As the author, do I get credit for the used book being sold again? What the heck, why would anyone return a book? Did they just borrow it, like from a library?
Oh, the ins and outs of the publishing world is complicated, but I am not complaining because at least my books are out there and I am not just hanging on to manuscripts waiting for my big break. My time is now, so I am going to see this through so I can understand the entire process and not just the part of me being an author. You might be asking yourself why bother? Well, it's like this.....I love what I do. I write what I love and I love what I write. I'm a short-story writer by choice, because it takes too long to write a novel.