Author to author

The Trade.

Every one of these is something an indie author ran into, what they did about it, and where they ended up. Nobody here is selling anything. It is just the thing somebody would have told you, if you had known to ask.

1 entry, newest first. Every one was read by a person before it went up.

E. Lawrence Anderson2026-09-26

What happened

Listed all my books on Amazon exclusively, print and ebook, because that's what I thought we were supposed to do. Then I found out we were entirely at the mercy of algorithms well beyond our control. We had no leverage to negotiate with bookstores, for example, or with box and chain retailers.

What they did

Left the ebooks on Amazon, but shifted everything in print to IngramSpark, which opened up my own ability to speak and negotiate with other retailers, small and large alike, on favorable wholesale terms.

Where they landed

Still negotiating with several small, independent bookstores globally, but IngramSpark is what allowed that option to exist at all.

Add yours

Three questions. Write as much or as little as it takes — there is no length that is too short and no length that is too long.

What problem did you run into?

Anything that cost you money, time, reach or sleep. It does not have to be dramatic — the small ones nobody warns you about are usually the most useful.

What did you do about it?

Including the things that did not work. A route somebody already tried and abandoned is worth as much as one that worked.

Where did you land?

Where things stand now. “Still working it out” is a real answer and a useful one.

Your name, if you want it on there

Advice from a named author carries more than advice from nobody, so we would rather print your name — but leave it blank and it goes up as “an indie author”, no questions asked. Some stories involve people you still have to work with.

An email, so we can come back to you

Optional, never published, and used for one thing only: asking you a question before your entry goes up. You are not joining a list — there isn't one.

One rule, and it is the one that keeps this page up. Say what a company did to you, but do not name it. “A distributor I was using” and “a promo service that promised reviews” tell the next author everything useful; the name adds nothing they can act on and puts a small website in front of a lawyer. Entries naming a company are held back rather than published, and a person reads every one before it appears either way.