I don’t claim to understand what is going on with Amazon print-on-demand services outside the U.S., but I was chagrined to learn that my book, Laugh and Live, Advice for Aging Boomers, with its hilarious cover cartoon by Australian artist Tim Mellish, couldn’t be ordered through Amazon in Australia, at least not without paying shipping costs from the U.S.
So months ago I started down the long road to get the book uploaded on Ingram/Sparks, aka Lightning Source. Once your book is there, it can be ordered from most any bookstore in the world. That began with Ingram not allowing me to use the same ISBN number already in use for the book on Amazon. I had to go through a lengthy and confusing process to transfer the ISBN to Ingram (worrying that would mean Amazon wouldn’t be able to sell any books in the process–but that didn’t happen.)
Transfer finally completed, we moved on to uploading the MS, but there were glitches there which needed to be fixed. I could not get Ingram to accept the cover with my tree logo on the binding, so finally just removed it.
The last hurdle was getting the pricing and return policies set for international sales. Those amounts can only be set or updated on the first of the month, but it appears I got it in under the wire for April 1. It did require a phone call to verify that the wholesale discount (55%) and return policy I chose were reasonable and competitive.
So, I invite everyone on the planet who reads English to order my book! Just visit your local bookstore and ask them to look for it in their database. And good luck to all you authors and publishers dealing with the insanity that is self publishing today.
Laughing Oak Publications 