Ah me, thank you for the tips.  But do you mean three months ahead in order to get a timely review, or that they are not interested unless the book is still unreleased?

As far as I know Kirkus is the only one that charges. It does stink, and I was at first offended by the whole idea. But now I look at it like this: ideally, Kirkus would review every book they're sent, but they lack the staff. This way, at least you can get a guaranteed review. The same can't be said for other trade mags. If Kirkus really wants to review your book, they'll do it for free...wonder how many books still fit into that category.

Also look into Midwest Book Review, Booklist, Bookpage, Foreword, Library Bookwatch and Bookreporter.com. But also note that for most trade magazines you must send them the book a minimum of three months before the book comes out.

I do want to focus on getting some reviews, your note reminds me.  But I was most discouraged to learn that we small writers and publishers must PAY the Kirkus outfit to get reviewed!!!  And it is more than a token amount.  (I was so flabbergasted I forget the specific, but it was something like $200.  Not a lot, in a sense, but it points to a system that stinks.)

Hopefully, PW is a different story.  I'll try to find out.

Yup, librarians are restricted in what they can buy. Many of them also won't buy a book unless it's been reviewed by a trade magazine like Kirkus or PW.

Good points, and I must admit, it does, sadly, seem possible that "If only you had a distributor" may be a less than honest response, an easy way to sidestep making a purchase.  Hmm.  Rats.  You have me thinking the only way to extend into shops around the country, ultimately, is with having books out there on consignment.

A book distributor if fine and might help (don't know that for sure) but people still have to ask for the book. A distributor like Ingram might put you in their catalog, but that doesn't mean people will see it.

I don't know about schools. I've not tried to market to them. But I've had many libraries in my area buy my books. They have a book budget and do with it as they please. But maybe that is just in my area - South Central Wisconsin or maybe those libraries are using that as an excuse not to purchase your book.  I know libraries are reluctant to buy unknown authors, so I've had less luck with libraries out of my area. You can always have people you know ask a library to get a certain book, and if you are online (which I assume you are) they can contact you that way or the person asking can give them a website with contact info on it.

Volunteering to talk at libraries is another way to market yourself and your book. I've also given my book to my local library for all the help they give me with my research.

Make sure you get as many reviews as you can, that helps when people - libraries, bookstores... - are looking at your book online. I assume you are on goodreads or library thing or...

I have a website where I review books. I'd be happy to read your book and have you on there for a question/answer thing.

The more you're out there, the further up on the search engine list you get!

Christine, thank you.  That's exactly what we've done to date.  We have a professional book designer in Rochester who did a fine job, hardbound and softcover versions printed, also in Rochester, and the books have been available from Amazon since September lst.  

The catch, the problem, is that without a proper distributor, independent bookshops will only have the book if they take copies on consignment.  And others who may want to order the book, such as public libraries and schools, tell us they can only purchase from Ingram or Baker & Taylor.  At least that the message we KEEP getting over the past few months.

Meantime, while I have no complaints about how Amazon handles things, I have the feeling that more and more people, with security and privacy issues in mind, together with a sense that Amazon has become far too large as it forces (intentionally or not) small shops out of business, are deciding to stop buying from them.

I'm working on these issues and puzzles...and still buying from Amazon for myself!

Do you see any way to go forward without a distributor, assuming one won't or can't devote huge amounts of time, energy and money towards personal marketing?  Again, though, what is the solution, even with major marketing work, if no national distributor carries the book?  This "catch" has to be faced and made to vanish.  (I realize there have apparently been some successful exceptions, but they seem merely to prove the rule.)

Thanks again to you. 

Martin, ever considered hiring a book designer and getting it printed yourself? Might be something worth looking into, especially if you already have the illustrations. That's the most costly for an illustrated book. There are lots of book designers out there (myself included) that can do that for you and you can easily find a printer who does POD. It's what I do for my books and when orders come in from Amazon, my website or from any place else, I send them out via the post office. Gives me more freedom with the interior interior design.

Just a thought.

First day here, and appears I placed a comment in the wrong place.  To repeat myself, in brief, Create Space does not accept 12-inch wide picture books.  That stopped us.  Right now, we're having the CMYK of the book evaluated by Ingram Spark, and from what we know so far, it appears to be a strong possibility for us to try.  Having the book available only via Amazon, except for personal sales locally, we have learned the need for a distributor.

Thanks for sharing the pros and cons breakdown of the different services. I've used Createspace, and thought of checking out Spark, but wasn't sure, so it's nice to have a detailed look at both.