Book distribution for self-published authors

Book distribution is the part of publishing that decides where a book can be bought: in which online shops, in which bookstores and in which libraries. For self-published authors it is also where most of the list price goes. This guide explains who the players are, how the money flows through the chain, and how the main book distribution services for self-publishers compare, as of October 2026.

What is book distribution?

Book distribution is everything between the finished book and the places that sell or lend it. It covers listing the book where retailers and libraries order, printing or warehousing copies, shipping them, handling returns and passing the money back to the publisher.

ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors, defines a distributor "in its most general sense" as "any company that provides products to retailers or libraries instead of directly to consumers." Distribution is not marketing. A distributor can make your book available to thousands of stores, but none of them is obliged to order it.

Distributor, wholesaler, aggregator: what is the difference?

A wholesaler fills orders, a distributor sells, and an aggregator delivers one upload to many channels. The three terms are often used loosely, but they describe different jobs.

• Wholesaler. Lists books in its catalog and ships them when stores order. It does not promote or sell the book; that remains the author's or publisher's job. ALLi puts the difference in one sentence: wholesalers "work for the book buyers", a distributor "works for the publisher".
• Trade distributor. Works for the publisher, usually as its exclusive agent to the trade, with sales representatives who present new titles to bookstores and wholesalers, plus warehousing and order handling. In a February 2025 article for Jane Friedman's site, Joe Biel writes that trade distributors typically take about 27% of each invoice and advises approaching one only after selling at least 5,000 copies, with at least three titles selling consistently month over month.
• Aggregator. In ALLi's words, "a service that provides books to multiple distributors, giving authors access to potentially thousands of retailers from a single point of entry." Aggregators are common for ebooks; for print, some print-on-demand platforms combine printing with access to a wholesale network.

What is a wholesale catalog?

A wholesale catalog is the database a wholesaler offers to its retail and library customers, with every title it can supply, its price, availability and terms. Booksellers search it and order from it as part of their daily work.

In the US, bookstores and libraries order through the catalogs of the major book wholesalers. In the UK, Gardners requires publishers to be registered with Nielsen BookData before it can list their books. In Germany, the VLB is the directory of available books that the trade uses to find and order titles.

Being listed means that a store can find the book and order it. Each wholesaler and retailer decides for itself which titles it takes into its own systems and which it buys. In other words, a listing makes a book orderable. It does not put it on a shelf.

How does the discount chain work in wholesale book distribution?

In wholesale book distribution, the retailer and wholesaler buy your book below list price, and that discount is the largest share of the price. What is left, minus printing, goes to the publisher.

KDP Expanded Distribution shows the proportions. KDP pays a royalty of 40% of the list price minus printing on these sales, so 60% of the price stays in the chain. For a 250-page paperback, KDP's printing cost in the US is a fixed $1.00 plus $0.012 per page, about $4.00:

KDP adds that enrolling "doesn't guarantee it will be accepted by distributors or ordered by a particular bookseller or library." No discount buys a place on a shelf.

The discount is split along the way: part stays with the wholesaler, the rest is the bookstore's margin. In the UK, Gardners says it typically requests 60% off the recommended retail price from publishers it buys from directly. Where a service lets you choose a short discount to keep more per copy, the book usually stays orderable but becomes less attractive for a store to stock.

Print on demand or a print run?

Print on demand prints a copy when an order comes in; a print run produces copies in advance that sit in a warehouse until they sell. For most self-published authors, print on demand is the practical choice for wholesale distribution.

Print on demand means no inventory on hand: a copy is manufactured when a retailer places an order. You pay nothing for storage and nothing for unsold stock, and the book never goes out of print. The cost per copy is higher than in a large print run, which narrows your margin per sale.

A print run makes sense when you already know you will sell a quantity: for events, direct sales, or when a trade distributor has placed copies with stores. It also means paying for printing, storage and shipping before you earn anything, and returned copies come back as physical books.

Do bookstores order print-on-demand books?

Yes, when the book is listed with a wholesaler they buy from: a bookstore can order a print-on-demand title for a customer like any other book. What print on demand does not do is put copies on the shelf. Stores stock what they expect to sell, usually with returns allowed, so a print-on-demand book is typically ordered rather than stocked. Our guide on how to get your book into bookstores covers what makes a store keep copies.

What does KDP Expanded Distribution do?

KDP Expanded Distribution makes a KDP paperback available to distributors in the US and the UK, so that bookstores, online retailers, libraries and academic institutions can order it. It costs nothing extra to enroll.

What KDP's help page says, as of October 2026:

• "Booksellers and libraries purchase paperbacks from large distributors. If you enroll your paperback in Expanded Distribution, we'll make your book available to distributors so booksellers and libraries can find your book and order it."
• The royalty is 40% of the list price in the distribution channel at the time of purchase, minus printing costs, applicable taxes and withholding. On Amazon itself, KDP paperbacks earn 60% of list price at $9.99 or more on Amazon.com, minus printing.
• Only paperbacks are eligible, not hardcovers. The ISBN can be your own or one from KDP, but it "must not have been submitted for distribution through another service."
• Paperbacks sold through these channels "might be manufactured by third parties".
• "Enrolling your paperback in Expanded Distribution doesn't guarantee it will be accepted by distributors or ordered by a particular bookseller or library."

Expanded Distribution is a real route to wholesale availability, and for many authors it is the simplest one. You set the list price; the royalty rate is fixed by KDP.

What do other print-on-demand distribution services offer?

Other self-publishing distributors work on a similar model: you upload print-ready files, the service prints each copy on demand and lists the book with wholesalers. Where they differ is in the terms. Some let you set the wholesale discount and the returns status yourself, some charge a fee per sale, and some offer hardcover, color or ebook editions next to the paperback. Read the current rate card and the distribution terms of any service before you commit, and check how long it takes until you are paid.

Many authors combine two routes: KDP for Amazon and a second service for bookstores and libraries. Because of the KDP rule on ISBNs already submitted elsewhere, that usually means not enrolling the same ISBN in Expanded Distribution.

How to choose a book distribution service

Choose by the terms, not by the number of stores on the website. Every service in this article reaches the large online retailers; the differences are in ownership, control and money.

Questions to ask any book distribution service:

1. Whose ISBN and imprint? Your own, the platform's, or a publisher's?
2. Who sets discount and returns? Those two settings decide how attractive the book is for bookstores.
3. What does it cost? Upfront fees, per-sale fees, printing per copy.
4. What do you earn per copy, and when are you paid?
5. Which formats? Paperback only, or hardcover, color and ebook too?
6. Is it exclusive? Can you publish the same edition elsewhere?
7. Which markets? And in which of them is the book actually orderable by stores?

Where ShelfPublisher fits

ShelfPublisher is neither a trade distributor with sales reps nor a self-service upload platform. It is a publishing house imprint for your paperback: Orbita Media, an international publishing house with more than 1,000 published titles, publishes the book under its name, with an ISBN from its block, and lists it in the wholesale catalogs bookstores order from.

Through those catalogs, over 50,000 bookstores can order the book: more than 27,000 in the US, 9,500 in the UK, 6,800 in Germany, 4,200 in France, 3,100 in Spain and 1,400 in Canada, plus 12 more countries through print on demand. Amazon is included. Orbita files the metadata, sets the book up with the channels, has it printed on demand, collects the money and pays out your share. Details are on our book distribution page.

Sources for the KDP column are listed below; terms as of October 2026.

Net revenue at ShelfPublisher means what Orbita actually receives from the trade for the copy, after the retailer's discount or commission, the manufacturing cost, returns and cancellations, without VAT. Statements appear about six weeks after each quarter, and the credit follows once the trade has paid, usually around 45 days after the quarter ends.

What ShelfPublisher does not do: no sales reps, no marketing, no editing, no cover design, no guarantee that a store stocks the book, and no hardcover or color edition. The license is non-exclusive and your copyright stays with you, but for the duration of the contract the identical edition with Orbita's ISBN is not published elsewhere, and the ISBN stays with Orbita afterwards. If you want full control over every term, KDP and other self-publishing distributors give you more of it. Our comparison with KDP goes through the differences, and the article on how to get your book into bookstores covers what happens after a book is orderable.

If you want your paperback in the wholesale catalogs under a publishing house imprint, request access to ShelfPublisher. Every request is read by a person.

Amazon, Kindle Direct Publishing and KDP are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Barnes & Noble, Gardners and Nielsen BookData are trademarks of their respective owners. ShelfPublisher is not affiliated with them.