BookChristian.com-Same old same old.

Continuing discussion on this matter prompted an excellent post from Caprice Holkstad author of The Dukes Handmaid and Nor Iron Bars a Cage. Below is what she had to say and what I said in return:

Actually, the second edition (black cover) and the second book (Nor Iron Bars a Cage) are with Lulu, but the one with the green cover (very first) is at Xulon. Yes, Xulon actually IS a member of CBA. I attended a CBA convention (paying my own expenses) the year I published. They had a booth, though it wasn't as big as Zondervan's.

When I spent over two grand (over 5 years ago) getting published with Xulon I was told that my book was going to be listed in Spring Arbor AND Ingram. Of course, I thought it meant I had a chance to be in the STORES (why else did I spend so much attending that convention and GIVING away copies to store owners?) or at least be able to have signings, but that was a misconception on my part. Their listing has proven completely worthless. Sure, you can FIND my book at that website (I had never heard of it before), but no one is BUYING it there.

Lulu is much more upfront about things and a WHOLE lot cheaper. I know my second book is not on that bookschristian.com, but I didn't waste a ton of money on false hopes. All I paid for with the second book was an independent cover artist, and then a very small fee (5% of what I paid at Xulon) for the ISBN and Ingram listing.

Thanks for your nice comments. Flattery will get you everywhere.
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Caprice Hokstad
www.Latoph.com

Sue's reply:

Thank-you so much for posting that Caprice. It helps solidify my point. There is a process by which on-line Christian bookstores choose the books they wish to list. I was told they pull from Ingram/Spring Arbor but clearly there is more than goes into it than that. Xulon is CBA affiliated that's why your book showed up and mine didn't.

BookChristian.com doesn't serve nor list books simply distributed by Ingram/Spring Arbor, (BTW neither does any other on-line Christian bookstore as far as I know.) They simply list those books published by a CBA affiliated orginization which are distributed through Ingram/Spring Arbor.

Is that a problem? Yes. Because they say they sell Christian books when they primarily only sell CBA published Christian books. What's that say about the other Christian books being distributed by Spring Arbor, Ingram's Christian arm?

*shaking head back and forth* Sad, very sad.

Please note, that they will list non-CBA affiliated books like Shack but not automatically as they should if in fact they simply list books distributed by Spring Arbor/Ingram.