When I first wrote In Plain Sight: a Jon Wells novel I anticipated only creating an eBook format. Who wants actual books anymore I thought. Wow, was that a major misconception on my part! I heard over and over from people who wanted an actual book. So I did what all entrepreneurs do. I listened to my fan base and created one. I have to tell you though, it was not nearly as easy as the eBook. Who would print it? What would that cost me? Then I found CreateSpace. They printed the book on demand. I didn't need an investment in 1000's of books languishing in my office waiting for someone to purchase one at a time. I'd heard horror stories from other people who wrote one book. One book only. The stopped because of the cost and the pain associated - not with writing - but printing, distributing and selling.

I found a company that would not only print my book on demand, but also put my book online automatically - right next to my eBook - on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Wow! No set up fees, no nothing from me other than a correctly formatted book, for which they provided a Word template, and a book cover in print ready PDF format. They even provided the ISBN for me. Finally, they also set up an online store so I could sell my book directly from my own website. I invested only my time.

And I sold a lot of paperback books, went on book signing tours and enjoyed it.

So what's the problem you say? CreateSpace is an Amazon subsidiary. That means - you got it - I couldn't get my book placed in most bookstores. In fact, I got run out of one and received very terse e-mails from others about the ills of associating with a "predatory company like Amazon." I knew the path of self-publishing was full of roadblocks but I never expected this.

Who knew? I didn't. When you venture into a new business there are lots of things you don't know. Remember, I never set out to have my book printed - it was just going to be an eBook after all.

I couldn't find a viable alternative to CreateSpace for a long time. Many niche publishers still want the author the pony up a lot of money. Others want a detailed business plan for how the book will be sold. I learned over the past six months that I don't know a lot about the publishing business - and yet someone in the publishing business wants me to write a business plan for how to succeed in the publishing business. That seemed odd.

Finally, my good friends at Sisters In Crime, Twin Cities Chapter, pointed me in the right direction: IngramSpark.

IngramSpark does almost everything CreateSpace does. Almost. Their website isn't as easy to use. I get paid less per book with them, and their shipping costs, which I pay, are really expensive. BUT, theoretically I can get my book into the vast majority of bookstores who wouldn't let me in before.

OK bookstores. Your turn. I bit the bullet. I took a chance to make less per book. I moved to a printer the bookstores are OK with.

So will you sell my book now? I don't just mean will you allow it to take up space on your racks, sitting their with other books, patiently waiting for someone to bump into it. Will you tell people about it? Will you SELL my book?

You made me change my business plan with your refusal to let me in. Hey, its your business. I get it. So I changed. I modified. I learned. I felt you were always going to make money by selling my book no matter who printed it. I felt that was supportive of the bookstores I wanted to partner with. Those few bookstores who let me in are making money on every sale. But I guess there are more things I need to learn.

So here goes. A new plan. A revision. A mid-course change. We all do those - especially when we find out our initial decisions are deemed hurtful and non-supportive by others.

No more CreateSpace for Greg Gardner. I'm with IngramSpark.