There are many frustrating realities of being a self-published author: unfriendly review policies, managing your own production, stigma, and more.Now, after self-publishing two books and prepping the third, I’ve decided to improve my quality of life by fixing one of these frustrating realities: I’m not selling on consignment to bookstores anymore.

Consignment works like this: You loan a bookstore your books. If they sell them, they pay you, if they don’t, they either give the books back, sell...