The truth of the matter is that distributors block you and shops do likewise if you are a self publisher. I know because I have tried since 2009.
Online stores are nothing more than show and I say that after opening one in 2009 and there are currently 169 books covering 17 pages.
These are comics of various genres. Graphic novels of various genres and comic albums (48-100pp) on various genres.
There are the World Mystery Books (4 of them covering UFOs, cryptozoology, ghosts and more).
There is the Red Paper: Canids that lomng time naturalists have called "an incredible wildlife document" and "Explosive!" not to mention the album finally explaining what the Girt Dog of Innerdale (a cryptozoological mystery) was. There was also the look at Spring Heeled Jack and as detailed as you could want.
A quartet of books looking at the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI), UFOs and specifically encounters with "aliens" -good review from the Centre for UFO Studies and others.
All the text books are fully illustrated have rare and 'lost' photographs and everything is fully referenced.
I asked someone to count up how many views of posts relating to these books there had been up to 2019 on this and all the other blogs, Twitter, Pinterest and so on. 3.24 million. But the books do not sell and they are all printed in the region they are ordered from so there isn't even a concern about international postage -postage is local.
Comic shops will not stock the comics unless they are on "free trial" and kept off the books and the monopoly distributor in the UK does not find out. In other words it is what we used to call a "dead shop".
Regarding books the same applies but most bookstortes still left are "Remnant bookstores" selling off old stock. Those that do buy in new stock belong to chains and therefore will only take what head office says they can. And guess what? Head office only buys from distributors. Another "closed shop".
From the 1980s to the 1990s I submitted the same manuscripts to UK publishers. All rejected BECAUSE the persons reviewing the Ms for publishers were established UFO authors and, of course, that meant they were going to block anyone threatening their money-making monopoly (I have two of the "reader reviews" the publishers sent me so I know who put the boot in -they also used a large chunk of my data as their own later).
So when people ask whether I have tried a paying publisher my response is "Yes but as long as they employ reviewers with vested interests no outsider will have work in print" (just check the UKs UFO books output for the last 20 years to see what I mean).
Considering that we appear to be in a new age of illiteracy and where only fake sensationalist books are published and sold serious and factual writers will not get a look in.
Hey, if there is a serious, established publisher out there I'll send you copies of books. Just get in touch.
I have gone past the stage where decades of work is thrown away for a few pennies. I need to live and pay bills the same as everyone else.
In March all of the World Mystery and UFO books will be deleted from the store.
