How Do I Get My Book in a Bookstore?
There are two types of platforms you can upload your book to when you self-publish: distributors and retailers (and also a combo of the two—so I guess that’s three, but whatever).
Retailers
This is an online and/or physical store—much like what you’d expect. You upload to a retailer, and you can buy the book from them.
Barnes and Noble is an example of a retailer. If you upload your book to B&N Press (and follow all their guidelines), your book will be sold by Barnes and Noble online within 24 hours. To get your book in B&N stores, you need to fill out an application and get approved. This process may vary depending on the retailer.
Distributors
Distributors do not have a store; they distribute your book to other stores (retailers). This means if you upload to a distributor, your book will be for sale in more than one store.
IngramSpark is an example of a distributor; they distribute your book to Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Apple Books, and more. You can find a full list of retailers that each distributor works with on their site.
Combo Retailer & Distributor
Some platforms do both: they have a store and send the book to other retailers as well.
Smashwords is an example of this combo deal. If you upload to Smashwords, the book will be available on the Smashwords site and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, and more.
So What Should I Do?
Well, it depends on the goals of your book. It also depends on how complicated your book formatting is. For example, some platforms don’t allow for spiral-bound books or hardcovers. Some platforms allow much more personalization than others.
If you can upload your book one time and get it in ten stores, that’s obviously much easier than uploading to ten different retailer platforms. But I don’t think this should be the leading factor in deciding which platform to use. Cost, royalties, quality of the book, and available personalization should be more important in making this decision.
One more thing to keep in mind is that if you upload to IngramSpark, Smashwords, and Amazon KDP at the same time, you’ll have your book listed on Amazon three times. This is an issue because your reviews and sales will be split in three; your sales will look low on all of these, and Amazon won’t promote your book as much because it thinks your book isn’t doing as well as it is. Keep an eye out for which retailers the distributors work with to make sure you’re not double dipping too much.