Congratulations on writing and self-publishing your book!  We admire those who put in the work to publish their book by non-traditional means - especially when the traditional publishing industry is not representative of the world we live in, which often leaves many excluded from publishing opportunities.   

Kindred Stories is committed to creating and making space for self-published authors in our store.  We receive hundreds of self-published inquiries and, unfortunately, do not have enough space and resources to accommodate everyone.  This page is meant to help you explore whether or not Kindred Stories is the right place to try to stock your book.

Ingram

The only way to get your book into our store is ensuring we can purchase it through Ingram.  We require a minimum retailer discount of 40%.  Please complete this form to begin the process.

Some things to consider:

Our process for deciding which self-published authors to carry takes 4-6 weeks of deliberation. We are a small team with endless tasks to get through so your patience is truly appreciated.  We receive hundreds of self-published author requests monthly, in addition to reviewing publisher catalogues with thousands of titles.  We try our best to ensure the store's inventory is balanced and diverse and it takes time to curate that.

We give priority to Houston-based authors and our store prioritizes the voices of Black people and people of color who are often left out of the room.  Please consider this before submitting to be carried in our store.

When customers are browsing, they are setting their eyes on thousands of covers and spines.  Please ensure your book stands out!  Hiring a professional illustrator and/or book designer to give your book a unique and professional look is a great idea.  We will not accept covers that are pixelated. 

We get a lot of self-published author inquiries that are memoirs and/or children's books focused on empowerment. These books are great and much needed but we can't stock our entire store with them.  Books with unique themes and written for varied genres are more likely get a look by our team.

Thank you again for considering Kindred Stories when deciding where you would like to see your book.