Most economies are equipped with two economic infrastructures; two different markets for the same goods. You will not only find this in less developed economies with a parallel currency market (next to the official currency market). But even in developed countries there is the black market as opposed to the legal white market. Less dramatic differences are there between the official stock market and the over the counter (OTC) market.

The book market is still a very big market, which covers different sub types, for instance the second hand market. The book market is a place where publishers sell books and where readers buy them. Market number one. Another type is, a familiar kind of market but on a different level; the self-publishing market. In that case the author is also publisher. The other characteristics are more or less the same.

Recently I understand that in either market you can make a fortune of books that are sold. If you are a talented merchandiser you could easily sell large numbers of your own work. Switching from one market to the other is not that easy though. Again, this is not about something illegal like money laundering, but a simple step from self publishing to the established book market. In many countries there is no choice to operate in one or the other market, but in the book market there is this choice, even if it is not an easy one.

If you choose to enter the unofficial marketplace, it will be hard to switch later on. This means that you should consider this in advance. Consider the tradeoff between the increased amount of energy you need on the short term to enter the official market, and the continuous extra energy you need in the unofficial market; even if the barrier to enter is less (in the beginning).

2006 Hans Bool