If you want to crack Barnes & Noble, though, you’re in for a tougher haul. Much tougher.

It turns out that even the largest brick-and-mortar stores only stock about 100,000 books. This means that your odds of getting distribution of your books in physical stores are remote.

For self-published authors, the odds of getting distribution of books in physical stores are remote.

Here’s one wrinkle, though: A local Barnes & Noble will order your books if you agree to sign a few when they arrive in the store. To the best of my knowledge, though, this isn’t true for self-published books because of their often low quality and questionable return policies. Most store managers just won’t risk it.