And thus we have the other side of the coin. We can only really only sell stock, maybe prints connected to the book to make $$. So most of us go without stock at behest of publishers, and sign books for free, but don't make money. It becomes more networking than selling.

Wait whaaaaaa? Oh man. That sucks. Going with such a market/economy of scale type business should never stop you going “direct to consumer” when you want! That truly sucks. But does make flying easier I guess. 😅