One downside my partner found with self-publishing is that a lot of the distribution channels she wants to get on, Scholastic Book Fair, Target/Walmart/Costco e

One downside my partner found with self-publishing is that a lot of the distribution channels she wants to get on, Scholastic Book Fair, Target/Walmart/Costco etc will only talk to reps from the Big Five Publishers. Like you said - 90% of self-published is rubbish so it makes sense that big players like Costco etc would use the Big Five to filter..but other than getting that intro, what else does the Big Five provide? Also - shameless plug for her book, STEM-Land: The Noble Gases Come to the Rescue. It's basically Pokemon w/ the Periodic Table, so it's for kids but I happen to think it's great.