In the past it was difficult to get a book published. High inventory costs and limited financial resources meant fewer books were being published every year. The other alternative was traditional self-publishing, an often difficult, and expensive proposition for the author. They had to take time off to attend to the tedious tasks involved in publishing their own book: typesetting, lay-outs, registering copyrights, attaining an ISBN number. The most difficult part of all was having to invest a significant amount of money to pay for the large minimum print run. (Printing books with at least 1000 copies to bring the per book costs down to an affordable level) This would often result in money being tied up and a large inventory of books that could take years to sell.