I would rather gouge out my own eye than handle distribution. I figure that my time is worth about $935 an hour. How much can I legitimately make packing books in boxes and having them sent out? Not even close to that. Admittedly, I only make about 2K a month in paperbacks but it's never going to be a focus for me. Ebooks are my bread and butter. Audiobooks are a distant second. Print books are basically my shoe money. They're never going to be a focus. So, honestly, I'm fine with my $4 profit on a book on Amazon because I don't have to lift a finger to distribute them.
Good gods, Amanda! lol
I have a similar issue, if only about 1/4 that. Once I realized that, it was a lot easier to decide what NOT to do. Many things are much better to outsource.
That can be hard to do when coming from a working-class background where I was the second person in my extended family to ever go to college, and I thought in terms of doing things myself--fix the house, fix the car, do my own everything--to pinch a few pennies.
Now, I try hard to pay someone to do everything, even if I can do it myself.
The one thing nobody else can do is write my stories, so that's what I prioritize. After that, I keep the decisions and the control, and outsource any drudgery or "things others can do better" that I can--covers, proofreading, formatting, web presence management, newsletter management, some ads management, etc--which leaves me time to write and enjoy life.
People can only understand this stuff in the context of a business. If you don't genuinely run your writing as a business, it's very easy to get bogged down in doing the wrong things. But if you consider yourself as the CEO of your own business, and you delegate things to your "employees," even if they're contractors or piece workers or freelancers, it becomes much easier to do so.
Which is why I'm with Amanda--I'd never consider doing my own print books--I'd lose more in lost writing and in quality of life than I'd gain in money.