Distribution & Fulfillment

One of the more difficult decisions in publishing a book is how to deliver your books to readers. Wholesale distribution to bookstores and wholesalers is handled by WingSpan's Quik-Pub system. But what about books you sell at retail. Your choices are:

Do it yourself
Have someone else do it

Doing it yourself:

Pros: You keep all the profit
Cons: It's a lot of work, and there are expenses you probably haven't thought of yet.

Some questions to ask yourself: How do you take and track orders, ship books, keep finances straight, charge for shipping, handle returns, give refunds. You'll discover that it is a full time job. Self-publishing expert Dan Poynter offers some advice. This is one point where Dan, who's a champion of the do-it-yourself model, suggests you outsource the job.

Having someone else do it:

Pros: You can spend your time promoting your book instead of packing boxes in the garage.
Cons: Each sale can take from $1 to $4 out of your profit from the book.

The key to outsourcing fulfillment is finding the right outfit.

Is their web site easy to use, with questions answered up front?
Is their fee structure obvious, or do you have to take a sales call to find out?
Are there several fees? Per order, warehousing, pallet fees, setup fees, annual fees?
How, and when, do you get paid?
What is their policy on returns?
Do they handle credit card orders?
How about customer service calls?

Most authors will use a combination of the two methods, having books shipped both to themselves and to a fulfillment vendor. That way, you can sell them in person, at book signings, seminars, any place you intend to promote your book, and have some books warehoused for fulfillment for phone or internet orders.

WingSpan offers fulfillment services for our authors, at a cost of 15% of the retail order, with a minimum of $3.00/order. Visit our Fulfillment page for more information.

A few additional things to consider:

Baker & Taylor and Ingram, our national distributors, are not fulfillment vendors for individual authors. They handle book orders from resellers, i.e. bookstores, Amazon, etc. They don't take orders from individual customers.

Customers are accustomed to paying shipping and handling charges. They will agonize over whether to buy the $15.95 book over the $11.95 book, then think nothing of paying an additional $3.95 for S&H. If you fill orders yourself, be sure to tell them up front what those charges are.

If you are handling orders and marketing directly to bookstores: Bookstores buy books on 'spec', or consignment. They expect to get books at a considerable discount off the cover price, usually 25-40%, and they still expect to be able to return them if they don't sell. Returns often come in months after the sale; it is industry practice to accept the return and give them back their money. If you aren't offering your books as returnable, you must specify this up front. Don't be surprised if that kills the deal on the spot. VERY FEW stores will stock your book if they can't return the unsold copies later. If you do offer books on a returnable basis, be sure to set a period, like six months, in which you will accept returns. You don't want to get a surprise 2 years from now.

Another thing to consider: Are you hiring a fulfillment service or a distributor? Fulfillment just puts books in boxes and sends them to customers. Distributors are wholesalers with a sales force. Their salespeople call on bookstores, promoting their customers' books. Know the difference and know what services you're getting for your money.

If you have questions about fulfillment, ask your WingSpan representative.

V. Printing
Your Book

VII. Publication
Date