More about bookstores returning books to publishers for refunds and how it affects the trade book industry, authors and new writers.Return policies are nothing new

In our article, Wal Mart, Friend to Authors, we mentioned that the prolific chain store had liberal return policies requiring publishers to accept returns and give a full refund.

Actually, this policy is not limited to Wal-Mart. It has been the traditional bookstore business model for quite a long time.

Sometimes booksellers will agree to a non-returnable order for a deeper discount from the publisher, but most of the time, trade books are returnable.

Problems for publishers

Having returns policies in place affects the entire publishing landscape in many ways. We have mentioned the financial uncertainty, the accounting difficulties, and the resulting delays in getting payments to authors.

Problems for authors

Even bestselling authors books, which are printed in large quantities, run the risk of being returned.

But perhaps the greatest risk is to the unknown writer, whose first book has just come out. If the bookstore decides that the title hasn’t been generating enough sales quickly, they’ll return it to the publisher for a title that hopefully will.  Even with a small first print run, if the return rate is too high, the book won’t be profitable. This makes the publisher less willing to accept the author’s next book. Thus, that author’s career could be ended before it had a chance to begin.

Reasons for returns policies

We have posted an article that tells what returns are, how the book return policy works, and how it affects bookstores, publishers, and authors. In the article, we list the benefits to bookstores resulting from the traditional return policy.

What we didn’t say is this: most bookstores, especially the independents, would have a hard time remaining in business without a return policy.

This system was started many years ago to encourage book stores to stock their shelves with more titles.  Today, bookstores are threatened on many fronts, and the number of chain and non-chain bookstores is dwindling.

It is in the publisher’s and author’s interests to do what we can to keep bookstores in business at the same time making a profit for everyone.

Copyright 2007 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

A publishing professional discusses the many advantages and a few risks for writers and publishers whose material is sold through Wal-Mart stores.

While many people love to hate the widely popular variety stores, Wal-Mart or WalMart, Super Wal-Mart and even their cousins, Sam’s Club stores, are all writers’ friends.

Consider this:

Wal-Mart is good for communities

* Wal-Marts are found everywhere, including small towns in sparsely populated rural areas, where the store provides goods not otherwise available without a lengthy drive.

* Wal-Marts provide jobs and thus income to people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to get employment of any kind, including seniors and the handicapped and the company gives second chances to people who are ready to start over.

* Wal-Marts provide a large influx of money through payrolls and local taxes plus they support local charities.

* Wal-Marts stock books and magazines, displaying them together in a reading area as well as impulse buy locations. This promotes reading, a good thing for any community.

Wal-Mart is good for writers

* Many millions of Wal-Mart customers have the opportunity to purchase your writing in their strong book and magazine section. Millions of Wal-Mart employees and their families are also customers; they might spend some of their earnings on your published writing.

* A high percentage of Wal-Mart customers do not regularly visit bookstores, so they are an otherwise untapped market for your work.

* In a small community, Wal-Mart may be the only store that sells print reading material. This convenience creates sales that otherwise would have been lost.

* The availability of print material encourages reading, which can only help writers keep their markets viable.

* If your work published in a book or magazine is chosen for their shelves, your name will be visible to millions, thus enhancing your platform.

Wal-Mart is good for publishers

The number of bricks and mortar bookstores are dwindling, whereas the number of Wal-Mart stores keeps increasing, making Wal-Marts important for publishers.

Exposure to many millions of customers can result in large quantities of book and magazine sales.

The downside for publishers

Wal-Mart has a liberal return policy that vendors must honor. Publishers must agree to accept returns and give a full refund. If Wal-Mart orders stock for their store chain that does not go on to sell well, the publisher could be left with a large amount of inventory and few places to resell it. This could result in the publisher losing a great deal of money, their cost of printing and shipping both ways.

The benefits for publishers and writers

If the book or magazine does well, there is a profit to be made due to the sheer quantity of sales.

The head buyer for Wal-Mart is a conscientious person who knows what Wal-Mart customers are likely to want, so being accepted by Wal-Mart is usually very good news for publishers and authors.

Copyright 2007 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

Learn how to identify first edition books and what makes them valuable.

A first edition book is a copy that was printed in the first print run, when the book was originally published. If the books sell out, the publisher will authorize the printing of a new batch, called the second edition. When that stock is depleted, the next print run is called the third edition, and so on.

How do you identify a first edition?

Here’s how to know what edition you have of any trade published book:

Check the copyright page.

* Older books often contain a list of dates that might look like this, each line centered on the page:

First Printing, July 1944

Second Printing, December 1944

Third Printing, February 1945

Fourth Printing, August 1945

* Newer books contain a sort of coding. It might look like one of these, also centered:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

J I H G F E D C B A

A B C D E F g H I J

All of the above indicate a first edition book.

When the publisher is going to do a second edition print run, the printer has only to remove the numeral 1 or the letter A. So, a second print run would look like one of these:

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

J I H G F E D C B

B C D E F g H I J

The purpose of this system is to make it less confusing and very easy for the printer to make the change before doing a new print run.

Sometimes a publisher will write First Edition on the copyright page and then eliminate the numeral 1 or the letter A in one of the letter or numbered sequences. Then when it is time to do a second edition, all the printer has to do is to eliminate the words “First Edition.”

Collectors value first editions, especially when the book goes on to become a bestseller. The first edition of a bestselling author’s very first published book is usually the most valuable of all.

Why are first editions more valuable than subsequent editions?

Fewer copies exist of a first edition, fewer still of an author’s first published book. Publishers exercise caution in investing in a lot of book stock that may never sell, so limit the print run. In addition, owners may have disposed of first edition copies before the book and/or the author went on to become famous.

Autographed first editions, the most valuable of all!

If you happen to have an autographed copy of the first edition of a bestselling author’s first book, lucky you! You own something of increasing value.

Copyright 2007 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

A literary agent discusses book returns and how they impact the bookstore, the publisher, the established author, and new writers.

Books returned by the bookstore to the book publisher are called “returns” in trade book publishing. Unsold stock may be sent back for a full refund minus shipping costs at any time, so long as the book is still in print.

How the system works

Bookstore buyers select and order books to stock on their shelves; the publisher or their distributor has them shipped, and then the bookstore is billed with the amount due being payable some time later. Should the store managers decide they no longer wish to stock it, any book can be returned for a refund or credit.

How returns benefit bookstores

This policy results in bookstores returning books that aren’t selling quickly while at the same time ordering fresh new titles to replenish their inventory. In this way, bookstores are basically “floating” their bills, getting credit for the returns while getting a new bill for new books. Their net cost means that they are paying only the price of shipping (which is mainly one-way since paperbacks are supposed to be destroyed, not returned) which they chalk up to the cost of doing business. Their stock is always current, and they never get stuck with a supply of books that do not sell.

How returns affect publishers

Publishers live with the uncertainty of not knowing for sure whether a book will ultimately be profitable for weeks, months, or sometimes even years. This is long after the publisher has paid for the costs of acquiring, editing, printing and promoting the book.

Not only does the company not know where they stand, financially, for such a long time after orders have been fulfilled, but return policies create accounting and cash flow problems for publishers.

How returns affect authors

Authors, who receive royalties based on the sales of their books, must live with financial uncertainty and delayed payments.

Many publishers protect themselves by holding back a portion of the author’s earnings, called the “reserve against returns” until a future reporting period. If the publisher has not retained a sufficient reserve against returns, and later the quantity of returned books is high, it is likely that the publisher will overpay the author.

How the returns affect new writers

Returns result in a first-time author’s book having a brief shelf life, a limited time frame to capture the attention of a book-buying audience. Which is tough to accomplish when most books are displayed spine out in the bookstore.

This is why publishers today, including the smaller independent houses, place such emphasis on authors with “platform.” Even with expensive promotion support from the publisher, a title without a corresponding author platform could fail. If the publisher has ordered a large first print run, they have placed a lot of money at risk should there be a high return rate.

There are other considerations, as well.

Instead of complaining about the emphasis on authors with platforms, perhaps we should be grateful for the many books being published by unknown authors, even today.

Copyright 2007 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

A literary agent discusses why a book might be written and rushed to publication in a very short time.

Occasionally I’ve had authors write and deliver a complete book manuscript in a month or less. Their topics are usually related in some way to a major media event or dramatic happening that the publisher wants to capitalize on before the public interest fades. So they rush books into print within a month or so.

Examples of the triggering event:

• A cult leader persuades his followers to drink poison, shocking the world into wondering why.

• A major crime trial concludes with a surprise verdict.

• A new blockbuster book or a major movie release heightens public interest in similar or related topics.

Why rush a book into print?

Publishers know that interest is highest right after these events, causing many people to buy books to satiate their curiosity. But interest will have waned a year or two later, the time it normally takes to get a book in print and available for sale.

So publishers take extreme steps to drastically shorten the time, rushing the book into print in a few weeks or less. They are called “crash” books.

How does it happen?

Usually crashing a book means that the publisher has to bump another scheduled title, delaying its publication, to have press time for the crashed book. (Bumped books are a rarity; so authors, don’t worry about your book pubbing late.)

This is not a job for an amateur writer.

Crash book authorship requires a seasoned professional who can handle extreme deadlines and who is able to deliver excellent text requiring a light edit or no edit at all.

Copyright 2006 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

Learn about the steps in normal trade book publishing, and how long each step takes in How Long Does It Take to Publish My Book?

Learn about book embargoes, excerpt rights sales, and media exclusives with authors of sought-after nonfiction books, and what happens when these agreements are violated.

Imagine that you have unique information that is of high interest to the media. You decided to write a book, got an agent, and had your choice of several book deals with publishers eager to capitalize on presenting your unique information to the world for a nice profit.

Excerpt Sales and Exclusive Interviews

The publisher you signed with was really excited about your book, lining up all sorts of wonderful deals for you, like exclusive author interviews on TV and in the print media, and lucrative excerpts sales for individual chapters printed in a major magazine just before the book was available in stores. The excitement is growing as your book’s release date is near.

Building a Bestseller

Your books are shipping with an embargo, which prohibits all stores from selling any copies until the official release date. This allows your excerpts to be published prior to the book’s availability and to coincide with all the great interviews you’ve got lined up. Book reviewers are also subject to the embargo, signing nondisclosure agreements that prohibit them from publishing their reviews until a certain date. Your agent tells you that your book is not only bringing in good rights sales money, but the strong interest in it should garner enough copies sold in the first week to land you on the nonfiction bestseller list!

Scooped!

And then someone got an early copy of the book and leaked out your most revealing information to the press. It’s all over the print and broadcast media, stealing the thunder from your book’s unique revelations.

Ramifications

* Being scooped angers the folks at the big magazine who contracted to pay you a lot of money for the first ever publication of your information as an excerpt. They may decide to cancel the excerpt deal, or perhaps demand a reduction in the big bucks they contracted to pay you for that excerpt.

* Being scooped angers the top TV journalist who was promised an exclusive in a live interview with you. Everyone wants to be the first with your story. Second-place is old news.

* Being scooped angers bookstore owners who have had to turn away customers who want the book prior to the official release date.

* Being scooped upsets your publisher because the media revelations may detract from the number of book copies sold as well as jeopardize your lucrative excerpts deals (of which they get a percentage), and the stories may run too far before your book’s lay-down date (official day of publication) to maximize sales.

Learn more about this problem in my articles below.

Copyright 2006 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

See also:

When Your Book Gets Scooped

Stolen Thunder, Stolen Profits