The internet has allowed online retailers to have a virtual inventory of a wide range of products for offer online shoppers. In a recent Writer’s Digest article, Infinity author Gordon DePottie did an internet of his name to see what would pop up on Google. To his surprise, he found his published novels, The Ghost Platoon and Death Lost Death Found, listed on several website virtual bookstores, such as: alibris.com, BUY.com, and TEXTBOOKX.com. What was most disturbing was that the virtual bookstores showed several copies of his books, both new and used, available for sale on the internet at deeply discounted prices. This was especially alarming to Gordon since his monthly royalty statements didn’t reflect these wholesale orders for his books.
Many online bookstores don’t actually purchase and stock any of the books they display in their virtual inventory. This “virtual stock” showing how many copies of a book are available for their customers to purchase is created to mimic brick-and-mortar stores where it’s easy to identify popular books and on-shelf inventory.
When an online bookstore receives an order for a book they have listed on their site, they place an order for a single copy of the book from Ingram, and then Lightning Source prints the book. The book is then shipped to the online bookstore, and they, in turn, send it to the customer. The customer pays the online bookstore, the bookstore pays Ingram, Ingram pays Lightning Source, Lightning Source pays the book publisher for the right to produce the book, and then the book publishing company pays the royalty on the selling price of the book to the author.
Many online bookstores only have a virtual inventory of books because it greatly reduces their overhead. Since they don’t have to invest in maintaining an on-shelf inventory, they are able to offer books at discounted prices. The bulk of their listed inventory is virtually available from Ingram and produced by Lightning Source when a customer orders the book.
What about the books that show up as “used”? The used books displayed for sale aren’t really used. In fact, they are often new books that have been discounted a dollar or so as another inducement to entice the customer to order – like free shipping on all orders over a certain dollar amount.
Learn more about Online Bookstores and Virtual Inventories.
Filed under: Book Distribution | Tagged: author royalties, book printers, book printing, Book Publishing, book publishing companies, bookstores, POD publishing, print on demand publishing, publishing a book, royalties, self publishers, self publishing, self publishing companies
