FAQs
Do I have to provide inventory in advance to be used for the book fulfillment service?
What if my book has POD distribution?
In order to fulfill and ship your orders, we need to have books on hand! This means
that we do require that inventory be shipped to our fulfillment warehouse (at least
fifty copies of your book). Even if your book is POD (print-on-demand) for distribution,
you’ll need to supply inventory for the fulfillment service. POD distribution means
that books are printed on demand to be sold to the trade, which is a separate service
than direct-to-customer sales through your author website (per the book fulfillment
service).
Does the book fulfillment service include shipping books to wholesalers and retailers?
The fulfillment service is intended for direct-to-customer orders through your author
website. The fulfillment service does not include distribution to the book trade
(i.e., to wholesalers, online retailers, etc.). Distribution is a separate service,
and varying levels of distribution are included in each of our publishing packages.
Learn more about book distribution at Mill City Press.
Can I offer special deals and promotions to my customers so that they’ll have a
greater incentive to purchase my book directly from my author website?
Our fulfillment service provides you with some great options to entice your readers
to purchase directly from you. If you want to offer a special price to all of your
readers, you can sell your book through your author website for lower than the actual
retail price. Customers will see that they’re getting a special bargain because
the retail price will be struck through. You can also include a custom note to your
customers on your order page (i.e., “Save with this special web pricing!”).
If offering a global discount isn’t your thing, you can also create custom promo
codes that reduce the price of your book by either a percentage or dollar amount.
You can hand these promo codes out to select customers, or you can post a note on
your order page indicating that you have a promo code available for everyone to
take advantage of. Promo codes can also be offered on a “limited time only” basis,
or can continue until you elect to stop offering them. You can have any number of
promo codes at any given time, providing you a lot of flexibility when reaching
out to your potential customers. Promo codes are also tracked in sales reporting
so you can see how many have been used.
How are my earnings calculated?
Let’s say that you are selling your book for $14.95 on your author website, and
that your customer paid $5.00 to ship the book, making the total amount paid for
the order $19.95. The 4.5 credit card processing fee is calculated using the total
amount paid by your customer, and, in this case, comes out to be $0.90. So, your
earnings would be calculated as follows.
|
Retail Price of Book:
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$14.95
|
|
+ Shipping Cost:
|
$5.00 (paid by customer)
|
|
= Total Transaction :
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$19.95
|
|
- Shipping Cost:
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$5.00
|
|
= Total Net Sale price:
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$14.95
|
|
- Handling Fee:
|
$2.40. ($1.50 handlingfee + 4.5% credit card processing fee of total transaction
cost of $19.95)
|
|
= Total Earnings for Author:
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$12.55
|
Keep in mind that, in order to determine your true net earning, you’ll need to deduct
the cost of printing. If you paid $2.50 to print your book, your actual net will
be $10.05 for each book sold through your author website. The typical earning for
a book sold through your own site is about three or four times more than it would
be if you were selling it through Amazon or another retailer. For every book you
sell through your website, you’d need to sell three or four on Amazon to make the
same amount of money.
What will my order page look like?
Your order page is a basic page that contains a brief synopsis of your book, any
special notes that you want to display to your customers (which are customizable,
and can be changed at any time), the products available, a cover image, a “live
support” button that allows your customers to chat directly with a customer service
representative, and more. Below, please find a sample order page.
Are your order pages secure? How will my customer know that the order page is a
site that can be trusted?
All of our order pages are secure and all customer credit card information captured
is encrypted. Each order page has an icon indicating our A+ rating with the Better
Business Bureau, as well as a “Verified by Starfield Secure” icon so customers will
be assured that they’re dealing with a reputable service provider.
Do my customers pay for shipping, or do I? What shipping methods are available to
them?
Your customers pay for shipping when placing orders through your author website.
They can select from a variety of shipping methods, including USPS Media Mail, USPS
Priority Mail, UPS Ground, UPS 2nd Day, and UPS Next Day.
What are the storage fees if I store more than the quantity included in the fulfillment
service?
Storage fees are calculated based on quarter pallet increments--each quarter pallet
of space costs $4.50 per month. Let’s say that a full pallet would hold 1,000 copies
of your book, and that you end up sending 1,000 copies to the fulfillment warehouse.
The service covers the cost of storage for up to one half pallet of books for one
year, which means that your additional storage fees would be $9 per month. As your
inventory diminishes, your books will occupy less pallet space, and your storage
fees will be reduced accordingly.
How do I know how many books are on a pallet (so that I can calculate storage fees)?
Each pallet is 4’ x 4’ x 4’. In order to determine how many books will fill up a
pallet, you’ll need to determine your carton quantity (how many of your copies make
up a full carton). Each pallet at our fulfillment warehouse holds about forty-eight
standard-sized cartons of books. If your carton quantity is twenty-five books, you’ll
be able to store six hundred books without incurring additional storage fees (25
books per carton x 48 cartons per pallet= 1200 books per pallet. Since ½ pallet
is included, you can store 600 books without extra fees).
When the time comes to print your book, we can determine the carton quantity (and
thus the number of books that you can store without paying any additional storage
fees).
How will I know if I’m running low on inventory?
You can track your inventory in real time through the back-end account that we create
for you (in addition to tracking orders through your author website). Further, you
can set a notify level, which means that our system will email you when your inventory
reaches the predetermined number and remind you to reorder.
Is there a fee to renew the service after the first year?
The initial $499 fee covers the cost to set up the service, as well as storage for
up to ½ pallet of books for one year. After the initial term expires, there is a
$199 annual renewal fee. This $199 renewal fee covers the cost of maintaining the
service, as well as continued storage of up to ½ pallet of books, for an additional
year. When your initial term expires, you can renew or cancel the service through
your online author account.
Can I sell more than one book through my fulfillment order page?
Yes, you can sell more than one book through your order page. Each book, or version
of a book (i.e., if you have a hardcover and paperback version of the same title)
requires its own unique pallet space in the fulfillment warehouse. For this reason,
the initial $499 fee (which MCP may discount at its discretion) applies to each
physical product sold through your author website, as does the annual renewal fee
of $199. The set-up fee for your second product also covers the cost of storage
for up to ½ pallet of books for one year.
Will I have to pay tax on these sales?
We issue all authors 1099s at the end of each tax year. The total amounts paid to
you will be listed there, including sales through your website order page and through
other retail and wholesale distribution channels that we handle for you.
Because we are located in Minnesota, anyone purchasing your book who has a Minnesota
billing address will be charged a 7.9% sales tax (calculated using the total amount
of the transaction, including shipping). This tax will only affect your earnings
by pennies, as an additional 4.5% of the 7.9% sales tax will be deducted from the
amount you make per book. In the scenario above, if the person buying the book lived
in Minnesota, that person would pay an additional $1.56 in taxes on the order. You
then would be charged an additional $0.07 to cover the credit card processing fee
on the $1.56. Remember, this only applies when someone with a Minnesota billing
address orders your book.
