Printing & Copying

Further to my recent post on whether self publishing companies rip authors off here: http://selfpublishingnews.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/the-print-on-demand-audit-trail/, a visitor to this blog, Dean, made a useful observation.

Dean said:

'Here’s an easy way to check if your publisher is telling the truth about your sales levels. Order a certain number of copies for yourself, for friends, family or for reviews. Buy them from anywhere but direct from your publisher, and then see if these copies show up on a future royalty statement.

This is a cheap, simple and easy way to check up on your publisher without your publisher being any the wiser as to what you’re up to. Nobody can dispute evidence obtained this way, and it beats guesswork any day.

I’m glad to say when I’ve done this (once in a blue moon) my copies have always shown up on my account, so like the author of this article I agree most major pod firms are honest. I also agree that most authors don’t think before they point their finger.

So if any author is concerned their publisher is taking them for a ride on royalties then I’d recommend them to take this simple first step. It’s worth it just for peace of mind if you’re that much of a fretter.'

My response to Dean is:

'That’s a very good point and it will work a lot of the time and give you a good general idea of whether your publisher is being honest with you. Like you say, it’s cheap and easy - but it’s not completely fail-safe. I know I’m now being pernickity, but one has to be, because accusing a company of cheating authors is a very serious accusation that you obviously want to make sure you get right. Don't be like the screaming banshee I mentioned in the previous article who slandered AuthorHouse to anyone who'd listen, as well as every other company she ever self published with, because she was so deluded.

Though your suggestion will often work to the letter, there can be genuine reasons why there may be inconsistencies between what your publisher tells you and what you/your mates bought, especially if your book sells well. (In which case most authors don’t question their figures anyway as they’re happy - it’s generally only the minority of authors who are told they’ve only made a handful of sales who refuse to believe it and scream ‘liar!’ at their publisher.)

Supposing you ordered 10 of your own books from amazon in February, but these books were not actually printed until March. Or 5 were printed in February and 5 were printed in March. Or whatever. Most self publishing companies using print on demand will calculate the 'sale' based on when the book is actually printed and dispatched and not when the order is originally placed on amazon. So 10 sales may be split over two months on your royalty statement, reflecting when they were printed, not when they were ordered. It would be unfair to demand to see a block of 10 sales all happening in February as proof of your publisher's honesty - unless this is actually what happened.

If your book sells well, places like amazon may buy stock in before sales to the public are actually made. So in December you may have 175 sales showing on your statement as sales made in December, but many of these books may not be going straight out to customers, they could be stock reserves to supply all the new FUTURE orders amazon anticipates. So the 10 copies you bought in February may have come out of the 175 copies ALREADY printed in December. As the 10 copies were not newly printed in February or March they will never show on the royalty statement on these dates. But you don’t lose any money as you already have had your royalty. You’ll have been paid the royalty on this sale based on your December sales when the publisher sold the 175 to amazon of which the 10 was a part.

Another complication is returns. Even if you’ve not made your book returnable (most pod books aren’t returnable), the supply chain can still get lumbered with returns. So you may have sold a book in November, been paid a royalty on it when it was printed and sent out, but the actual book got returned to amazon. Amazon will then credit the customer and put it back into stock as they can’t return it to the printers for a refund, and so they’re delighted when your order comes in February as they can finally get rid of it! You’re obviously not going to be paid twice on the same book. In this scenario your 10 copies bought in February might be 100% accurately reflected as ‘February - 9 sales’. Your publisher is not conning you of one book sale!

Also take into the equation that calendar months and sales or accounting months will also vary.'