Lighting Source's definition of "Return Policy."

Let's begin.

From LSI's contract

BACKGROUND ON RETURNS

Typically publishers grant booksellers the right to return unwanted and/or overstocked copies ofbooks. These books are considered “returnable”.

Sue's thoughts: Pay very close attention to this. The ONLY publishers who grant booksellers the right to return unwanted and/or overstocked copies of books are large publishers AND not only do they give bookstores that privilege but grant them other privileges as well. It is part of that warped "industry" standard return policy Simon & Schuster [and soon the other few large publishers] set up during the depression to keep bookstores from going under. The problem: once the depression ended and bookstores were able to stand on their own again, no one changed the blasted return policy and in fact, it became the "industry standard."

As books are returned, booksellers charge publishers for the cost (i.e. their purchase price) of any books returned and expect to be reimbursed. The cost of returned books is either deducted or netted against the proceeds of book sales of the publishers’ titles in the month returns are shipped to the publisher.

Sue's thoughts: If only that was how it worked. It isn't and you can research for yourself to see that there is WAY more to it than that. What's listed above is only a very, very, very small part of how it really works. Keep in mind it's part of that "warped" industry standard return policy. The only part that makes a modicum of sense.

Some booksellers will only purchase books on a returnable basis;

Sue's thoughts: Let's go ahead and say it right now. No larger bookseller such as Barnes & Noble will purchase your book unless you make it returnable by that warped "industry" standard return policy EVER, no matter what. MOST small booksellers will which is refreshing as this means a very workable "return policy" is used.

therefore, there is a probability that sales may be reduced if a title is designated as non-returnable.

Sue's thoughts: LOL You bet sales will be reduced. No large bookstore will ever order your books period! But then, when you make your book returnable according to the "industry" standard, even when a large bookstore buys your book they aren't technically buying it because they get to send it right back whenever they want to and they get to do so for FREE! They don't even have to pay shipping, according to that warped "industry" standard return policy.

Publishers must weigh the risk of returns against the potential for increased sales and be prepared to reimburse booksellers for the cost of returns as they occur. Publishers who make their titles returnable typically place a designated percentage of their proceeds from sales into a fund (or reserve account) that is used exclusively to pay for the cost of future returns.

Sue's thoughts: For the publisher, and I'm not talking about the large publishers who that warped "industry standard return policy works I mean the small publisher, there is GREAT risk of returns and the absolute unbelievable hard truth is that small publishers typically NEVER get their returned books back so they're out the print cost of the book. More on that in a moment. Needless to say, the above statement is only speaking about larger publishers.

Having said that, here are the choices you get to make as a publisher if you use Lightning Source, Ingram's POD distributor. Pay very close attention.

Returns Designation Meaning

No - Select this designation if you do not want to allow your titles to be sold on a returnable basis. LSUS will not accept returns from booksellers for any title so designated.

Yes-Deliver - Select this designation if you want to allow your titles to be sold on a returnable basis and you would like to receive a physical copy of the book upon its return. If you select this option, you will be charged for the current wholesale cost of each book returned, plus a $2.00 per book shipping and handling charge. LSUS does not guarantee the condition of the book being returned

Yes-Destroy - Select this designation if you want to allow your titles to be sold on a returnable basis and you would not like to receive a physical copy of the book upon its return. If you select this option, you will be charged only for the current wholesale cost of each book returned. No shipping and handling fees will apply. LSUS will destroy any returned books that it receives if this option is selected

Sue's Experience with Lightning Source: No matter what option you choose, you NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER will see your "returned-from-the-bookstore" book. I chose Yes-Deliver and expected to see my returned book sent back to me. Hahahahahahaha! Yeah right. I thought this because of this statement " and you would like to receive A physical copy of THE book upon ITS return."

I'm going to give you a few seconds to decide what YOU think that means . . . . . . . . . . okay, times up. If you thought it meant you will get your "returned-from-the-bookstore" book back, guess again. YOU WILL NEVER SEE IT AGAIN! It isn't even an option. When I contacted LSI to ask them "what up" they had this to say. And yes, I have the emails:

"No you don't get the book back, what we do is print you a NEW copy and charge you $2.00 shipping for it."

I said, "where is my returned book?"

"Oh we destroy that."

What? What? What?

"I didn't choose "Yes - destroy" so I want my damn book back like your contract states."

"Well, that wording really needs to be changed."

At this point I just sit in silence thinking WOW! And this is legal. They've no fear whatsoever. Their contract is full of wording that infers one thing but means another. Unbelievable. I did tell them at that point that I felt this was illegal and they blew me off. I told them to tell me where it was they destroyed the books as I wanted to "see" my book before it was destroyed as I didn't believe it ever came back to them as they "inferred." Their response, "oh trust me. We take care of it." I never did get a location I could visit.

Bottom line is, LSI never sees the returned books. They don't want to pay to have it shipped back and neither do they want to pay to destroy it. Since they won't divulge the location were the destruction of the book occurs, I'm going to assume they don't destroy them either. Were do said books go . . . hmmmm . . . there's lots of money to be made selling returned-from-the-bookstore books to wholesalers who dabble in such things.

Now before you go on and think I've got it "in" for LSI, ALL POD distributors operate this way and it's due to that warped "industry" standard return policy. LSI is so bold about it because apparently they think the well-they're-doing-it-too mentality will protect them. So far so good.

If you're a publisher and you make your books returnable according to that standard then you're basically sunk. I've asked my publisher to make ALL my books non-returnable according to that "industry" standard. But basically my books aren't non-returnable at all. If you'd like to work out a return policy that benefits both the publisher and the bookseller he'll be more than happy to work with you. Hopefully my decision will help keep my publisher alive and kicking for a LONG, LONG WHILE.

But to be so bold as to sit there and tell me that I don't ever get my returned book back when the contract clearly read that I will . . . wow, just wow!

On-line Christian Stores - Clueless!

It would seem to me that if you're in business then you should know a little bit about the business you're in. I realize that in a perfect world . . .

So I'll lay the scenario out. Initially I wrote a book. Based on grand reviews and a few higher-than-low placements on particular lists that tout the best in horror and fantasy fiction, it has done fairly well and is still doing well. As a surprise to me, I garnished readers from a very unique group of Christian readers. As a result I sought to market to these readers as well once I learned they had their own bookstores it seemed, on-line and otherwise. The best way to do this, according to things I READ, was to have your book approved by Ingram's Spring Arbor. I actually talked to my publisher, Ingram's Lightning Source, to verify that what I learned was correct, that my books, if approved, would be available to the Christian market. "Oh yes," was their reply, though I'm certain now their fingers were crossed when they said this. They may have even smirked but it's hard to tell when on the phone.

You see, Ingram has one definition for Christian market and the Christian Booksellers Association who sold Spring Arbor to Ingram (see other post concerning dates) has a completely "nuther" definition. CBA defines the Christian market as those books that target their core market readers. Ingram's Spring Arbor defines Christian market as, well, any book that is about, has to deal with or otherwise sort of points to a religious theme for ANY faith that operates under the broader label Christian. Ironically however, Spring Arbor is a CBA member, a privately owned company is a fee-paying member. Okay. Whatever.

In spite of this, Brick & Mortar Christian bookstores or rather once-upon-a-time Baptist bookstores, still only place books in their store that are either from CBA affiliated publishers or publishers who proclaim they write for the same very targeted audience CBA pegs.

On-line Christian Bookstores are a leeeetle more forgiving and a leeeeetle more concerned with doing things right only they seem not to know what that is. To that I say, get a clue or drown in your ignorance.

When I found that my Spring Arbor approved book was showing up in on-line bookstores that clearly only pulled from Spring Arbor and not Ingram themselves, I rushed like crazy to have it unapproved. I was losing general market readers who thought I wrote targeted Christian fiction!!! YIKES!

Just yesterday I saw the once Spring Arbor approved edition of Never Ceese on an on-line Christian website. I called them to ask them what was up. Mock conversation follows:

Sue: Can you tell me how my book is showing up on your site please? In other words, are you showing it as available through Spring Arbor.

Guy: Yes. It's available through Ingram.

Sue: Yes, I realize that. But do you show it showing up in Spring Arbor.

Guy: Spring Arbor is Ingram.

Sue: Yes, Spring Arbor is Ingram's Christian arm but do you show my book as available through Spring Arbor as I had it unapproved so this wouldn't happen.

Guy: Well we pull books from many distributors.

Sue: None of whom should distribute my book as my distributor is Ingram. But just to clarify could you share who some of those other distributors are?

Guy: (rattles off a wide variety of distributors who only distribute targeted Christian fiction for that CBA market all of whom I know because I know all these distributors.) . . . and Ingram.

Sue: You said Ingram. Did you mean Spring Arbor?

Guy: (that classy line again) Ingram is Spring Arbor.

Sue: What I wanted to say--ARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!! What I said instead - "You're telling me you list books that are in Ingram's system that haven't been approved by Spring Arbor.

Guy: Yes. We automatically pull from Ingram.

Sue: Ah, but if that were true then you'd be showing the newer edition of Never Ceese as it too is with Ingram. So basically you only "automatically" list books from Spring Arbor which is fine but you should at least have a working knowledge of who Spring Arbor is. And by the way, my book is no longer approved by Spring Arbor and if someone called to order this book through you, you won't be able to get it for them EVEN though it is still in Ingram's system.

Guy: Well we could ban your book if you don't want it showing up on our book site.

*I'm not lying. This is what this guy said. LOLROFL*

Sue: I just don't want my book showing up on sites where ONLY targeted fiction is listed if not primarily and I've gone through the process of fixing this. It's clear the process isn't complete yet so I'll now call Lighting Source.

Conclusion: LSI did unapprove my book as asked and verified that I was correct in my thinking about Spring Arbor and Ingram, that they were separate. So if you don't want your work associated with that targeted market of Christendom who uses the broader label of "Christian" to define everything they put out then you best stay away from Spring Arbor. Otherwise your general market readers will avoid you like the plague. Fortunately I had my general market following first. *Sue wipes forehead with hand.* Whew!

You'll just sound like you don't know what you're talking about.

To all my author friends out there who come to me for advice on occasion (don't understand it myself but okay) please keep this in mind. When you break the book market down into "Secular" and "Christian" you are showing your ignorance. That isn't meant to be mean even though I used the word ignorance. When you use these two labels to define the overall market you are telling any general market publisher you might be soliciting that you don't understand the industry at ALL!!!

Those general market publishers that are familiar with the two labels will write you off as someone who obviously writes for the targeted market that spawned the two labels and most general market publishers leave targeted markets alone.

The Christian Booksellers Association is most notable for using these to labels as they seem to believe that their targeted fiction is the only "Christian" fiction out there and any other fiction is "secular." If you're a Christian author seeking publication and your work has general market appeal it would be in your best interest when talking to publishers that you stay away from distinguishing the market as such.

There is general market fiction and non-fiction. Under this umbrella fall all the different genre's of the world. Just because some targeted market publishers say otherwise doesn't make it so. Good grief!

What Rachael, the author, should do next.

This is what I've decided to call my little series to help my friend Rachael. So get used to seeing this title. ;D Rachael has already, or is almost done, with the first step of becoming a successfully published author. She's considered what being a published author means to her and she's asked someone whose achieved the published status how they got where they are. She also sees that where I am, though not monetarily the nicest place to be, is in fact ahead of many others in the "game." Sadly, it is quite the game.

For the type of published author she wants to be she has made a very good first step as well. She's ignored those who said, "save money and join a writer's group to help critique your work and help you edit your work." Bravo Rachael because editing is a profession and very few will succeed at the level you want to be published without the kind of an edit a professional editor can give you. And be fore-warned that if you throw J. K. Rowling in my face, I will throw her right back in yours. Everyone is capable of winning the lottery and that's all I'll say about that.

The reason it's so important for a new author to get a professional edit is because it will drastically increase the chances of being picked up by a small press who can SOMETIMES offer you a better line of distribution than you can get yourself as a self-publisher. More on that later.

Also your work will "shine" superior over ALL the other self-published authors out there who either a) think they can scrimp and forego a professional edit and do just fine or b) think a small press will love their work as it is soooooo much that they'll edit it for them which is of course bullhockey but let them figure that out for themselves.

Larger houses are the only houses that have in-house editors and you won't be seeing them anytime soon if ever and that's even if you get the all-powerful-agent which is another big waste of time to pursue.

Egads! So what do you do. Okay. Here's your next step. It's professionally edited with a 2% error rate. Go out straight away and buyth up a block of ten ISBN's from the Bowker-god-of-publishing and assign one of them puppies to your book. I know another expense but well worth it. It's quite simple to get a block of ISBN's from Bowker. Go here and apply for an EIN number and create yourself a little publishing company. Mine is S D Enterprises. It's just that simple. Then go to Bowker.org I think it is (google it. It's simple to find) and get your block. Sure, LuLu and Create Space offer you a free ISBN should you choose to use their services but their ISBN will always tie YOUR book back with them as the publisher. NOT GOOD!!!! Buying your own block of ten is a small price to pay and the book is your forever more.

Once you've done that you can price shop around to see what printer offers you the best price on printing your book. I used Fidler Doubleday for my first book Never Ceese before I was picked up by a publisher (more on that later.) It was easy to submit the doc file and cover file which I designed myself. If you don't want to or don't know how to design your own cover they'll even do one for you but I'd suggest hiring someone to do you a cover and someone who is familiar with the submitting process. But honestly, it's not that difficult. And no, those who do book covers aren't hard to find.

Once you have a submittable book cover and your ISBN you can go to places like Lightning Source and check them out. Or even Create Space or Iuniverse B&N's POD (please no!!!! LOL) But yes, you're good to go. And you can even start submitting to small presses too with the absolute certainty that they can't take your work.

Next blog will be about the pros and cons of seeking a small press over just sticking with a POD and doing it all on your own.

Information I'll include in my book for those who want to be published.

Well, well, well. When I find something like this while "googleing" it makes me feel as though I were panning for gold and found it. My book on publishing will be a resource for information such as this. Click on the excerpt to go to the site where so much is explained:

What's the deal with returns?

Back in the Depression, when bookstores were going under right and left, publishers realized they had to do something radical to keep booksellers in business. They came up with the idea of returns—a system whereby any bookseller may return any book, with little regard for how long the book was kept or what condition it was in. No one told the book business the Depression ended 70 years ago. We still have a system that—not to put too fine a point on it—sucks. Few other industries operate on what amounts to a giant consignment scheme.

Myself and a few of my friends would like to change the last word in this excerpt to SCAM and not scheme.

This site also explains about "hurt" books or books returned from bookstores. LSI, my current POD publisher states in their operation PDF that your "hurt" book will be returned to you. However, when you ask why you are never given this option, LSI explains that it's because they destroy your "hurt" book and send you a new one for $2.00 waiving the printing fee.

Apparently POD presses like LSI and LSI themselves have decided that it isn't prudent to follow what it written in their own operations manual. They claim the wording just needs to be changed and why wouldn't someone want a new book anyway for just $2.00. Well, because that's one way a publisher can recoup some of their loss? DUH!

If anyone knows of a distributor who will actually make sure you get your "hurt" book back, I'd love to know about them. ;)

Attention bookstores who chose distribution through Spring Arbor.

Initially I had my books submitted for approval to Spring Arbor thinking that this would make it easier for my blatantly Christian readers to find my work. It was not divulged at the time by either distributor that Spring Arbor was Ingram's CBA's exclusive fundamentalist Christian arm. I'd only ever seen wording that suggested this exclusive Christian arm of Ingram was for all publishers who seemed to have a large blatantly Christian following and wanted to get their work in front of those readers. After all, Spring Arbor approves books by publishers who don't belong to Spring Arbor's non-CBA market. I know, right?

How ridiculous to waste a publisher's time by suggesting approval to a particular targeted and discriminative market would give that non-participating publisher access to that market. But hey that's Ingram and they can do whatever they like.

Since belonging to Spring Arbor does nothing for non-CBA participating publishers or authors (except to make the books available for purchase through participating bookstores who won't allow non-participating publishers in, I will withdraw my approval.

This actually doesn't affect anything BUT for those Christian bookstores who only sign up with Spring Arbor to get the few CBA titles they want (which they have to buy so many of that they can't afford to stock non-CBA Christian titles, you'll have to order my books directly from Ingram. I've no intention of being a token publisher to an industry that discriminates based on denomination. If you're a bookstore who only accepts books through Spring Arbor then that would make you a fundamentalist discriminating bookstore and well you'll be happy to know you'll never be able to make any money off my titles. ;)

My books are available anywhere the sun shines and everywhere it doesn't but as of today, they will NOT be available for you to order through ANY Christian bookstore that orders through Spring Arbor. DUH!

Thanks Spring Arbor for being so up front about things. LSI too. They didn't say one word about it.