How Are My Book Sales Calculated and Credited?
(to preview an Author Sales System Report, click here)

Self publishing allows you some unique ways to make a profit on your book sales. Your Net Sales Profit dollars through Dog Ear Publishing are paid quarterly, within 30 days after the quarter ends, and include all sales accrued during that period. Sale Payments from books sold directly through a Retail or Wholesale customer (typically Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Ingram, Baker and Taylor, etc.) are paid upon receipt of the payment from the customer. Net Sales Profit is not paid for books sold on consignment - until the payment has been received from the retail establishment.

Remember, since in most cases we are producing books one-at-a-time (via print-on-demand) to fill incoming orders from customers, you won't have any out-of-pocket expense for book printing after investing in the initial book publishing package - you simply receives your Net Sales Profit on every copy sold, every three months. In the traditional book publishing world - due to arrangements allowing booksellers to return unsold copies, trade publishers pay royalties much less frequently and generally for a period that ends six or twelve months previously - and you have NO control over the per book profit amount.

But - we do our book sales a little bit different (and we think far better) than others.

We don't pay you royalties... It's YOUR BOOK! We simply charge the cost of printing your book (and any handling or shipping fees - see below). You may make as little or as much money as you like on each book - and you are in control of that by how you set your retail price.

Here's how we calculate your Net Sales Profit:

All sales are credited at the sold price of the book (this may vary - see below*) MINUS the Printing Cost (which you will know before we even set up our agreements) MINUS any handling fees or shipping.

SO... There are typically TWO ways books get sold:

1) Through "distribution' - which is places like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, other retailers and wholesale outlets like Ingram and Baker & Taylor distributors.

2) Direct to consumer - books can also be sold direct to the consumer via one of our marketing tools such as our Open for Business author e-commerce site.

Here's how it works. Let's say for the sake of example that the book has a $14.95 retail and a $6.03 Printing Cost.
Distribution Sales - (also called 'wholesale orders')

You may choose (and most authors do) to allow "volume pricing" and "wholesale pricing" on your book. This allows Retailers and Distributors to buy your book at a discount so that they may then in turn sell it to others - some of these folks are the infamous "middle men". The downside is that you get less for each book - the upside (which most often far outweighs the down) is that you get tremendous exposure, you sell may sell more books, and in general become rich, famous, and live happily ever after - well, maybe not ALL those things, but the sales process is very very simple. The typical discount for wholesalers, retailers, and distributors is at or above 50% but we can work with you to set a discount that is appropriate for both your market and your book. We typically recommend discount rates from 40% to 55%.

There IS NO HANLDING FEE for Bookstore and Wholesale orders.

Here's the scenario:

The Worlds Greatest Bookstore calls and wants your book - its retail price (which you set) is $14.95

They want 500.

You are offering a 40% discount (which you have also set)…

So $14.95 minus 40% is $8.97 (I know, wow… what a deal)

They pay $8.97, the cost doesn't change from $6.03, NO Handling Fee - so - your net sales profit is $2.94 per book… sounds disheartening until you realize that in one fell swoop you just sold 500 books at a net sale of nearly $1,500! Not to mention the fact that you book is now 500 times more likely to grab someone's attention than it was yesterday. As with everything in life there are upsides and downsides...

Direct to Consumer Sales - (also called 'retail' sales)

These sales are either direct by you the consumer, or via a system like our Open for Business product.

For simplicity we'll say your book is sold at its Retail Price of $14.95

The Production Cost (printing) is $6.03 per copy

Our Handling Fee is $2.00

YOUR Net Sales Profit is
$14.95 - $6.03 - $2.00 = $6.92 - PAID TO YOU

That's nearly a 50% profit on each book sold at the retail price!

Considering that an 8% Royalty is HUGE in the traditional world, 50% is amazing. As a matter of fact, the way we credit sales to our authors is unique in the industry and give all our authors the chance to make as much money as they feel is fair.

Would you like a bigger profit on your books? If the market allows it and your feel your book can command it - set a higher price! For example, we raise the price of your book to $17.95, your net sales rises to $9.93 per book.

Want even MORE? Sell your book yourself - and we'll help you with the tools to do so. Check our our e-marketing solutions.