Seventeen

If you are thinking of self-publishing and therefore utilizing some print-on-demand options, let me tell you about a recently learned lesson I’ve had: returns.

When I first set up my Ingr@mSp@rk (IS) account and started publishing, I set my returns to ‘yes’ and ‘return’ – because many sources said bookshops would be less likely to buy if they couldn’t return, and I’d rather get the book back and try to sell the copy again than have it destroyed (especially since THE WRITER still gets charged for it either way).

I went almost a year and a half without a single return. And then I had a flood of seventeen within a couple weeks. Seventeen. I started poking around.

IS was no help – they repeatedly responded with the same answer despite my pointing out that the numbers didn’t add up. I asked for help in figuring out what the issue was, and they kept saying that the return information is ‘proprietary.’ In other words, they were absolutely no help, and now I owe them money, and they won’t tell me why. (My writing bestie had a similar flood, though not quite as extensive, from a book he launched over two years ago.)

I posted in a couple groups – one on F@cebook and the community board with the Authors Guild. Through this, I learned that MANY other folks have been receiving a sudden influx of returns from IS, which to me is problematic. Especially since IS refuses to be of any help in getting to the bottom of what is going on.

A month later, I still don’t have answers. But I did get some insight from a couple folks in that FB group. The culprit might actually be Am@zon. When a pre-order for paperback is set up through IS, it will push out to platforms (if you set it up to be distributed). Then, when your book goes live on Am@zon, the IS is removed. However, if there is a number of pre-orders submitted, Am@zon might order more copies than were purchased to have on hand for more sales; apparently, they might also buy copies from IS if their printers are backlogged.

Two things can happen from there if the extra inventory hangs around. Am@zon might discount the book (so if you see the price drop, they are trying to move the inventory) or they might return it. (Even when I try to go around this platform, they still find a way to screw me over as an indie writer…)

But because IS refuses to let us know where copies are coming from, I have no way of knowing if this is indeed the case or if something fishy is going on. I think it’s crap that IS is allowed to insulate themselves like this.

If this is indeed what is happening, then the differences in my pre-orders between my two books makes more sense. I had assumed that the second had fewer because it was a different genre. But when I went in to change my return options on both to no (because this is ridiculous), I noticed that for my second book, I had apparently set it to no from the start, thereby preventing Am@zon from doing this. Perhaps my pre-order on the first was inflated by Am@zon

So yeah. No answers. Just a heads up in case this is something you are considering for your own writing journey. I don’t think I was prepared for just how many ways the writer is set up for frustrations like this – and this is one I definitely did not need. (I don’t mean to be a downer. But the process can be difficult.)