Sales and Returns

Once the books reach the distributors, they will send Pine Orchard the money from your wholesale book sales or they will return the books that are not sold. The cost of return shipping is incurred on the owner of the merchandise, not the distributor or the book supplier. If the returns are damaged in shipping, Pine Orchard will not accept the books and the damaged books will be sent back to the distributor at their cost.

Returned merchandise may come back in a slightly degraded or “shop worn” condition. These books have been displayed and shelved in stores, withstanding a fair amount of perusing by retail shoppers. If the returns are shopworn (and usually many are), Pine Orchard will store these “used” books as part of the author’s warehouse allotment. The warehouse allotment is dependent upon your Service Plan. Returns that are not shopworn and are in good selling condition will be utilized for future order fulfillment. The shopworn items may be shipped back to the author by request or recycled if author chooses to reduce inventory in the warehouse.

How Long Does It Take?

There is a lag time between sales, payment, and returns; and this can become frustrating and confusing to most authors. Even though books are shipped to distributors, it does not mean that the books are sold. And even if the books do get sold, payment is usually slow in coming because of the channels it goes through: from retailer to wholesaler to Pine Orchard to author. This can take anywhere from three to twelve months, sometimes even longer than that.

After Pine Orchard receives money from distributors, it will be added to your royalties due at the end of the quarter or month, dependent upon the Service Plan. Pine Orchard then issues a royalty check at the beginning of the new quarter or month if there are no outstanding balances due.

How Long Does the Distribution Activation Last?

If you choose the Basic Quarterly Plan, a yearly renewal fee of $25 is required to keep these distributors active with your book.

If you choose a Monthly Plan (Standard, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Emerald), there is no charge to keep these distributors active with your book. However, if you later decide to change to the Basic Quarterly Plan and still want active distribution, a renewal fee of $25 will be charged after one year from the time that you had changed to the Basic Plan.

When Can a Service Plan Change?

You can change or cancel any Service Plan before the tenth day of any month.

Statement Summary

The activity detail, warehousing, royalty, and billing summary will be issued quarterly for the Basic Plan; and monthly for the Standard, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Emerald Plans. Payment for Service Plans must be paid before royalty checks are issued and royalty checks are issued  at the first of each month.

If an account is set up with automatic credit card payment or prepaid with a deposit to cover the total balance due, the royalty check will be issued and sent on the same date as the summarized statement. If an account is not set up with automatic credit card payment or not prepaid with a deposit, the royalty check will be sent the following month if payment is made during that month.