Warehousing and Distribution

Warehousing and Distribution

Selling books is an entire process that can require substantial effort. While some authors are not really concerned in sales (with such topics as family history or other personal interest), you might have more ambitious marketing intentions.

We recommend researching and creating a marketing strategy before printing in quantities of several hundred or several thousand. Predicting and generating sales is not guaranteed. Be aware that the bulk of your marketing effort will become your own responsibility, or from a publicity agency that you hire.

Storage and shipping require logistics, and we are able to help provide those services if you need that support.

Royalties

Books are either sold by Pine Orchard, by yourself, or in combination. It has been our experience that most self-publishers prefer the combination. Having books listed with Pine Orchard allows broad marketing, and selling by yourself lets you reach markets you are familiar with.

For books that you sell yourself, you keep 100% of the royalties. For books that are sold and shipped from Pine Orchard, you receive 75% of the selling price for retail sales and 40% for wholesales. (Wholesalers normally ask for a 40-55% discount for purchases. That’s why royalties are lower than royalties for retail sales.)

Warehousing & Distribution Service Plans

To help sell your book, we can store and ship books from our facilities. The basic plan allows up to 50 books to be warehoused for free and is included with any titles that we help publish. All plans have a shipping & handling fee for each item shipped. The monthly plans provide a detailed statement every month.

	Quarterly Plan	Monthly Plans
	Basic	Standard	Silver	Gold	Platinum	Emerald
Monthly Charge	FREE	$9.95	$19.95	$39.95	$49.95	$89.95
Number of items warehoused (Warehouse Allotment)	50	100	500	1000	2000	5000
Handling charge for each WHOLESALE item shipped	$1.00	75¢	50¢	30¢	20¢	20¢
Handling charge for each RETAIL item shipped	none	none
Cost per extra item warehoused	2¢ per item	2¢ per item				1½ ¢ per item
Annual Distribution Fee (Optional)	$25	FREE
Royalty and Billing Statement	Arrives each quarter.	Detailed royalty and billing summary arrives monthly. Royalty check will be issued on same date as statement if your account is set-up with automatic credit card payment.

Note: Diamond Plan (5000+) is available by special arrangement.

Policies for All Plans

Distribution Activation	$99 per title (one-time setup)	Required to get a title listed with the major distributors, including Baker & Taylor, Ingram, and Amazon.com.
Changing or canceling plans	No charge	Service plan can be changed or cancelled before the 10th day of each month.
Cost per extra item warehoused	1½ ¢ to 2¢ per item	This is a monthly charge of 2¢ per item over the Warehouse Allotment. (Warehouse Allotment varies for each plan.)
Retail Sales through Pine Orchard	Royalty = 75%	You receive 75% of the retail selling price for each item Pine Orchard sells.
Wholesale sales through Pine Orchard distribution	Royalty = 40%	You receive 40% of the cover price for each item Pine Orchard sells. (Wholesalers normally ask for a 40-55% discount for purchases.)
Sales on your own	Royalty = (your selling price)	You keep 100% of your own sales.
Additional Titles / Products	No extra service plan charges	All products are lumped into one service plan. Each product requires a separate Distribution Activation charge. You pay the same monthly charge with multiple products as you would with one product. The total quantity of all items are compared against the Warehouse Allotment.

These prices and fees are current as of 2025.