Impact of Returning Books

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Impact of returning books for Indie Authors

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Hey booktok, let’s talk about returning books and how it impacts indie authors. 1. As a reader, I would just like to say that I have never actually considered returning a book. Like, if I get a book and it’s not what I thought it would be, or I don’t like it, or I don’t finish it, even if I don’t finish that and I bought that book like from a bookstore or something, I’ve never considered returning it. I feel like that is just a risk you take when you buy a book.

You might not like it. There are multiple reasons you might not like it. And it’s not really the fault of the author. I mean, some could argue it would be, but even if it’s like a poorly written book, again, I’ve never considered returning a book if a book is damaged. Like if I ordered a book from Amazon and it was damaged, yes, I would probably consider returning it.

But here’s something to think about. So how does this change, how does this dynamic of returning books change now that there are so many indie authors out there? Because before, like, if I was gonna return, if I was gonna return a book, which I’ve never thought of, the publisher kind of takes care of all those costs that come when you return a book and all of that. Now authors are becoming the publishers. So what happens if you get a book on say the Zan and it’s by an indie author and you decide for whatever reason to return it?

This is what happens. If that book is less than 10% read, you can’t read a bunch of the book, decide you don’t like it and return it. Let’s just put that out there right now. 10% or less is read, you have an account in good standing, blah, blah, blah. You can return.

This is for an ebook. I’m sorry, you can return it. And then what’s it say? The publisher would then see a reduction in their royalty statement reflecting the amount that has been reimbursed. The publisher, in the case of a lot of indies or self published authors, they’re the publisher.

So when you return an ebook, they’re pulling the money from their royalty payments for an ebook. So just keep that in mind. Just keep it in mind. For paperbacks and hardcovers, it’s a little different if you return a paperback and hardcover book doesn’t result in an author’s royalties right away. Instead, the physical copy is kept in the warehouse and used to fill future orders.

And then when that future order is made, the author does not get royalties on that purchase. Because they’re counting the royalties from the last returned purchase. So the author, the publisher, is still losing money. What do you do if you get a book and you don’t like it? I don’t know.

Share it with a friend, post it on Pango or somewhere like that. Saw it on Facebook, Marketplace. I would say don’t return books. I don’t know. What are your thoughts?

Have you ever thought of returning a book? If you’re not sure you’re going to like a book, get it from the library first. Try it out, read a couple chapters. You like it, go buy it. But my advice as an indie author would be to avoid returns when possible.

Now, something I just thought of and I might have to research a little bit more is what happens to an author’s royalties if you get a damaged book. Because that’s not the author’s fault that it’s damaged, right? That’s the zan’s fault. So to me, that should not impact the royalties. But I will have to look into that.

I don’t actually know. If you do, put it in the comments and also let me know your thoughts on returning books. Oh, one more thing. Please don’t do this. I saw this in a forum somewhere in a book group.

I saw someone say they bought a book, realized it was on ku, so they returned the book. Please don’t do that. I don’t know. Don’t do that. My plea as an indie author would be, please don’t do that.

The royalties we make on KU books and KU reads so much less than an actual book. So much less. And then you’re dealing with the return and the royalties changes and all that. So just don’t do it. Anyway, let me know your thoughts on book returns.

Bye.

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