For authors/publishers who print the traditional way and hold inventory.
Mission Point Press, a Traverse City, Michigan-based book publisher, operates a wholesale distribution service for the bookstore and retail trade. The company specializes in connecting our authors with Michigan bookstores, although orders can be accepted from any retailer across the country.
MPP was formed in June 2015 and is primarily a provider of editing, design, production and marketing services to self-published authors.
MPP Distribution Services operates a bit differently than a traditional wholesale distributor in ways that benefit both authors/publishers and bookstores. Consider MPP Distribution to be more of an authors’ co-operative. MPP Distribution does not purchase your books and hold them in our inventory. Instead, we warehouse some of your pre-printed books and pay you for those books only as they sell.
While authors and publishers have typically had to accept a 55%, 60% or even deeper discount on books sold to distributors, that discount can shrink below 55% depending on the price of the author’s books.
Our aim for bookstores is to make MPP a one-stop shop for ordering MPP-published books. The stores can purchase books from us at the standard 40% discount, plus shipping. The books are sold on a returnable basis. MPP also has launched an on-line ordering site for bookstores to make it easier for one-stop ordering. You can find it at www.MPPDistribution.com.
An attached Frequently Asked Questions sheet explains how the system works for authors and publishers and who to contact to participate.
Frequently Asked Questions from Authors and Publishers for those who have existing inventory (rather than print-on-demand):
Okay, so please describe the program.
MPP has helped to fill the gap left by the closure several years ago of Partners Book Distributing. Partners was a key player in channeling Michigan books to Michigan’s bookstores. Authors, publishers and storeowners all have said the need remains. MPP believes it can help.
Is MPP just a new Partners, then?
Not quite. Our business model is different and smaller in scale. Here is how it works:
Sales are on consignment: Participating authors and publishers provide our warehouse with 20 or so copies of each title that they’d like to see distributed. (Starting inventory would vary depending on past sales history.) You pay to ship your books to our warehouse. (Or deliver them directly.) We contact you requesting more books as supplies dwindle.
MPP contracts with eFulfillment, a pick-and-pack warehousing operation in Traverse City, to warehouse the books and process bookstore shipments.
MPP sells your titles at 40% off the cover price to retailers. MPP then shares in the revenue, passing along the sales dollars to you but keeping some to cover our program and processing costs.
So MPP is not buying your books per se; MPP instead is collecting the revenue from the bookstores on your behalf when your books are sold, then subtracting our costs and sending you the rest.
So how much revenue does MPP hold onto? These are the amounts:
Fulfillment cost: MPP subtracts two processing costs with each bookstore order — $1.50 per order, plus $1 per item for the number of items within that order. So, for example, if a bookstore placed a single order for 6 of your books, the total subtracted would be $1.5 + $6 = $7.50. These costs offset the fees we pay to eFulfillment.
Revenue share: MPP also subtracts 10% of the revenue received to cover our website maintenance and marketing costs. Regarding marketing:
• We put every book we distribute into an on-line catalog updated daily. This catalog doubles as an ordering site for bookstores. You can find it at www.MPPDistribution.com.
• We send out email blasts every two weeks to the stores with updates and highlights of new and current offerings.
What you earn: So, using the same example, if the book mentioned above retailed for $17.95, MPP would sell the 6 books to the bookstore for $10.77 each — a 40% discount — or a total of $64.62. MPP would then send the author or publisher this net amount (assuming this was the only sale during a four-week month):
$64.62 in revenue
minus $7.50 fulfillment cost
minus $6.46 in revenue sharing
______________________________
Net to author or publisher: $50.66
The $50.66 represents the equivalent of about a 56% discount off the cover price — which is just about as good as the 55% to 60% typically paid through a major distributor.
If MPP sells the same 6-book order to five different bookstores in a month — so a total of 30 books sold — here are the numbers, now also subtracting out what it cost you to ship your books to our warehouse in the first place:
$323.10 in revenue
minus $37.50 fulfillment cost ($7.50 order cost +$30 per-item cost)
minus $32.31 in revenue sharing
minus $18 shipping (based on average 60 cents per book)
______________________________
Net to author or publisher: $235.29
Of course, every book is different — a different retail price, a different cost basis. We’ve included a handy table with this document that allows you to plug in your numbers and see what the return would be for you.
Would the books be sold on a returnable or a nonreturnable basis?
It’s no surprise that bookstores prefer that books be returnable, especially on self-published titles that feature new authors. We prefer nonreturnable, but we feel we need to yield on this.
The good news is that bookstores generally order in small lots. So far we’ve had no returned books.
Returns aren’t free, unfortunately. We subtract from an author or publisher’s next monthly payment the cost of any returns. That cost is the total that MPP must send back to the bookstore, plus a return fee to the author or publisher of $1 per book (unit) returned.
Okay … how do I get started?
Your contact for the program is:
Doug Weaver
MPP Business Manager
Phone: 231-421-9513
Email: doug@missionpointpress.com
If you’re interested, please let Doug know. You just need to email him or call him. It’s important that you also indicate the legal name and address of the entity that will receive the monthly payments.
When and where do I send my books?
We will be back in touch with instructions. As noted, we partner with eFulfillment in Traverse City to handle all packaging and shipping. eFulfillment operates a state-of-the-art warehousing and fulfillment operation and has clients nationwide. Here’s the company’s web site if you’re interested:
http://www.efulfillmentservice.com/
Each of your book titles will be assigned a product number — SKU — so that it can be efficiently introduced and managed in the eFulfillment system. We’ll ask you to note the SKU number assigned to your title when shipping the books to eFulfillment.
To print any of the Author Resources, right click on the guide and select “print.” If you need additional help, ask your team leader to email the guide as an attachment.