The wholesale discount is the discount our wholesaler, Ingram Content Group, receives when purchasing your book. For the reasons below, we generally recommend the 40% discount. To see how these discounts affect your royalties, check out our Royalty Calculator.

  • The 40% discount is generally sufficient for online retailers to carry your title, but not enough for brick-and-mortar outlets to consider carrying your title. 
  • Brick-and-mortar bookstores and libraries require a 53% discount as a prerequisite to consider carrying a title, but just because you set your discount at 53% does not mean a store will actually carry your title. That determination is made by purchasing managers and bookstore buyers.
  • Other than paperback editions sold through Amazon (which will always receive a 40% discount), the discount you select will apply across the board to both online and brick-and-mortar retailers. Because most of our authors earn all of their sales online, we recommend setting your paperback discount at 40% unless you happen to have advance knowledge that your book will be carried by brick-and-mortar bookstores and/or libraries.

Who is Ingram?

Ingram sends your book's information to 40,000+ bookstores, libraries, and retailers in their global network and lists the book as available for sale to them at a discounted price depending on the discount you select. Ingram does not actively sell or promote your book and it does not sell to consumers. Gatekeeper Press sells your book to Ingram, which then sells direct to qualifying businesses and institutions, such as bookstores, libraries, and other retailers. Ingram does not share with us which entities purchase from them.