You will be given the option of making your book returnable or nonreturnable by booksellers. If you choose to make your book returnable, you will have the option to have the returned books delivered to you or destroyed.
Many booksellers make “returnability” a prerequisite to even consider carrying a title. Destroying (rather than having the returned copies delivered to you) is less expensive to you as the author.
When a book is returned, Gatekeeper Press refunds the discounted price the retailer originally paid back to the bookseller. This is dependent upon the wholesale discount you select. This means that the return fee will be higher than the royalties you earned on the original sale, as the retailer is receiving a full refund on the price they paid for the book. If you have a positive royalty balance in the month in which the return occurs, the return amount will be deducted from your royalties. If your returns exceed your total earnings in a given month, Gatekeeper Press reserves the right to invoice you for the balance owed and you have an obligation to reimburse Gatekeeper Press the amount owed within 30 days of receiving notice. If the balance owed is not reimbursed within 30 days of receiving notice, Gatekeeper Press reserves the right to disable distribution of your book(s) until reimbursement has been made.
Below is a detailed explanation of each returnability option:
Return - Destroy
- Industry Standard
- This returnability option means that when a book is returned by a retailer or wholesaler, it is destroyed (incinerated) and turned into new books.
- The author is responsible for not only the royalty they received from that book, but also the print cost of the book. These two things sum up to what the wholesaler or retailer purchased the book from you for.
Return - Deliver
- If you have chosen to have returned copies delivered to you, a $3 fee will be deducted from your royalties, and you will be invoiced separately by Gatekeeper Press for the cost to ship the returned copies to you.
- The book is first delivered to us (Gatekeeper Press) as the publisher, and then we ship the books to you.
- The wholesaler does not allow us to have them directly send the books to the individual author.
- Only books returned in the US or Canada are eligible for delivery to the author. Returns from all other countries are automatically destroyed.
Non-Returnable
- Some online retailers may refuse to carry your title on their site due to their return policies if you decide to select nonreturnable.
- The retailer will then be responsible for any risks or losses accrued when they don't sell a book.
Retailers can return a book they've purchased from us at any time if you opt to make your book returnable. They are not required to return books in a set timeframe, which means the returns can process several months or even years after the sale is originally placed or after you've received royalties for that sale.
Returnability status can change at any time pre- or post-publication, but please note that any changes in returnability have a 180 window where retailers can return any stock under the original status.