Retained Books

We're not a normal publisher. We don't buy books, read novels by aspiring writers, or do any of the things people normally associate with what a publisher is or what they do. Instead, we're fulfillment publishers. We help people who are interested in going the route of self-publishing, with a front end for taking orders (payment and check processing) to shipping, all under the Retained Books Online store.

The self-publishing route is a little bit risky for the self-publishing author. The cost of printing books can be expensive (if you don't sell all or most of them). Printing on-demand solutions such as Lulu.com (as well as others) are great for minimizing that risk. The initial investment is much lower, but so are the potential profits. For authors who are fairly certain they can sell most or all of a print run, we can help.

Many authors know they can sell 100, 500, or 1,000 copies of a book. That might not be enough to interest a traditional publisher. Bloggers and other specialist writers have a built-in audience on their websites, and can send their existing online traffic to Retained Books to order their books.

We charge a flat rate per book ordered (net of any processing fees) and we keep the shipping and handling fee to cover our direct and indirect costs. That works out to about $1.80 per book you sell through us (plus the shipping and handling fees, generally about $3.50 per book). In other words, we get paid when you sell a book, but you cover all the costs of printing your books, having your books shipped to us, and any additional costs (such as obtaining ISBN numbers). We can help you through that process, but the costs are to be borne by the author. That way, there's somewhat greater financial risk, but a far greater potential return on your investment. Each month we reconcile your account and send you what you've earned, net of our payment processing fees and the shipping and handling fees we've collected.

Since this is also such a personal service, we also make it possible for our authors to sign every book they sell. If a customer chooses that option, they pay only the additional shipping and handling to cover the costs. We take the order and ship the book in a "forward-style" package to you. You then sign the books as indicated, and drop the ready-to-ship package in the nearest mailbox.

If you want copies of your own book, we don't charge you for that, since your book belongs to you. We only require that you cover the costs of shipping and handling (the cost of postage and the box we ship it in).

Because of shipping issues and customs regulations, we're only able to offer these services to people who live in the United States.

But we can also help with the other aspects of getting the material to the printer. We can help with editing, layout, and cover design for an additional flat rate or hourly charge. You work directly with the printer, and pay the printing costs, but the books are shipped to us. You can even remain anonymous, if you want to publish under an alias.

We don't keep how we do this secret. In fact, if you want to do it yourself and have the means to do so, we encourage that. You can order directly from a really good printer and handle all the fulfillment yourself. Take a click over to our printer to see if self-publishing through a traditional print run is the best method for you. If the service we offer works better for you, however, let us know.

If you would like more information about Retained Books' publishing fulfillment, please contact us.