Book Returns: What they Mean For Publishers and Authors

Returns are the bane of the publishing industry. Book returns can make or break a small publisher and destroy an author’s career before it even begins.

The return agreement between bookstores and wholesalers/publishers has been in effect since the Great Depression. It’s also unique, because no other industry has such a policy.

According to Brooke Warner’s article at the Huffington Post:

“The fallout from being a returns-based industry is that retailers have little incentive to order what they...