Sales Reports question - Writing tip

Question: I see some sales listed for me at Bookscan.com. Can I expect to receive payment for them this quarter?

Answer: www.Bookscan.com tracks some, but not all book sales. And it tracks the retail Order transaction only, but not returns, and keeps no track of sales that might not go to completion because of books being ordered by mistake and subsequently returned or card difficulties (expired dates), etc. So it will give you an idea, but not a completely accurate accounting.

Also that site does not allow for the delayed payment policies of some distributors. Our authors are paid at the first of the quarter following, the receipt of payment. But some distributors withhold payment for as much as a whole a quarter. So if a book sells in March, and shows as a sale on Bookscan.com when the order is made, you may not be paid until October of that year, depending on the sales venue.

Therefore, if you sold only 1 book and in March and received no payment from us for it in July, you may still receive your payment in October, the first quarter after we have received payment from the distributor.

Sounds strange, but that's the way it goes. We collect royalties for 200 plus authors from 8 different sales venues and some of them redistribute (take orders through) hundreds of different affiliate websites. For instance, if you see your book on Target.com, it's Amazon.com that processes the order, collects the money, and pays us. Then we pay you the first quarter after we are paid.

I am in the process of doing the sales reports for the April 1 to June 30 sales period, one of my favorite chores, though very complicated. But that certainly does not mean all the books were sold between those dates. It just means we are paying out author's royalties for whatever we have collected during that period.