How do I purchase wholesale copies of your books?

I used to have a part of my online store that catered to wholesale customers, but the shipping calculator seems to have trouble beyond a small handful of books so I have elected to do my wholesale fulfillment manually. Get in touch with me and let me know what you want; I’ll send a Paypal invoice. For now, the automated wholesale purchasing is still available if you were given access earlier — if you use it and the shipping you pay is not adequate for me to ship the quantity you ordered, I’ll be in touch. I have limited wholesale copies via the web store to 10 copies per title in an effort to keep people from buying more than I can ship in a single flat-rate box. Again, if you need more, get in touch.

Are there any minimum or maximum purchases?

Nope. You can buy one book or 100 books. You’ll pay the same wholesale price per copy, plus shipping.

How do you ship?

I use USPS for most shipments; for larger quantities I will use UPS if the shipping cost is better. If you use a different address for USPS vs other carriers, please make sure you give me the appropriate one.

Can I buy on credit terms?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Credit terms (Net 30 or 60) are methods of reducing reseller risk by allowing a reseller to get books before paying for them. The reseller may even have the option to return unsold books within a set timeframe and only pay for the ones they keep. When working with a distributor, the author doesn’t see any of this; they only get the payment based on the final sold number. Distributors have employees whose entire job is to deal with this movement of books and money. I am a self-published author, and I am not working with a distributor. I don’t have the time or brainspace to chase down outstanding bills or deal with returned stock which may no longer be in “new” condition.

Why is the wholesale price higher than 50% of the list price?

You may be used to buying wholesale books at a flat 50% of their cover price. I have elected to charge a little more for this reason: instead of merely looking at my printing costs, I’m looking at the entire cost of this endeavor — from sample knitters and tech editors to web hosting and taxes. Charging a little more per copy at wholesale enables me to break even, rather than losing money, on these book sales.

Why don’t these books come with a free PDF download?

As usual, it’s all down to money. At the retail price, I make enough profit to justify a giveaway. At the wholesale price, I make no profit at all but at least I cover my costs (see the previous question). As a matter of fact, the wholesale price is less than the digital copy would be on its own.

Doesn’t that pit my shop against your online store?

In a word, yes. I’m sorry about that. But we are both small business owners and we both have our own loyal followings and ways of making sales. I’m hoping that your customers will buy from you because you’re convenient, and you sell the yarn they want to use to make my projects. However, some will be willing to put up with the lack of instant gratification to score a free digital copy and buy from me directly. Each customer has their own drives and limitations, and neither of us is going to be able to have all of them so we’ll have to learn to share.

What if I have a question you didn’t answer here?

Email me and I’ll be happy to answer it. If it’s a question I anticipate getting again, I’ll probably add it here shortly.