A – Industry experience has taught us that returnability is very important to bookstores. They can buy the books of bestselling writers with full returnability; why would they risk taking on an unknown whose books are not returnable? Returnability eliminates the risk to the bookstore, IF the book doesn’t sell.

Q – WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO BE LISTED AS RETURNABLE WITH INGRAM?

A – It is worth noting that this program will extend to other wholesalers as well (very soon), but we began with Ingram due to the depth and breadth of their distribution. Ingram is an industry leader, and virtually every bookstore, library and e-tailer in the US at some point in time uses their services. Most bookstores purchase hundreds of varied books by varied publishers weekly from Ingram.

Q – HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR MY BOOK TO BE LISTED AS RETURNABLE?

A- The process to make a book fully returnable via the wholesalers should take no longer than 10 to 20 days after the publishing process is completed.

Q – HOW WILL RETURNS AFFECT MY ROYALTIES?

A – Your royalties will not be affected. Even if the book is returned, you will keep your royalties on the sale. And this royalty protection will continue for six months beyond your one year enrollment.

Q – IS ENROLLMENT REQUIRED?

A - Absolutely not! As a valued author of Llumina Press, you may take advantage of this optional service. We very much appreciate the business you’ve already given to us.

Q – WILL THIS GUARANTEE MY BOOK WILL MAKE IT INTO THE BOOKSTORES?

A – As much as we would like to say it will, the answer is no. As always, it takes promotion and marketing to make your book stand out from the pack. Bookstores will choose your book or not as they see fit. Bookstore Advertising, however, will make it visible to them, and returnability will enable them to consider your book as a relatively risk free investment!

Q – I HAVE MORE THAN ONE BOOK PUBLISHED. DO I HAVE TO SPEND $500 PER TITLE?

A – No, the Enrollment fee is $500.00 for your first book and $140 for every subsequent book published with Llumina Press within three months of enrollment in the program. That means if you have two books already published with Llumina, you can enroll them both for $640 right now. If you have one book published and another “in the works,” that will be done in three months, you can enroll one now for $500 and then enroll the other within three months for $140.

Q – HOW LONG WILL MY BOOK APPEAR AS RETURNABLE IF I ENROLL?

A – The initial period is 1 year, for $500.00. If you wish to extend the period of time beyond the initial 12-month period, the cost drops to only $140 per year. The returnability period is 12 months, but your royalty protection is for 18 months.

Q – WHY IS LLUMINA PRESS PROVIDING THIS SERVICE?

A – We've learned, based on industry standards and author feedback, that this is a service that must be available for POD authors to compete with traditional publishers. Put quite simply, it levels the playing field for Llumina Press authors, and we want to sell more books! We are first to market and we hope to further expand our author base as well as help authors who are already publishing with Llumina Press.

Q – MY BOOK IS OVER 12 MONTHS OLD. SHOULD I PARTICIPATE?

A – We feel that books, both new and old, have potential in this program. It offers opportunities for ALL POD books that previously did not exist. Unless you feel that you have sold your book to the maximum of it’s potential, this may be the program for you.

Q –WILL MY ROYALTIES BE TAKEN AWAY IF MY BOOK IS RETURNED?

A – NO! Your royalties will not be charged back to you, and this royalty protection period extends beyond the one year of returnability to a full 18 months. And not only will you receive your royalty. You can also have any returned books at distributor cost. So if you have a 55% discount and earn a 10% royalty on a returned book, you'll actually be getting the book at 65% off.

Q—DO I HAVE TO BE IN THE CATALOG TO BE RETURNABLE?

A—No. You may choose to participate in Llumina’s Returnability Program and not be in the catalog. You may not, however, be in the catalog unless your book is returnable. Obviously, you will gain the most by participating in both.

Q - WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A BOOKSTORE RECIEVES THE LLUMINA CATALOG?

A—Bookstore buyers receive the catalogs of many publishers and go through them to make their purchases. This is a big part of their jobs. Our catalogs will be featuring our new reprint of Susan Kay's bestselling book, Phantom, and this will lend credibility to all our books. Your book will be represented as a quality, returnable book by an up-and-coming author.

Q - WHAT IF I WANT TO SELL TO THE CHAINS?

A - Bookstore chains like Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton, and Borders do sometimes carry the books of local authors on their shelves, but if you want to get your book into more than a few local chain stores, there are many issues involved. First, booksellers, distributors, and publishers are in business to make money. Because the costs of POD printing are high, there's less money to be made at every level, and the distributors who actively sell directly to the major buyers can't afford to carry POD books. There is a solution, however. POD is great to test the waters and see if the book is viable. If you find that your book is selling and people do want it, you may want to consider an offset run.

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