Glossary
Wholesale discount
Also called trade discount
The wholesale discount is the share of the list price a bookstore or distributor keeps when it buys your book to resell, so the shop can make money on each copy.
What it means
Bookstores buy books below the cover price and sell them at the cover price. The difference is the wholesale discount. On print distributors such as IngramSpark, the author picks the discount when setting up the book. IngramSpark recommends a 55% standard wholesale discount, which it says leaves a bookstore a 40% margin, with the distributor taking the rest.
A novelist selling a paperback through bookstores with that discount keeps what is left after the discount and the print cost. A nonfiction author whose book sells mostly online might pick a lower discount to keep more per copy, accepting that fewer bookstores will stock it. A children’s author hoping for school and library orders usually offers the full trade discount.
Why it matters when you sell direct
When a reader buys from your own store, there is no wholesale discount. You get the cover price and pay the print cost, shipping and payment fees yourself. On print books that can be a big difference from what a bookstore sale earns you.
That is why many authors sell print direct, especially signed copies and special editions that bookstores do not carry.
How Lanternbee handles it
Lanternbee does not sell to bookstores and takes no wholesale discount. You set the price, and print orders will go to BookVault or Lulu to be printed and shipped.