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Invoicing, Inventory, Picking, Packing and Shipping
Bookshelf. Selling Books from Other Publishers.
Receiving orders for your books is fun, rewarding and confirmation that other people like your work. Today, most of your orders will arrive by telephone, email and fax; fewer come via the Postal Service. You will need an order-entry computer program to generate invoices, track inventory and issue reports. Merchant status will allow you to accept payment with credit cards. You will set up a shipping area to package your books in order to send out review copies as well as orders. For complete details, see the Special Report Book Fulfillment: Order Entry, Picking, Packing and Shipping. Fulfillment and shipping can be outsourced. See Fulfillment, Services, Book.
You may ship review copies in bubble bags at the Postal Service's Media Mail Rate but we recommend shipping most orders via the Postal Service's Priority Mail. Priority Mail costs just $3.85 for up to two pounds to anywhere with a Zip code from Guam to the Virgin Islands. This is really US air mail service for packages. The Postal Service supplies free Tyvek (no rip) envelopes, cardboard letter packs, boxes, mailing labels and stickers for Priority Mail. Ask for them at your Post Office. The "flat rate" cardboard envelopes travel at the $3.85 rate no matter what the package weighs. Sometimes we get more then four pounds of books into them. See the Postal rate chart.
Bookshelf. One way both small and large publishers expand their business is by operating a Bookshelf; retailing related books from other publishers.
Offering other books in the same line as the anchor product will spread costs and make you the information center for your interest area. For complete details on how you may expand your product line, see the Special Report Bookshelf, Selling Books from Other Publishers, Document 632. See Free InfoKit.
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You will discover: 38 Tips on how to write, 11 Tips on why you should write, 4 Tips on why your writing project should be a book, 21 Tips on what to write, 7 Tips on doing research, 9 Tips for building your book, 3 Tips on Copyright, 10 Tips for finding the right agent or publisher, 6 Tips on book promotion, And much, much more. Successful Nonfiction is a beautiful book. The soft cover book has gold stamping, embossing, French flaps, end sheets and a matte finish. It is a book as an "art form". ISBN: 978-1-56860-061-1 Cover Price: $14.95 |
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 Is There a Book Inside You?, Writing Alone or With a Collaborator by Dan Poynter and Mindy Bingham. You will discover: How to pick your topic, how to break it down into easy-to-attack projects, how and where to do research, a process that makes writing (almost) easy, how to improve your material, how to manage writing partnerships, how to evaluate your publishing options, as well as how to develop an individualized and workable plan. They will show you how to write your book, get the help you need and publish or get it published. With self-paced quizzes and resources. A Writer's Digest Book Club main selection.ISBN: 978-1-56860-046-8 Cover Price: $14.95 |
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Dan Poynter’s Book Publishing Encyclopedia. Finding book resources fast. Time is money. Writers, publishers and publicists need access to resources--quickly. Whether you deal in entertainment (fiction) or information (nonfiction), you need information on the book industry. Dan Poynter’s Book Publishing Encyclopedia is the "Book Publishing Answer Book." It has thousands of tips and references in an easy-to use alphabetical encyclopedia. Each fact, figure, resource or reference, in its 222 pages, links to a specific page on a web site for more information. Poynter’s Encyclopedia is available in softcover, large print and four types of eBook. All are laid out alphabetically--A through Z and have a voluminous index. The eBook editions may also be searched electronically. Dan Poynter has been gathering these facts and figures for years. He has written more than 120 books and hundreds of other information products. The media come to Dan because he is the leading authority on how to write, publish and promote books. Keep this reference within easy reach; you will refer to it often. When you have questions, this book will supply the answers and they will be easy to find. Available in standard print, large print and three types of eBook.
ISBN: 978-1-56860-127-4 Cover Price: $19.95 |
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  Book Fulfillment: Order Entry, Picking, Packing and Shipping explains in detail how to set up and run your office and shipping department. The Report covers order taking (letter openers, credit cards, card terminals, 800 numbers, fax, order services, order forms, and discount structures); order processing (computer hardware and software, shipping labels, short slips, bad cheques, overpayments, invoices, back orders, the Federal Trade Commission rules, complaints, book return policy, statements and collections); inventory and storage (shipping instructions to printer, book receiving, book returns, inventory control, stacking, and shipping room layout) and book packaging (how to wrap, where to get and how to use shipping bags and cartons, machinery such as tape dispensers, scales, postage meters and bag sealers with sources, using UPS, Direct Sacks and various Postal rates, foreign shipping and customs duty). Then the Report covers the alternatives to in-house fulfillment: using wholesalers, distributors, joint representation and fulfillment warehouses with a list of those to contact. Complete with forms and shipping rate charts, an action plan and an Appendix full of resources. 43 pages.ISBN: 978-1-56860-037-6 Cover Price: $19.95 Self-Service Electronic Price: $19.95 |
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 Telephone Order sheet. This is the form we use here at Para Publishing. 1 page.ISBN: Document 147 Cover Price: $4.00 Self-Service Electronic Price: $0.00 |
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 Merchant Status. How publishers can get authorized to accept credit cards from their customers. 11 pages.ISBN: Document 641 Cover Price: $13.95 Self-Service Electronic Price: $9.95 |
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ISBN: 978-1-56860-134-2 Cover Price: $19.95 |
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 Bookshelf, Selling Books from Other Publishers shows how to establish another profit center to offer other publishers' books to your customers. Combining complementary (non-competing) books with your books makes your brochures and mailings more economical while establishing you as a one-stop source for information on your subject. This Report tells you how to find complementary books, how to negotiate with their publisher (even the big ones will give you 45% or more off if you approach the right department), and how to promote your new bookshelf. Includes an action plan, sample letters, and resources. 8 pages.ISBN: Document 632 Cover Price: $13.95 Self-Service Electronic Price: $9.95 |
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4 "pBooks" -- Books on paper: · "The Self-Publishing Manual: How To Write, Print & Sell Your Own Book" · "Writing Nonfiction: Turning Thoughts Into Books" · "Is There a Book Inside You?: Writing Alone Or With A Collaborator" · "Dan Poynter's Book Publishing Encyclopedia" 3 "pBooks" -- Books on disc -- for easy searching: · "The Self-Publishing Manual: How To Write, Print & Sell Your Own Book" · "Writing Nonfiction: Turning Thoughts Into Books" · "Successful Nonfiction: Tips & Inspiration For Getting Published" Plus: · 9 Special Reports on production and marketing. · 36 Instant Reports on production and marketing. · Subscription to the Publishing Poynters newsletter. · Supplier List. Service vendors to the publishing industry. Document 250. · 3 Book writing, producing and publishing information kits. (Autobots) · Poynter's Secret List of Book Promotion Contacts, Document 112. · Your books' back cover layout form, Document 116. · Telephone Order Form, Document 147 · The New Book Model diagram.
ISBN: 978-1-56860-082-6 Cover Price: $297.00 |
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More resources to make your project go faster and easier. Everything in Kit #1 PLUS: · Publishing Contracts on Disk. · Business Letters for Publishers on Disk. · Mr. Self-Publishing's Notebook. All the tips and resources from the Publishing Poynters newsletter archive. · 30 minutes of telephone consulting on your project with Dan Poynter. · $200 worth of book-promotion mailing lists on labels when you are ready to send out review copies of your book (so the lists are fresh). See Document 142. · Fax & email address for the major Television news programs. ISBN: 978-1-56860-083-3 Cover Price: $497.00 |
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Everything in Kits #1 & #2 PLUS: · 137 Book Promotion Mailing Lists. See Document 142. (MS-Access required). You get the lists on disk for multiple uses. A $3,684 value. With the lists on disk, you will get more information such as some telephone and fax numbers and email addresses. · Quotations by Dan Poynter on books, writing and publishing. · 60 minutes of telephone consulting on your project with Dan Poynter ISBN: 978-1-56860-084-0 Cover Price: $897.00 |
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| Dan Poynter was presented with the Benjamin Franklin Award by the Publisher Marketing Association in recognition of his helping so many publishers. |
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