A Word About Annual Book Distribution Fees

Ingram charges all on-demand publishers an annual fee for every book they publish and distribute. All publishers pass this cost on to their authors. Many publishers, including Outskirts Press, are up front about this fee by referencing it in their contract and stating the amount of the annual fee on their website. Other publishers sometimes collect this fee in different ways (for example, paying substantially lower royalties to offset the cost or requiring their authors to sell a minimum number of books each month to avoid contract termination). The most common industry descriptions for this fee are as follows: maintenance fee, storage fee, hosting fee, or distribution fee.

Outskirts Press is always up front about its fees, and we charge all authors this fee equally. We prefer to pay 100% author royalties to our authors, which rewards the authors who are selling well, rather than punishing them by asking them to subsidize others. And since we want ALL our authors to sell a lot of books and be successful, this works out best!

Outskirts Press bills our authors their annual fee in January, regardless of when their book is published. In other words, we bill at the start of the first full calendar year of publication. Therefore, the fees are due on or before January 31. You can pay securely and conveniently online with a credit card by logging in to your Publishing Center and visiting your Shopping Cart.

The fee is assessed for each hardcopy format (paperback and hardback) of a published book. Since each format is made available worldwide separately via Ingram, each format is charged its own book distribution fee. So, for instance, if you have one paperback format for your book, the fee will be $25/year (regardless of how many actual copies you sell. If you have one paperback and one hardback of the same book, the fee will be $50. If you have two different paperback formats of two different books, the fee will be $50 ($25 for each format), and so forth.

WHAT DOES THIS ANNUAL BOOK DISTRIBUTION SUBSCRIPTION FEE PAY FOR?

This fee covers worldwide wholesale digital distribution and on-demand availability for hardcopy printing, which is what allows your book to be listed on major online retail sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. And, it is what allows your book to be printed on-demand when requested by you through your Publishing Center.