Weather Update

We got 8" of snow here in the past couple of days. Because this is relatively unusual in terms of quantity for our area, the road conditions are treacherous.

The snow, which is heavy, wet and dense, is great for snowball fights and snowmen, but terrible for driving. Additionally, instead of beginning to melt as we'd hoped, the temperatures have stayed right around freezing, so now we've got snow on top of ice on the roads and heavy snow on trees near power lines.

At this point, we still have power and Internet, but I suspect that we will lose both before this is over. I will update our status through the blog as often as possible, but if we go dark for a few days, that's what's happened.

Cris

Some Numbers

Finished compiling sales numbers for 2011 and wanted to share a few interesting ones.

Of all the books we shipped to Amazon.com, 30% went missing between the time the box arrived at the warehouse and the time the books were put into the inventory. We were reimbursed for the ones they could not account for. Makes me wonder where all of our books go. 

Across the board, returns were very low last year, coming in at an average of less than 5%.

Sales at Amazon.com remained about the same in 2011 as they had been in 2010.

Sales through Baker & Taylor and Barnes & Noble online rose 2% this past year.

Sales through Follett Book Company rose 5% last year.

Our fulfillment turnaround time rose at the beginning of 2011 and remained steady throughout the year. Books shipped within two business days of the order's receipt.

We were able to keep more titles in stock this year, which helped tremendously in terms of shipping orders quickly. 

It had been my hope, at the beginning of 2011, that we would see an increase in sales. Like many other people, I thought the economy was going to turn around a bit more than it did and I was disappointed in the book market overall. However, we all managed to weather another year and that's saying something. 

Thanks to everyone for their continued support.

 Cris

1099 Forms

Hello everyone,

Happy New Year. I hope you are all had a happy holiday season. We were able to take a few days off and spend it with friends and family. We're grateful to still be here and operating in 2012.

If you were paid during 2011, you will be receiving a 1099 by the end of January 2012. If you deferred your royalty or were paid in copies of your book, you will not receive a 1099.

If you have not received your 1099 by the end of the first week of February, please contact me via email and let me know.

Don't forget that we will be using PayPal exclusively from now own to pay authors and artists and all royalty statements will be delivered via email. If you have not sent me your PayPal information, please send it to legal at orchardhousepress.com. In the subject heading please put PayPal information. All I need from you is the email address associated with your PayPal account. 

Thank you!

Cris