Self-publishers take on many added responsibilities, and order fulfillment is one of them. Regardless of whether you're publishing books or ordering calendar printing , you need to have a process in place to ship customer orders. For many authors working independently, it can force them into the print-on-demand system that affects profit margins. It also excludes some customers if people can only buy books through the on-demand publisher's website. The good news is that today there are book fulfillment companies that will pack and ship your orders economically; many will also print your book.

Depending on your niche in the self-publishing world (are you a life coach, perhaps?), you may want to give customers the impression you have at a large company. If you sell books directly on your website and have a fulfillment house ship the orders, it gives the impression that the books come directly from you. Your clients/readers appreciate the direct contact, and you keep the customer data you'd lose if selling through print-on-demand. The other opportunity if you print your book conventionally is to sell it in stores. It's a fact that most book sales occur online today, but you can make profitable sales in stores.

When you work with a top-notch book fulfillment service, they connect to your eCommerce platform directly. It creates a seamless experience for your customers from purchase until the book arrives on their doorstep. With the best systems, you'll have an online dashboard to review order and shipping progress in case you're asked questions. It works the same as it would if you had an in-house shipping department. Working with this model, you also collect the revenue from each sale and manage the financial aspects of your book-selling business, including setting prices and your profit margin.

Better book order fulfillment houses can also help you ship internationally. When you open your sales book to a broader market, the opportunities expand exponentially. You can also sell on the marketplace sections of large online booksellers and handle your order fulfillment directly – although losing a share of the profits to their fees. It's helpful to weigh the value of increasing your sales against the higher selling expenses of paying sales commissions. If print-on-demand makes the most sense for you and your book, go for it. But if not, print copies yourself and find an order fulfillment partner.