How modern Print On Demand for books is the best solution for the current wholesale crisis

For decades, authors and publishers have been forced to gamble thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars upfront, just to print inventory that might never sell. Retailers operating in this system had to simply eat the profits lost from overstocking and waste. Fast-forward to today, where speed, efficiency and demand-driven production are the cornerstones of modern publishing, and you can see how traditional wholesale models fall apart.

But that's exactly where Print On Demand (POD) comes into play. POD is quickly replacing traditional wholesale, not as just an alternative but the better solution across the board. With platforms like BookBaby proving how easy and economical POD can be, authors can now enjoy a wide range of benefits, without the risk and high upfront cost of having to stock inventory.

In this article, we'll take a closer look at how POD solves the current wholesale crisis, and why it's the best path forward for authors, publishers, and the industry as a whole.

First, though, let's take a look back at how traditional wholesale was born, what's involved, and how today's approach changes things.

The traditional wholesale publishing model was built for a different era

To understand what makes Print On Demand such a powerful option, we need to understand the weaknesses of the traditional wholesale system. For most of publishing history, books were printed in bulk and sold through distributors to retailers. This kind of system forced publishers to forecast demand months in advance. If they guessed wrong, they either ran out of inventory, or worse, ended up with thousands of unsold books.

Now, nearly a century later, printing, binding, shipping and everything in between has evolved in a major way. Let's look at some other important drawbacks of the traditional wholesale printing process so that you can clearly see just how outdated this model truly is.

Massive upfront costs

Traditional wholesale printing requires large minimum orders, in the numbers of hundreds of thousands of books. This meant authors had to shoulder enormous upfront expenses while having limited access to publishing. High financial risk and limited flexibility together with high barriers to entry for new authors meant that most independent writers simply wouldn't bother.

Inventory risk and waste

Wholesale printing means that all of those printed books have to be stored somewhere. Books that don't sell become sunk costs. Bookstores can also return unsold inventory to distributors, which puts the financial burden back on publishers. The entire system is an engine of waste and uncertainty.

Slow, inefficient distribution

Traditional wholesale distribution moves at molasses speed. Books must be printed, warehoused, distributed, and restocked. The whole process can take months. With today's on-demand economy, that timeline simply doesn't mesh with customers' expectations.

Shrinking retail shelf space

As much as they might like to, brick-and-mortar bookstores simply can't stock all the great books. Shelf space is limited, which forces them to gravitate toward prioritizing large publishers. Independent authors get squeezed out. The wholesale model favors scale, not creativity, and indie authors suffer for it.

The current wholesale crisis: fewer middlemen and more pressure

The publishing industry as a whole is going through a shift that sinks all the way to its core. Wholesale distribution channels are shrinking. Success hinges more on direct-to-reader models, which means authors now have the opportunity to reach new audiences without the middleman.

At the heart of the collapse: the returns system

You may be surprised to learn that bookstores were allowed to return unsold books during the Great Depression in order to reduce risk. Before that time, bookstores worked like most other retail businesses do today. If no one bought their books, the bookstore ate that loss.

Obviously, when the Great Depression hit, bookstores were hit extremely hard. Consumer spending dried up and bookstores stopped ordering books to try and mitigate risk. This had a domino effect: publishers panicked and said "You can return unsold books for a full refund." That decision saved the bookstores and sales picked back up.

But what was meant to be a temporary emergency measure became permanent. The system hasn't changed since then. Because bookstores can return books, publishers print more than they need, since they want to avoid running out of stock. Multiply that by thousands of publishers and bookstores, and you end up with systemic overproduction.

From the publisher's point of view, absorbing all of this risk also meant that they tend to favor books with high sales potentials. Think celebrity authors, trendy titles and established names. Indie authors have a harder time breaking in because the system is so risk-averse.

The wholesale system as a whole is falling apart and it's being replaced steadily and surely, by Print On Demand.

As you might imagine, the sheer cost savings and speed of a model like this changes everything. Before digital printing, printers were expensive to set up. Offset printing needed:

• Printing plates
• Proper calibration
• Large print runs

Printing smaller quantities wasn't economical. Print On Demand makes returns obsolete. Every book that's printed already has a buyer. Here are some other major benefits of Print On Demand:

Eliminates inventory risk

Inventory risk and the cost of taking up space are by far the single biggest advantage of POD. Since books are only printed when they're ordered, there's no unsold inventory, no storage costs, and no high upfront costs. Nearly any type of book can be printed on demand, from activity books and coffee table books, to children's books.

Suddenly, publishing goes from being a high-risk investment into a low-risk business.

Removes upfront financial barriers

Traditional wholesale printing requires large investments of time and money. Print On Demand requires none. With POD, authors can publish without needing to print thousands of copies. Anyone can participate, which democratizes the whole process.

Instant global distribution

Inventory and logistics immediately put up even more barriers to getting your book noticed internationally by the traditional wholesale process. Compare that to BookBaby's global network, which makes your books available in bookstores, libraries, and online retailers around the world.

We even offer book translation services in nearly 60 languages to make your book even more appealing to international audiences. There's truly no limit to how much you can scale with the right POD partner behind you.

No need for warehouse space

Warehousing is costly. It adds risk and inefficiency to the whole process, which simply layers on more stress that you don't need. Print On Demand removes the requirement for warehouse space entirely. Books are printed and shipped immediately, dramatically reducing overhead.

Eliminates returns risk

Returns are a huge problem in wholesale. Retailers can return unsold books which means that publishers lose money. With BookBaby's POD model, there's no returns risk because books are only printed when they're purchased.

Improves cash flow

Traditional publishing requires authors to invest their own money before (and if) sales start to trickle in. POD reverses that model. Sales happen first, then printing happens second. This has a ripple effect on both cash flow and financial stability where authors win.

Authors have complete control

This is perhaps the biggest shift of all. With traditional publishing, authors must give up control. Print On Demand puts control back in the hands of independent authors. You control the pricing, distribution, and publishing timeline of your book at all times.

Print On Demand is good for the planet

You may not realize it, but POD is good for the planet, too. The traditional wholesale publishing model is fundamentally based around waste. Books get printed first and publishers, retailers, and distributors hope they sell later. Print On Demand flips that equation by producing only what's needed when it's ordered. Imagine that times hundreds or even thousands of books. That's millions of pages of paper that don't get destroyed, saving potentially millions of trees in the process.

FSC-certified paper

BookBaby is also proud to carry FSC-certified paper. FSC stands for Forest Stewardship Council. This means that when you choose BookBaby as your Print On Demand partner, your pages are made from paper that was sustainably harvested from renewable sources. Think of FSC as an inventory chain process that lets you track the very trees that your printed pages came from.

Lower carbon emissions

Traditional wholesale requires warehouses, climate control, freight transportation and redistribution. That's multiple trips and multiple emissions. Print On Demand reduces this drastically. When books ship from printer to reader, it's only one trip, which in turn cuts fuel use, carbon emissions and even storage space.

Overstock and returns waste

One of the biggest sources of waste in traditional publishing is the waste caused by traditional print runs. A typical print run might be:

• 2,000 copies
• 5,000 copies
• 10,000 copies

But even then, a significant portion of those copies never sell. Unsold books often end up destroyed, pulped or landfilled. Why destroyed rather than just sent back?

Advances in print technology guarantee sharp text and brilliant color

The environmental benefits, including speed, efficiency and even the quality of Print On Demand books are made possible through advances in technology. From digital printing to global distribution, printing companies like BookBaby can now print anywhere from a single copy to thousands of copies easily and economically.

What's more, thanks to our G7-certified process, every book we print holds the same high quality color standards from start to finish. Not every printer is a G7-certified master printer, but when color fidelity and quality are a must, it's a feature worth looking into.

POD is perfect for today's direct-to-consumer economy

Print On Demand is a huge shift in terms of marketing strategy. Publishing is moving more toward direct sales. Today, authors typically sell their books through:

• Their own websites
• Social media
• Email lists
• Online stores

Compare that to wholesale, where the same author would need to rent warehouse space (or put boxes of books in their garage or office), and handle inventory and fulfillment all on their own. POD lets fulfillment happen directly.

With Bookshop, you can bypass Amazon and big-box retailers entirely while selling your book(s) directly to readers — all without the need to manage inventory or fulfillment. BookShop pays:

• 50% on printed book royalties
• 75% on audiobook royalties
• 85% on eBook royalties

That's three times more per sale than standard book distribution. Plus, your book is always in stock, and you get paid faster (within one week of a sale). Bookshop also makes it easy for you to track sales data and buyer details, while you control your payouts by setting your own price.

Let's look at some numbers as examples of what you can earn:

• You sell a print book for $14.99 through Bookshop and make $7.50
• You sell an audiobook for $19.99 through Bookshop and make $15.00
• You sell an eBook through Bookshop for $9.99 and make $8.50

And unlike Amazon, there's no 6–8 week presale lockout. Selling books on Amazon requires a 6 week "presale period" where your book is available for sale but orders aren't fulfilled. After the cost of printing and Amazon's own retail margins factored in, royalties from Amazon book sales tend to be extremely small — often 10% or less of your book's retail price!

No more "out of stock" notices

Another major reason to choose BookBaby Bookshop is that you'll never have to deal with the dreaded "Out of Stock" notice. Sometimes, if your book happens to be a slow or extremely niche seller, Amazon will set its status to "Out of Stock" even if it's available as a Print On Demand Title.

That doesn't happen on BookBaby BookShop. Since we print every book when it's ordered, your book is always available and always in stock. We also offer plenty of easy-to-use, author-friendly promotional tools, such as the ability to capture contact information from your buyers in order to build an email list, or the ability to create coupons to help boost sales.

POD improves author profit margins

Wholesale profits get divided up between the publisher, distributor, wholesaler and retailer. For all of the work they put in, authors get the smallest share. Print On Demand allows for higher royalties per books, especially with direct sales like BookBaby's Bookshop.

Consider this. Let's compare two authors in similar situations to see just how much of an impact POD can have.

The traditional author prints 5,000 copies of their book and spends $15,000. They sell 2,000 copies and lose money in the process. They also likely have 3,000 books they now have to store or have destroyed.

A POD author prints nothing upfront. They print only as books are ordered, and they get profits paid to them quickly. The sheer simplicity and ease of use of POD is enough to make any serious author ask themselves, "Why would anyone still go the traditional way?"

POD supports bookstores and retail

You may be surprised to learn that Print On Demand helps bookstores, too. Bookstores, unfortunately, can't stock every great title, and they want to reduce risk as much as possible.

With POD, they can order smaller quantities to "test the waters" and try out new authors. There's no longer a need to focus just on things like celebrity cookbooks and memoirs. Anyone with a story to tell can get published through Print On Demand, and many first-time and independent authors found sudden success by doing so!

This process helps the bookstore avoid overstocking, which in turn makes retail more sustainable and profitable. Everyone wins.

Print On Demand: the definitive solution to the wholesale crisis

With all of these new advances in POD technology, sustainability and efficiency, it's clear to see that in comparison, the traditional wholesale publishing model is collapsing under its own weight. There's inventory risk, returns, distribution bottlenecks and high up-front costs. Unfortunately, these aren't temporary problems that will go away — they're baked into the structure of how the traditional model works.

Nearly a century later, the system is being upended and replaced by Print On Demand. With POD, there's no inventory risk and no need for a huge outlay of cash in order to print and store books. POD also unlocks the benefits of global distribution while helping authors keep more profits. Middlemen get eliminated while authors retain more control.

In short, POD makes publishing accessible to everyone.

Getting started with Print On Demand books

At BookBaby, we make it easy to take your first steps in the Print On Demand world. Whether you're a first-time author or you're moving away from the traditional wholesale model, we've got the expertise, experience and guidance to help you unlock all of the benefits that POD brings.

From helping you prepare your graphics files for book printing to using the Project Center to upload your files and go through your project, everything we do is designed to help you succeed in getting your book professionally printed. Even if you're not a layout professional, we offer interior book formatting and layout services for both print books and eBooks. We even do custom book cover design.

To get started, all you have to do is get a free, no obligation quote from BookBaby.com through our online quote tool. We'll walk you through the stages, including choosing the right type of binding, paper and more. We realize that not everyone is a print expert, and with our guided services, you don't have to be! Our helpful online guides and free downloads make the process easy to understand, and our team is available if you have any questions or hit any snags.

Get started today and take the next step toward the future of book publishing and distribution. Let's leave the traditional wholesale model to the past and start embracing the level of speed, efficiency and quality that only Print On Demand can provide!

TLDR

The traditional wholesale publishing model is struggling under the weight of inventory risk, costly returns, shrinking retail space, and outdated distribution systems. Authors often invest thousands upfront to print books that may never sell, while publishers overproduce to offset returns. Print On Demand (POD) eliminates these risks by printing books only after they're ordered, removing the need for storage, large print runs, and guesswork. Platforms like BookBaby allow authors to maintain control, improve cash flow, expand global distribution, and increase profit margins. POD also reduces environmental waste and lowers carbon emissions by avoiding overproduction. In today's direct-to-consumer economy, Print On Demand offers a faster, more sustainable, and financially accessible alternative to the traditional wholesale system.