“My advice is not to be afraid to use recycled paper because you’re adding only pennies to the retail price. And, tell consumers that you’re doing it. It is worth it to add a bit of cost to a book if you’re not cutting down trees. We even promote that on our books,” says Baldwin.
7. Discourage returns. With the price of oil soaring and increasing concerns about global warming, cutting down on returned books is an industrywide issue that needs to be addressed, says Baldwin. Chelsea Green tries to discourage returns through a partnership program the publisher has established with its independent retailers. Partnering retailers get first priority to authors [for author appearances/book signings], and they have a choice of receiving an extra two percent of each sale, or Chelsea Green will pick up the freight charges, which can be substantial, especially for the publisher’s West Coast stores. However, the partnership does not allow any returns. “They receive a lot of benefits as a result of the partnership and now they do more conservative re-ordering,” says Baldwin. “We work closely with them to promote our books. They are constantly on our radar.”