The New Thing
Joshua A.C. Newman:
It's hard to express my excitement on this matter. Suffice to say I'm running out of pants.
I've been thinking about how to maximize this for my own publication for a few weeks and I think I've got the balance sorted out. Fred, I've sent you and Brennan an email of my proposal.
Pelgrane:
Is the new fulfillment engine available to all publishers, or just those who follow the pure (creator owned publisher) COP model? What are the charges (if any) for using it?
lumpley:
That's a good question.
The engine is a web app I've developed and I'm developing, and that I'm hosting. Right now, I'm the only person who can create accounts on it. So at base, it's available to whomever I make it available to.
There are no charges for using it, currently. Some future developments will cost money for individual publishers who opt in, but that will be to cover, for instance, the fee paypal charges to disburse money through its mass-pay API, not to pay me. I expect to make money off this thing by paying less to fulfill my books, and I'm offering it as a service to my fellow publishers, because cross-marketing helps us all, and out of altruism and solidarity. Toward non-creator-owner publishers, I just don't feel the same altruism and solidarity.
So: I suppose that non-creator-owner publishers who're interested in using their own installation of my fulfillment web app can contact me about licensing it. But that'll be for terms, not a service I'm just offering. (And it won't be right away. It's still way in development, it's nowhere near ready for anyone else to install, host or maintain it.)
-Vincent
Pelgrane:
Quote from: lumpley on October 21, 2008, 05:29:53 AM
There are no charges for using it, currently. Some future developments will cost money for individual publishers who opt in, but that will be to cover, for instance, the fee paypal charges to disburse money through its mass-pay API, not to pay me. I expect to make money off this thing by paying less to fulfill my books, and I'm offering it as a service to my fellow publishers, because cross-marketing helps us all, and out of altruism and solidarity. Toward non-creator-owner publishers, I just don't feel the same altruism and solidarity.
So: I suppose that non-creator-owner publishers who're interested in using their own installation of my fulfillment web app can contact me about licensing it. But that'll be for terms, not a service I'm just offering. (And it won't be right away. It's still way in development, it's nowhere near ready for anyone else to install, host or maintain it.)
Thank you, Vincent. I currently do my direct mail order fulfillment using a similar but probably more primitive system, hence my interest.
One other question of value to everyone, I hope. Currently I charge a percentage rate for shipping which doesn't really work too well. How are you set up for handling the amazing complexities of postal service rates? Is there anything in the backend which looks at weight/dimensions/customer choices for shipment?
lumpley:
Not yet. The fulfiller charges the publisher the real shipping costs, after she's gone to the post office and knows exactly what they turned out to be. What the publisher pre-charges the customer for shipping, when the customer places the order, is all up to the publisher. (Good luck, publisher!)
When I develop the shared online store that interacts directly with the customers ... yeah. Then comes the grief of weight, dimensions and customer choices. We'll see!
-Vincent
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