A bookstore ordered copies of my book at the end of last month, but those sales aren't appearing on my monthly statement. Why?

There are two reasons this might occur. First, like many publishers, Partridge Publishing records a sale and pays royalties only after books are physically shipped. We may have an order in process at the end of a month, but if the books haven't shipped that month, then the sale will not be recorded until the following month.

What's more likely, however, is that the bookstore ordered either through the largest wholesaler, Ingram Book Company, or directly through its printing arm, Lightning Source, Inc. (LSI). Ingram and LSI are on a 4/4/5 accounting cycle. This means that they operate on a four-week, four-week, five-week financial calendar rather than a monthly calendar. The financial month-end close always occurs on a Friday and therefore is not always at the calendar end of the month. LSI reports monthly sales to Partridge Publishing according to the Ingram financial calendar, and Partridge Publishing in turn reports those sales to authors in the sales statement. Any sales in a calendar month that occur after the financial month end will not appear on your statement until the following calendar month.