POD book sales have suffered because of the risk involved in stocking them on retail shelves. Conventional publishing houses offer returns, so if a book doesn’t sell, the bookstore loses nothing. Why take the risk on an unknown author who has self-published and can’t provide that kind of insurance (no matter how good the book is)?

This inability to take returns has been a major stumbling block in the POD arena from the beginning, but some POD companies have leveled the field by making books returnable through Ingram. When you choose to enroll in one of these programs, you make your book more attractive to booksellers everywhere by removing the risk.

Originally, returnability also worked at the distribution level. Ingram would only print a copy or two of books that were not returnable. Now, however, since they've implemented their virtual stocking program, all POD books (except color books as yet) show up with 100 books in virtual inventory. 

The benefits of the returnability program are exciting, but it's still up to the author to promote the book.  Returnability removes a huge obstacle to POD in bookstores and opens doors to POD that were formerly closed.  It doesn't guarantee sales, however.

Returnability makes it possible for print-on-demand books to compete with mainstream publishers.  I believe that returnability is a necessary component of success for the POD author and the bookseller if the author is going to promote his books to bookstores.  Other necessary components are a well written and edited book, a powerful cover, a good marketing plan, a helpful publisher, and the determination to do whatever has to be done to make it happen.

BEWARE of returnability options that are not set up through Ingram.  Booksellers do most of their buying through distributors, which provide positive incentives such as the ability to purchase (and return) many books at a time and save on shipping costs. Returnability through the publisher isn't really much of a deal when the bookseller will have to pay high UPS fees to ship the book(s) back if they don't sell.