We presell your books into the marketplace and we are paid for those sales (90+ days later, which means in many cases we are covering expenses for expected monies from Simon & Schuster to pay on time). At the same time, we are receiving as many or more returns as sales every month, which we have to pay back. We receive checks for the entire list from Simon & Schuster. It’s not a book-by-book accounting system. This means that although we’ve been paid (or are expecting payment soon) for the entire amount reflected on your statement, we are on a constantly “revolving door” basis with Simon & Schuster, paying back as much as we’re getting month-to-month. Some of you have expressed concerns that we are sitting on your money, or using your money to float company expenses while we hold your returns. This is not the case, and Simon & Schuster’s accounting and payment process doesn’t work this way. We consider all sales “soft” sales until we have a better handle on your returns. We view our returns as a whole, not book by book, author by author. It takes a full year for us to have an accurate gauge on sales, with returns sometimes being as high as 60%. We let go of reserves against returns each quarter, allocating the monies due as it makes itself apparent that hard sales have been processed. We realize it’s difficult to look at the hold against returns because it feels like that’s earnings we’re withholding, especially if you feel like your returns will be less, but since the book industry is for all intents and purposes a consignment business, we need to be sure we’re measuring through the register “hard” sales from quarter to quarter, and not just the “soft” preorder sales.