Receiving and storage
We receive your printed stock, count it against your delivery note and store it on recorded shelves. Each title has its own SKU and reorder point.
Book Distribution and Fulfilment Services
Your books stored, packed and delivered, with live stock, order tracking and invoices in your Sotrane account.
The service is not taking new clients yet. It opens once the office has published its terms. You can create a Sotrane account now and request a quotation as soon as it opens.
Sotrane's distribution and fulfilment service is for authors and publishers who want their printed books stored safely and sent out properly -- to readers, bookshops, schools and organisations -- without running a warehouse themselves.
Your stock is counted in when it arrives and every copy is accounted for afterwards. Orders are authorised before anything leaves the shelf, packed with care, and handed to a courier with a record of who delivered what, to whom and when.
From your printer to your reader
Order fulfilment
Place orders from your dashboard, or ask the office to. Each order is authorised, its copies reserved, then picked, packed and prepared for dispatch.
Delivery coordination
We hand parcels to couriers suited to each destination and record the courier, the tracking reference and the confirmation of delivery.
Returns
Returned copies are inspected. Those in good condition go back into your available stock; damaged copies are recorded as damaged, never quietly written off.
Everything visible, nothing guessed
Live stock
Copies on hand, reserved, available and damaged for every title, with the full history of every movement behind each figure.
Order tracking
Where each order is, from authorisation to delivery, with the courier's updates and the proof of delivery.
Invoices and payment
Charges are itemised and invoiced through your account. Pay invoices by mobile money from your dashboard or by transfer, with receipts for every payment.
Low-stock warnings
See at a glance which titles have reached their reorder point, so you can arrange a reprint or a delivery in time.
Authors, publishers and organisations
Independent authors
Keep your books moving while you write the next one, without boxes in the spare room.
Publishers
Hand over storage and dispatch for some or all of your list, and keep a clear account of every copy.
Organisations
Schools, churches, NGOs and companies distributing books or printed materials to their people.
Getting started
Request a quotation
Tell us about your titles, how many copies you would store and how many orders you expect. It takes a few minutes from your Sotrane account.
Receive the quotation
The office replies with the services and rates that fit, by notification and email.
Sign the agreement
Once you are happy, the office approves your account and you both sign the written agreement.
Send your stock
Arrange delivery of your books. We count them in, and they appear in your dashboard ready for orders.
Common questions
Which areas do you deliver to?
We arrange delivery through couriers and agree the areas with each client in the quotation, rather than promising coverage we cannot confirm for every destination.
How long does delivery take?
It depends on the destination and the courier. Each order shows its tracking updates in your dashboard, and delivery is recorded only when the courier confirms it.
Can stock be oversold?
No. Copies are reserved for an order before it is packed, and the system refuses any order or correction that would use copies that are not available.
Who owns the books in storage?
You, or the rights holder. Sotrane holds them for you as a service provider and returns or handles them as you instruct if the service ends.