October 8, 2025
Book Depot started 40 years ago with a straightforward focus: working with publishers to move books that needed new homes. That focus has helped us grow into the world's largest bargain book distributor. Today we have 1.5 million square feet of warehouse space with relationships spanning over 1,000 publishing imprints and 65,000+ titles in inventory.
Every publisher deals with the same realities: sometimes they print more books than the market wants, retailers send back unsold copies, and they're constantly needing space for new releases. It's just how the business works, and the bargain book industry exists to help with these everyday challenges.
Over the years, we've learned that handling these situations well really comes down to having the right setup. When a publisher calls with 50,000 copies they need to move quickly, or when returns pile up after busy seasons, you need the space and systems to handle it efficiently and reliably.
Books reach us through a few different paths, and each one works a little differently:
Remainder books happen when publishers decide to liquidate titles that aren't selling anymore or that they're no longer actively promoting. These usually come in big batches of the same title.
Hurt and return books are just what they sound like—books that retailers have returned. Despite the name "hurt," most of them are in great shape, maybe just a little shelf wear from their time in stores.
Excess stock purchases are often pretty current titles that publishers need to clear out for space. Some of these are books they're still printing, which might surprise people.
Being this big means we can take on situations that might overwhelm smaller operations. But it's not just about size—we've invested in fully automated warehouse systems and custom warehouse management technology that lets us process large volumes accurately and efficiently.
Our inventory spans 39 categories, from current bestsellers to backlist favorites, recent releases and established classics.
What started as Book Depot has become three different bargain book distributors, each focused on helping specific markets do more with their budgets.
Book Depot and American Book Company work with wholesale customers—offering retailers, schools, libraries, and organizations discounts of 75-90% off publisher list prices. This lets independent bookstores and retailers compete more effectively, helps educators stretch tight budgets to serve more students, and allows nonprofits to provide books to communities that need them most.
Book Outlet connects directly with readers, offering books at 50%+ off publisher list prices so families can build home libraries, book lovers can discover new authors and new genres without the financial risk, and anyone can access quality titles affordably.
Here's something we've realized after all these years: the journey from author to reader isn't always straightforward. Sometimes books need to travel through returns, sit in warehouses, get sorted and processed, all before finding the right reader at the right moment. We've gotten pretty good at making that journey as smooth as possible while treating both the books and the people who created them with respect.
Once books reach us, we get them back into circulation as bargain books. Most get a small remainder mark—just a line or dot on the page edges—that shows they're discount inventory and keeps them from going back to publishers for credit. It's like a passport stamp for their new chapter. These books then flow back into the market through our discount pricing, helping everyone do more with their budgets while giving great titles another chance to find their readers.
We've built everything around being the kind of partner publishers can count on and the source retailers trust. After four decades, we've learned that success really comes down to understanding that books have value no matter what path they take to reach readers. Our job is just making sure those connections happen as smoothly as possible.