From the press room · For publishers
Selling to churches, schools and groups without an intermediary
Church and curriculum sales can outweigh trade sales, and they need bulk pricing, one checkout and a code for each reader. Seat licenses do that in one order.
ZI² Books · 2026-10-03 · updated 2026-10-09
In short: Seat licenses let a buyer purchase up to a hundred seats of a sealed edition in one checkout. Each seat is its own license code, the group gets a CSV of codes, the order can be sent to a second address as a gift, and the running total updates as the quantity changes.
Religion publishing executives say the same thing in every interview: Bibles, curricula and devotionals sold to churches often eclipse trade book sales, and those sales go direct from publisher to congregation. The small press without a sales team cannot easily reach that channel, and the big stores do not sell a hundred copies to one account at all.
One checkout, many seats
On a sealed edition's checkout, the quantity field goes to a hundred. The running total shows the unit price and the sum as the number changes. On payment the buyer receives one license page and a code sheet: one code per seat, each opening the book on its own device and account, each syncing its own notes and position.
The order can be sent to another address as a gift with a note, which is how a church office buys for a class leader.
Pricing for groups
Coupons and scheduled price rules apply to seat orders like any other. A press can publish a church rate as a coupon in a bulletin and watch it in the ledger by code.
What the reader gets
Every seat is a full license: the reader, the sync, the download and the personal seal. A study group of thirty reads the same edition with thirty separate sets of notes.
Questions
Is there a minimum?
No. One seat is a normal purchase; the field simply allows more.
How do group members receive their codes?
The buyer downloads a CSV of codes from the license page and hands them out by email or on paper; each code opens its own license page.
Can seats be bought for a print book?
Seats apply to sealed editions and downloads. Print listed through a press's own store or Amazon follows that store's rules.