Hire a forester. The timber industry is fraught with crooks and if you don't know their games you will get taken.
The last tract of timber I sold was 88 acres. I have a local forester, Craig, I trust that I use whenever I sell anything. I wanted this tract clearcut so I could replant it so he came in and cruised the timber to determine the volume of timber. His cruise got put in a request for bid packet that he sent out to the timber buyers in the area. Most interested buyers will come cruise it themselves to check the foresters cruise and get an idea of the lay of the tract. I think when Craig sent out the request for bids he gave them two weeks until the bid closed. We received twelve offers ranging from $90,000 to $172,000 on what was a mixed stand of timber. I was happy with the price as the stand was kind of thin, mature properly groomed pine would have brought a lot more. The only thing I had to do with the deal was show up at the bank to get my cashiers check and sign the timber deed. Craig's commission on the deal was 7% which was well worth it, I'd much rather have 93% of $172,000 than 100% of $90,000 which I'd have been lucky to get if I'd tried to sell it on my own.
I've also used Craig several times on timber thinning, he lines up the buyers and negotiates a better price than I could by myself. In that case instead of getting sold as a whole like for the clearcut they'll sell it by the ton and you get paid based upon the weight tickets of the trucks when they take it to the mill. The forester's job is to keep them honest here too, along with making sure they're not tearing up your land and thinning the stand the way it needs to be thinned.
I don't have any timber ready for market right now so I'm not up on the current prices, but it's my understanding that timber prices are low right now even though lumber is sky high in the stores. Covid has messed up everything and it's hard to get workers now. With the juiced up unlimited unemployment and stimulus checks most laborers like you find on logging crews would rather sit at home if they can get paid almost as much for not working.
This is how it is done throughout the South. I am a "Craig." In my area, the mills themselves don't buy tracts of timber. There are a bunch of independent suppliers who contract with loggers to do the cutting of tracts they buy. The mill gives the supplier a price they will pay per ton for timber delivered to the mill. The supplier works out a rate per ton to pay the logger. What's left is what the supplier can pay the landowner plus a cut for himself, per ton. The supplier cruises the timber and makes his bid to me based on the tons he estimates to be on the tract, the amount of that volume that is sawtimber or pulpwood, pine or hardwood, and the rate he has to pay the logger. Or he might bid based on the tons I have estimated to be on the tract. Either way, he pays in a lump sum up front, then has 2-3 years to cut. I check on the logging to make sure that the terms of the timber deed aren't being violated. That's for clearcuts, thinnings are sold by the ton and require more supervision on my part, to insure both a good residual stand and accurate payments to the landowner.
No doubt it is done differently in other regions and other types of timber. But the best thing someone can do is hire a consulting forester to advise them, both on pricing and overall management of your timber; as well as assuring compliance with regulations concerning water quality.
