Bread and butter. This is provided to me by booksellers, as well as my publishers. However, something seems to be afoot in the land where books are sold. First, there were my problems with BAD BOYS AHOY! Then, readers on the Avon Authors board complained about their local bookstores not shelving the March Avon releases right away. Then Dorchester emailed this plea about one of their author’s books:
“All of this brings me to the point of this message: I would like to request that you visit your local bookseller this weekend, even if you’ve already bought a copy of SURRENDER, see where the book is placed, and send my publisher your feedback. If the store has run out of copies, please ask them to reorder. If the store hasn’t unpacked their copies, urge them to do so. And if SURRENDER isn’t placed on a new release table, rack or romance tower, move it to one of these locations. These prime spots are actually paid feature placements, and since Dorchester paid for that placement, SURRENDER should be there. If it isn’t, or if you notice any of the problems mentioned above, please send an e-mail to dorchester@dorchesterpub.com , so that these issues can be resolved.”
(It’s written as if by the author herself, but apparently, she had no hand in it.)
So now this letter has caused quite a stir, most of it backlash toward the author. Many readers are turned off by this glimpse behind the wizard’s curtain. I’ve heard that some readers are pissed off by the multitude of author blog posts stressing the importance of buying books within the first two weeks. It’s their hard-earned money and they’ll spend it when they’re ready to. They’re buying the book, don’t presume to tell them when to buy it.
I understand how readers must feel getting an email like the above from a publisher, but I also sympathize with the publisher and author after getting so many emails from readers telling me how much difficulty they had finding BBA. (And my editor telling me that my book was not the only one having this problem) I went to my local Borders the second week of Feb. and all three Feb. Bravas were still in the box in the back. Two weeks into the sales month and the books weren’t even on shelves.
This is from a reader message board:
“I went into Borders the other day with a list of books, and of course could find none of them (they turned out to be in the back, as yet unpacked, although the sell date had come and gone)”
And from another board and a different reader (whose post was followed by many more readers stating more of the same):
“I felt like I fought a major military campaign this month searching for new releases. It was so difficult and frustrating at times that I almost had a major fit in the bookstore.”
one reply:
“Yes. So far this is by far the worst month to find the new releases.Im thinkin at any bookstore.I had trouble finding books at borders and I know others were having trouble with Barnes and Nobles.”
What is going on?
Avon, Dorchester, and Kensington. I’m sure they can’t be the only publishers having this trouble.
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The Allure Authors have a blog now! I hope you’ll stop by often and see what’s going on. We dream big and have lots of great plans for it. (including daily posts! we promise!)
I’m still in shock over reaction to the Dorchester email, especially how it was taken out on the author and how she was maliciously lambasted. It was uncalled for and done with such disrespect that I can’t even put into words how angry it made me.
Obviously the problem with the bookstores is wide spread - and readers complain when publishers don’t give a damn, but complain when they show they do.
Charina
NOT what you want to hear, is it! I wonder how often it happens, ie if this is a new phenomenon.
What IS going on? Is there any explanation as to why this is the case? What are the booksellers saying?
Wow, that is something else. When a publisher pays for a high-profile placement it costs them an arm and a leg. As one CSR at B&N told me, those places are “prime real estate.
that totally sucks and I sympathize since I’m sure working hard on a book authors want to see it out there asap. I usually am one of the ones that asks if the book came in and if they did then they better go back there and get it! lol
totally understandable :hug: