At every Book Expo I've
attended, a large part of the show floor was dedicated to companies
that dealt exclusively with “remainders”. Remainders were not
only inventory that had ceased moving, but books returned by Ingram
et. al. called hurts; these were titles with some sort of blemish
that made the book unsaleable in a retail setting. Further, in order
not to dilute sales of newer titles that were selling, some
publishers would remainder books to the United Kingdom, Australia,
New Zealand etc. where the heavily discounted books wouldn't
cannibalize domestic sales.
Remainder dealers were the
ultimate bargain hunters. They bought books from publisher warehouses
by the pound or by the pallet for pennies on the publishers' dollar
cost, then resold them.
Borders had a warehouse a
few miles from our company, Baker Johnson, Inc., that housed their
remainder division, reputedly their most profitable.
Some remainders are
offered by mail order companies like Daedalus Books whose catalog is
available to any company (publisher, printer, bookstore, etc.) that
had an employer ID #. They
remain in business both online and mailorder. And anyone who has
walked into a Barnes & Noble bookstore knows that the front 20%
of the sales floor is consumed by remainder titles.
While I never would have
purchased a copy of Chronicle Books Bird Song Bible for the $125.00
cover price, B&N's $25.00 seemed reasonable and, while not an
avid bird watcher, living adjacent to a 1,000 acre state forest does
present us an occasional opportunity to drag the three pound book off
the shelf.
But while talking with a
friend who not only publishes a lot of books, but also controls his
distribution, the remainder industry is struggling. He faithfully
attends remainder shows like CIROBE,
CIANA, and GABBS (Great
American Bargain Book Show), and many of the various expos that set
aside room for remainder sellers.
According to him, however,
the remainder market is in transition. The wealth of titles once
available has contracted. Not only are the shows moving
to smaller venues and consolidating
with other wholesale events, the number of dealers is also
contracting.
Now part of this is the
result of some major publishers contracting with specific remainder
dealers who have agreed to purchase any and all remainders regardless
of subject matter for a predetermined price...most likely by the
pound. Of course some publishers with a strong web presence sell the
their remainders online (generally not labeled as hurts) and one
successful small press in Chicago brings their hurts to the Printers
Row (Book) Lit Fest and sells them for half of their cover price
which is nearly what they'd receive for them wholesale anyway.
There are organizations
that readily accept book donations. The
Asia Foundation specializes in educational and technical books
that can be distributed to Cambodia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc. They
are unable to pay the freight charges that will be incurred in
shipping the books to their American offices in California, but there
are tax benefits available for such donations.
The remainder companies
fill a needed role in the retail book industry even though some
consider them as lowly bottom feeders. What other options are there
for getting rid of “hurts”? Pulping them? Having worked in book
printing shops for decades I can tell you that a full gaylord carton
of books that failed inspection might bring $20 for hundreds of
copies from a recycling company, but even that can be risky. Years
ago, a New Jersey recycler was caught selling the (mostly textbooks)
books he had been sold to recycle online.
Some years ago I was
talking with a production manager employed by a publisher that had
just been sold. As we spoke a remainder agent was loading all the
hurts that his employer had accumulated over the years into his truck
before the sale was complete. I asked him if he felt bad to see all
those books he's worked so hard on being sold like that. He said he
had only one regret; “I wish I'd have done more books on 60# text
stock.”
Google
Wins...
The
law suit begun ten years ago continues to to drag through the courts.
The U.S. Court of Appeals bought into Google's argument that scanning
books and posting "snippets" of them on the internet helps
to sell more books and found in their favor.
...Apple
Appeals
This
suit has its roots in 2010 when Apple began selling ebooks on its
iBooks site and was sued for price fixing by the Federal Government.
After a string of adverse decisions Apple has petitioned to have its
case heard by the Supreme Court.
“100%
Happiness Guaranteed” Option
I'd
be interested in some feedback to
this article that argues that the ebook marketplace will
inevitably change and ebooks will either be free or the readers would
pay whatever they felt fair after they've read the books. Really.
Amazon
Sues Fake Review Writers
Citing
at least 1,000 phony reviews, freelance writers paid by Fiverr.com
are
being sued by Amazon. The FTC has also cracked
down on companies that knowingly post fake reviews.
Nag eMails
For
those of us who frequently begin reading a magazine article, lose
interest and move on to something else, The
New Yorker has a cure. It can now send
e-edition readers a reminder to go back and finish reading that
story!
Frankfurt
Book Fair Stories
I've
always wanted to attend the Grandaddy of all book shows. PW
covered this year's fair extensively, noting that attendance rose
from last year's dip.
Printers
Talk About Publishers
The
relationship between printers and publishers is a balancing act
matching capabilities to needs. These printers
discuss publishers' changing requirements and what it will take
to meet them.
World
Series Libraries Duke It Out
Chippy
librarians in Kansas City started
a war of words on Twitter when their Royals battled Toronto's
Blue Jays and Toronto's librarians responded. When the series moved
to the Royals playing New York's Mets it was game on.
28% of Us
Didn't Read a Book Last Year
Competing
formats, Amazon's market dominance and the occasional dirth of
blockbuster titles wouldn't be worth discussing if more
Americans overcame the hurdles to appreciate reading.
Grammar
Rules You Can Break
I
was fortunate to study under the best high school English teacher
ever for two years and I wish Mr. Wonnberger was here to give me his
opinion of these
ten grammar rules it's okay to break.
Textbooks
Defy Disruption
A
market place that has seen pricing
increases of 945% since 1978, yet has only five major players
controlling 85% of the market has somehow proven immune to the many
disruptions that have faced the publishing industry at large.
NaNoWriMo
Time
November
is National Novel Writing Month and for those who are prone to
procrastinate (like me) but respond well to deadlines (not like me),
NaNoWriMo offers a framework to
write (or finish) that novel you've been meaning to get to.
Visit A
Bookstore on Small Business Saturday
A
respite from the retail nonsense that is the Thanksgiving weekend is
the opportunity to
visit your local bookstore. Special discounts, author signings
and publisher promotions will remind us book stores are magical
places.
Archived
newsletters are available at http://grubstreetnews.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment