Etiket

[threemonkeys]

Dymocks Queensgate now have a clearance store. You know the sort of thing - remaindered titles being sold at less than a third of original list price. Talking to the guy running it, a question arose.

What if you spot the work of somebody you know there? Do you mention it next time you are talking to them? I figure that the answer is no - no author like to be reminded that their work has been remaindered. Especially when we are talking about mass market editions here - not trade size editions that have been superseded by a newer release.

But what if the remaindered work is really popular. What if the staff can't keep the books stocked on the shelves because they are selling so fast - selling better than anything else in the shop by a huge margin. Is that now worth mentioning or does the shame of being remaindered outweigh the boost of being popular.

Yes it is somebody I know but no it isn't any of you. I bet none of you ever had your work remaindered.

Comments

[catsparx.livejournal.com]

True, I have not mentioned the fact to my author friends. But there was this one time where a collection of one writers work were selling for something like $2 a book. I bought the entire stock and gave them to him as a gift, which he greatly appreciated as the book was officially out of print.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I have wondered about that in the past - most authors I know like to have a few copies of their work available in case of a sudden need for an auction item at a con. Remaindered stock could be a source.

Of course then there are the authors who buy up all the copies of their own work when it goes out of print and sell it mailorder, using their garages as warehouses.

[catsparx.livejournal.com]

If it were my book, I think I'd rather buy up cheap leftover stock than let them all go in the bin.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Apart from avoiding the discomfort, there can be quite a bit of money in that strategy if you have a dedicated following. I remember Harlan Ellison once saying that a big chunk of his book income came from selling his out of print titles like that.

[catsparx.livejournal.com]

yeah, if you're a well respected author, a bunch of classy looking hardcopies wouldn't go astray I reckon.

[stephen-dedman.livejournal.com]

Agreed, as long as it was cheap. One publisher of mine sold me a carton of my remaindered hardcovers at about $2US each - but sent the cartons by express courier, adding about $7US to the price per copy. And sent me the bill. The courier, of course, sent them to Bayswater in Victoria, where they remained for several weeks. (My editor, bless him, managed to get the publisher to pay part of the bill.)

That said, if anyone in Oz sees good condition copies of either The Art of Arrow Cutting (particularly the hardcover) or Foreign Bodies for less than about $15 each, please buy them: I'll repay you (plus postage, if necessary) ASAP. I'll donate them to libraries: I'm only a few copies short of qualifying for Public Lending Right on them, so they'll more than pay for themselves!

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

if anyone in Oz sees good condition copies of either The Art of Arrow Cutting (particularly the hardcover) or Foreign Bodies...

You are assuming of course that people already have them. If they don't I'm going to recommend that they buy them, read them and display them in pride of place on their own bookshelves.

Having said that, I guess you would prefer that they got them directly from you.