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Gardners Bloody Books !
In January, about 6 weeks ago I suppose, I had an email from Richard, the boss at my publishing company, to say that Gardners Books, the wholesaler here in the UK that he does business with, and who supply to all the major book chains, wanted to return 120 of my books that they had over ordered on. I was given two choices, pay for them and then have them pulped, or pay for them and have them sent back to my home.
I was not happy with this and so got on the phone that weekend and managed to get a substantial amount of orders from book stores. By the end of January I had got the level of stock down to less than what they wanted to send back, and so Richard and I both thought I had won a reprieve. He telephoned his contact at Gardners to confirm this and was told they would not now be sending the books back.
What with working four days a week now, and the fact that I had nearly 2 weeks off in February anyway, I did not have the chance to do much ringing around at all, and so the orders once again tailed off. There have been a few re-orders from book stores and also a few no doubt ordering via amazon, but that's about all for February. It is a quiet time of year though anyway.
Last week though when I went to Gardners website to check their stock levels and noticed that the number had dropped from 112 to 41 in stock, I feared the worst.
I telephoned Richard, who assured me that he had definately been told they were not returning stock, and they had not actually been authorised to do so in any case, as he had not signed the official documents giving them permission. We both thought then that the books must have been sold, and I hoped that they may have gone as core stock to one of the chains, as now that it is selling so well in both Borders and Waterstones, it is getting near the point where at least one of them may well consider that.
Imagine my shock and surprise then when I answered the door this morning to a DHL driver bearing 2 boxes of books. I tried to get Richard on the phone to ask him what I should do, but got the answerphone and so reluctantly and much against my better judgement, had to accept them. I wish now I hadn't, as having spoken to Richard again, and his having been been back on to Gardners, it seems that they were definately NOT authorised to do this, and Richard's own contact has absolutely no idea who did this or why. As far as he was concerned, they were keeping all the copies they had until the stocks had run down.
As it stands then they have 37 in stock. I have rung several Borders today, and Oxford at least has agreed to order 5, with several others expressing interest, so the true figure by the time those orders are processed, is probably around 30 copies. When the number drops to 15, which it probably will next week, as I have 2 weekdays off - they will order again, and guess who will have to pay to send them back !
In the meantime though, I am stuck with 71 books - does anyone want one ? !
I was not happy with this and so got on the phone that weekend and managed to get a substantial amount of orders from book stores. By the end of January I had got the level of stock down to less than what they wanted to send back, and so Richard and I both thought I had won a reprieve. He telephoned his contact at Gardners to confirm this and was told they would not now be sending the books back.
What with working four days a week now, and the fact that I had nearly 2 weeks off in February anyway, I did not have the chance to do much ringing around at all, and so the orders once again tailed off. There have been a few re-orders from book stores and also a few no doubt ordering via amazon, but that's about all for February. It is a quiet time of year though anyway.
Last week though when I went to Gardners website to check their stock levels and noticed that the number had dropped from 112 to 41 in stock, I feared the worst.
I telephoned Richard, who assured me that he had definately been told they were not returning stock, and they had not actually been authorised to do so in any case, as he had not signed the official documents giving them permission. We both thought then that the books must have been sold, and I hoped that they may have gone as core stock to one of the chains, as now that it is selling so well in both Borders and Waterstones, it is getting near the point where at least one of them may well consider that.
Imagine my shock and surprise then when I answered the door this morning to a DHL driver bearing 2 boxes of books. I tried to get Richard on the phone to ask him what I should do, but got the answerphone and so reluctantly and much against my better judgement, had to accept them. I wish now I hadn't, as having spoken to Richard again, and his having been been back on to Gardners, it seems that they were definately NOT authorised to do this, and Richard's own contact has absolutely no idea who did this or why. As far as he was concerned, they were keeping all the copies they had until the stocks had run down.
As it stands then they have 37 in stock. I have rung several Borders today, and Oxford at least has agreed to order 5, with several others expressing interest, so the true figure by the time those orders are processed, is probably around 30 copies. When the number drops to 15, which it probably will next week, as I have 2 weekdays off - they will order again, and guess who will have to pay to send them back !
In the meantime though, I am stuck with 71 books - does anyone want one ? !
Comments
What a tale of incompetence and runarounds!
Also try local radio, see if you can get a slot on your local BBC radio station.
As the refusing the parcel - hindsight is a wonderful thing, I could not get Richard on the phone to confirm the information, so in the absense of information and not knowing what the results of refusing it might be (being sent back to me again, and being charged for carriage as well), felt I had to accept it.
This is really though par for the course, and part and parcel of being an author - it seems we always come at the bottom of the pile unfortunately. It makes me wonder sometimes though whether it is really worth it all. I keep going though because like everyone else on here, it is who and what I am, and my lifetimes work, the reason I am here ...
Thanks for the support though guys (and girls)
P
Is there some way you could tie it in to articles- such as the subject matter?
Are there writers groups in your area that you could offer to do a talk to and hopefully sell some books?
Writing groups in my experience are all aimed at fiction writers, I have been put off them by a nasty experience where someone made some very personal and unwarranted comments to the effect that non fiction had no place in a creative writing group. It might be worthwhile trying again I suppose, but most of the ones around here meet during the day when I am work. It is truth be told the fact that I have to work that has created this situation, as it means that I no longer have the luxury of being able to work full time on promoting the book. Maybe if I was prepared to buy white label goods in the supermarket, never eat out, not enjoy holidays, have no social life and rely on public transport I could afford to cut my hours, but I believe that I am entitled to have some enjoyment from life, and so those things are not an option !
The article will be in this weeks paper though (out Thursday) so we will see what happens ... It could be worse anyway, as it could have been over 100 books! They have given me no incentive though to get shops to order through them, as I can make more money by selling direct to independents. One branch of Wesley Owen (Christian book chain) in Scotland has already ordered some copies direct from me, and if they are open on Friday, I intend to ring the rest of them - all 40 branches if I have to - have emailed half of them, so will call them at least to follow up.
I had a nasty surprise though waiting for me when I got home from work. The Christian book shop who ordered 2 copies direct from me over the weekend sent them straight back again with a note to say they did not think they could sell them after all ! I think that is incredibly bad form, as I made it clear that the books were not returnable and no one forced them to order them after all. I sent them an information sheet by email a few days before, which they acknowledge they saw, so they cannot say that they did not know what the book was about. It cost me £5 to send that parcel, which I can ill afford if they are going to just do that. It looked to me as if they had not even looked at the books as the packaging was all intact and had not even been disturbed. I have emailed them then andpolitely asked for an explanation, which in the circumstances I feel I am more than entitled to.