Tesco Threaten Irish Publisher
- Thread starter gothicangel
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How does telling a publisher:
not constitute a threat? Does the gentleman have problems comprehending plain English?
It's asshattery like this that makes me wish publishers would just go "fine. Don't stock any of our books then" just to see what would happen because my money would be on Tesco/Reedmoor backing down with provrebial egg on their faces.
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Tescos really is taking over the world.
This is interesting from the pov of not only publishers, but writers who, further down the line, may find themselves in a sutuation where only one retailer is stocking thier book. It's forcing the hand of publishers and consumers and will only end in disaster.
This is interesting from the pov of not only publishers, but writers who, further down the line, may find themselves in a sutuation where only one retailer is stocking thier book. It's forcing the hand of publishers and consumers and will only end in disaster.
QFT
I refuse to buy from supermarket chains and Amazon. My new addiction is buying online from Foyles.
I love that bookshop, only wish I could get to London more.
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I'm sure the Irish publishing world is quaking.
In the UK, Tesco's book buyer is one of the most powerful people in the publishing industry. Going by the state of the book aisles in my local Tesco stores, I can't see her Irish counterpart making the same claim somehow. There's narry a mainstream author to be found.
In the UK, Tesco's book buyer is one of the most powerful people in the publishing industry. Going by the state of the book aisles in my local Tesco stores, I can't see her Irish counterpart making the same claim somehow. There's narry a mainstream author to be found.
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Twenty years ago I lived just outside London, and got to Charing Cross whenever possible to browse the bookshops. Foyles indeed had an amazing selection, but they were without doubt the most diabolical bookstore ever invented in their organization and sales procedure, something of a Dickensian Stalinist approach toward business. The books were arranged by publisher, not by subject, so you basically had to scour the entire multiple-floor shop to find things.
The actual procedure for purchasing a book was the most arcane I've ever seen. You had to select the books you wanted, and take them to some desk inhabited, as I recall, exclusively by older women. You left the books with them, along with some indication of your identity, and went down stairs to the front payment station, where you waited until the woman in charge brought the books down and gave them to the clerk, so you could pay for them.
I've been told that the place has modernized significantly since then, but I haven't been in it for twenty years now.
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If a publisher isn't making any money on selling the books through Tescos (comments under the article), why would any publisher bother with them?
Even if there aren't enough bookstores, if they don't make money - no win, no win.
Rather than let it come down to this, perhaps all the publsihers should collectively start their own chain of bookstores.
Even if there aren't enough bookstores, if they don't make money - no win, no win.
Rather than let it come down to this, perhaps all the publsihers should collectively start their own chain of bookstores.
I regularly check the shelves at our local Tesco in Dublin and they never have the top sellers in stock. While our local Asda in Enniskillen always do.
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On a similar note, I remember hearing in the past that if you had a deal with an Irish publisher (and not just selling the rights in Ireland of a deal made elsewhere), you had to give Eason's (dominant Irish newsagent/bookstore chain) the option of six-month exclusive on the book or they wouldn't stock it. Eason's made up a huge percentage of the Irish market (they also had something to do with distribution I believe), so publishers were often forced to bow to this request.
Does anyone know if this still is the case?
Does anyone know if this still is the case?
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I used to love Foyles when it was a labyrinth, as Blacbird describes. It was quirky and old fashioned and had charisma. I would always take that walk down Charing Cross Road just to soak in that antiquated Foyles atmosphere -- it helped that my agent was practically around the corner, in St Martin's Lane!
I hate the modernised Foyles. It doesn't smell of books any more. It's just like any other bookshop. It's lost its essence.
I've heard this before but I don't get it. Tesco has about one minging bookshelf. Yes, it contains a few top sellers but the emphasis is on a FEW. How can that make them so powerful?
I worked in that Asda for four years before I moved back to Belfast. That was before it moved out of the Erneside building to the new shop.
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Volume. It doesn't matter if they only stock five titles if they sell a million of each! Their power is such that if they want a cover changed because the colours clash with their logo, it gets changed (this has happened).
The problem for the industry (aside from the problems inherent with having one dominant book-seller), is that all this millions of books that Tesco (and the other large chains) sell are heavily discounted. I remember buying Aravind Adiga's newly-released short story collection in W.H. Smiths for £1.99. How can anyone make a profit with discounting like this? The industry is dying, but the cause of death will be suicide.
Tesco and whoever are only so powerful because they sell such volume. But they only sell such volume because we give them heavy, heavy discounts. And of course they sell a lot of books, because they are cheap. And each year they ask for more discounts and get them. And each year they sell more books, and so on. We are feeding the beast that will eventually gobble us up.
We split our time between Dublin and Lisnaskea. The whole shopping center has changed so much, there are so many shops now. Costa Coffee and still no bookshop. What's a good coffee with out a good book? lol.
The Easons in the main st is limited and the other few bookshops don't stock new titles. The book aisle in asda is always crowded.
I won't shop in Easons in Dublin if I can help it. They give special offers on some books and overprice terribly on others and on magazines. A few years ago I was buying a fortnightly manga magazine. Every edition was a different price and it was almost twice as expensive in the south as it was in the north even accounting for the exchange rate.
I write YA and there isn't much of a market for YA books with publishers in Ireland. The YA in the shops seems to all come from abroad. I was in talks about making a contribution for a non-fiction book, part of the deal was that it would be stocked initially in Easons only. In the end I decided to stick to writing YA since that's what I enjoy.
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