What they are now responding to me?
Ha, Pa has ignored me for weeks now and suddenly I'm getting all these responses. I just sent my response a few minutes ago...sorry for the length on this..."basic letter".
Dear Ms. McDermott,
Yes, we do know exactly what Barnes and Noble buys from us. It is your
contact who is uninformed. Last week Barnes and Noble placed 235 orders for
530 books, including 12 that were apparently for stocking or events. The
week prior Barnes and Noble placed 193 orders for 475 books, including 6
that were apparently for stock or events. And again, please see the
testimonials on our site for further proof of this.
Contrary to what you were told, bookstores stock our books all the time. In
2004, Barnes and Noble alone purchased more than 30,000 books from us,
making it our largest customer, and Borders and Books-a-Million were our
second and third largest customers. Each day, bookstores order a
PublishAmerica book more than 300 times on average. The fact that those
particular bookstores decided not to stock your particular book does not
change this. Bookstores stock our books all the time.
No publisher guarantees book sales to bookstores. Major chain bookstores
have no policy against stocking non-returnable books. Actually, Barnes and
Noble has quadrupled the number of books they order from PublishAmerica
during the past year, as can be seen by all the stories and reports on the
message board from hundreds of authors whose books are stocked.
For bookstores to stock all books published would mean adding 15 feet of
new shelf space every day. Therefore bookstore managers must be selective,
so they decide based on what that they think will sell. If they do think it
will sell, they will stock it, and vice versa. So, if your book is romance
and the store's shelves are overflowing with romance novels, the odds are
they won't stock it. And, if your book is a history of agriculture in
Tupelo County, Mississippi, the bookstore manager in Seattle may feel the
same way.
Every bookstore will carry a book that they think will sell, regardless of
whether it is returnable or not, regardless of whether it is printed on
digital or offset presses.
Please do not judge a bookstore's corporate policy by what one local
manager or one letter tells you. You can find stories on our website about,
for example, two Borders locations in one town: one manager insists that he
cannot carry a book, the other orders 40 copies. Bookstore managers are
human, they have strengths and weaknesses like all of us, they can make
good judgment calls and bad ones. One will like your book, the other may not.
My Response:
You all need to get your facts straight! This is NOT a local B&N
manager. This is a letter sent to me from the Main Office and I have
been sending them every letter you all send with the misinformation
you give and I am looking forward to hearing from them on your
knowledge of who is in charge of B&N. This "basic" letter you all
send to everyone is getting really old!
Memory McDermott
On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 12:19:18 -0500, PublishAmerica Author Support