I thought of PMing Jim or Lauri or Canada James with this question, then realized it would probably be interesting for the rest of the members to hear the response, too:
I was in B&N today buying last-minute gifts. My mom had told me they had my Celine book on a front display table last time she was there, so I looked for it. No sign of it, so I asked at the service desk.
"Sorry," she said. "It's sold out."
"YAY!" I said... which confused her until I told her I was the author.
But after I got over my excitement, I thought of something more practical-- Andrews McMeel pays for that display space. The service person said that they would probably have more copies after the holidays because "this promotion lasts through mid-January." I assume that means the space is paid until mid-January.
Now... my practical thought was, "Would Andrews McMeel be angry to find out they're paying for display of a book that isn't in stock at the busiest time of the year?"
I wrote to my publicist just now to alert her, but she's gone for the week. So I'm curious-- how does this work? Do they refund the money to Andrews McMeel for those dates? (Doubt it.) Do they extend the display dates to cover for the ones when the book was out of stock? Did Andrews McMeel contract for a specific number of books to be displayed? Or does the bookstore decide that? Do they just pretend it never happened?
I'll wait here curiously.
I was in B&N today buying last-minute gifts. My mom had told me they had my Celine book on a front display table last time she was there, so I looked for it. No sign of it, so I asked at the service desk.
"Sorry," she said. "It's sold out."
"YAY!" I said... which confused her until I told her I was the author.
But after I got over my excitement, I thought of something more practical-- Andrews McMeel pays for that display space. The service person said that they would probably have more copies after the holidays because "this promotion lasts through mid-January." I assume that means the space is paid until mid-January.
Now... my practical thought was, "Would Andrews McMeel be angry to find out they're paying for display of a book that isn't in stock at the busiest time of the year?"
I wrote to my publicist just now to alert her, but she's gone for the week. So I'm curious-- how does this work? Do they refund the money to Andrews McMeel for those dates? (Doubt it.) Do they extend the display dates to cover for the ones when the book was out of stock? Did Andrews McMeel contract for a specific number of books to be displayed? Or does the bookstore decide that? Do they just pretend it never happened?
I'll wait here curiously.
I know nothing about this part of the biz... I'm just trying to put myself in their shoes and imagining how frustrated I'd be if the store went out of stock just before Christmas and I'd paid big bucks to have it featured then. 
