Questions, questions and no answers

With the almost certain demise of Woolworths and wholesale arm EUK in administration, it is difficult to see where this credit crunch will end. Although not personally affected (despite claims by some quarters, my own job is relatively safe), it is distressing to see so many who are.

The situation at EUK does not look good. 700 staff lost their jobs last night, 2 weeks before Christmas, and the administrators are said to be calling in the company's debts. This is not good for the supermarkets either, who owe most of the money, although one cannot help but think that their sitting on this money for so long (figures of up £25 million are being talked about for both Salisbury's and Tesco), then EUK may not have been in this mess.

That though is the name of the game - as George Bush would have put it - the haves and the have mores. It has always been the way that some have to be sacrificed so that others remain profitable. Perhaps it is time to start questioning that ethos, as we are all entitled to earn a living.

The situation with Zavvi, which previously traded as Virgin Megastores, is even worse, as they owe EUK £106 million - how and more to the point, why the accounts department at EUK allowed this happen is beyond me - they should never have allowed things to get to this stage. If Zavvi fails to pay this debt, then they too could be placed into administration, with the loss of yet more jobs. A statement from the company is expected soon.

In the meantime, with no buyer for Bertrams, the book world is getting very nervous. Publishers are also affected by the demise of EUK, with the wholesaler owing them money, which they are unlikely to receive in a hurry. A total figure of £25 million has been suggested as money owed, with Random House the worst hit. Could this also bring publishers down I wonder - I sincerely hope not.

One does wonder what this whole thing is about and what would happen if Bertrams were to go. This would leave just one major wholesaler, in the shape of Gardners, for the whole book trade, and handful of smaller specialists.

MD Michael Neil has been putting a brave face on things, insisting that it is business as usual and the scaling down of EUK, which has still been supplying some stores, would not affect attempts to find a buyer. Talks are continuing with a number of interested parties and there is no set time scale for the sale. But he added: "We have to be realistic. Christmas is in the way but we want to get a deal done as soon as possible."

The wholesaler, which was bought by EUK in January 2007, has separate financing and has not been affected by EUK's administration. The administrators confirmed that Bertrams will continue to trade as normal, but their situation remains precarious.

Big publishers and distributors agreed with Bertrams last week that the wholesaler would pay cash upfront for stock. Neil admitted that these new terms were affecting business (how can they not), as they can only buy what they know will sell. This is seriously bad news for the smaller publishers, although most requests for their stock will be as special orders and therefore firm sale anyway. This decision is though bound to affect availability of slower selling and niche titles.

I hope that they manage to weather the storm, but if the worst does happen, could this mean the end of wholesalers in our country, or will a new contender emerge, in the form of a smaller company keen for expansion? If so, who could that be? Gardners could not buy Bertrams out, as that would create a monopoly, although if Bertrams do go, there will be a monopoly anyway.

If the publishers fail to get back what they are owed, where will it leave them - these costs will have to be recovered from somewhere, and this will inevitably mean several things - pay freezes for the staff, a cut in advances for authors (especially for first timers), and an increase in cover prices. Will they have to re-negotiate terms with the wholesalers that are left, and with book stores that they supply direct to for core stock? Could this lead to a re-opening of the firm sale debate all round and hasten its introduction, and will that hinder or benefit the small presses?

Questions, questions and no answers.

One hell of a ride

Today it looks very much like I will soon be out of a job. We were told at work some time ago that a big announcement would be made to the City today regarding the future of the company and where we were heading, and it was not good news.

Our parent company have decided to close 77 stores. Most of these closures will come about in the form of natural wastage - simply put the stores will close as and when their leases expire. The lease in our store expires at the end of July, and so it seems that mine will be too, and I will have to look for a new job.

While this is still not official, it is as good as a done deal. While I had been half expecting this for several months, it has still come as a bit of a shock to find that despite my rantings about the job on here, I have got used to going there four mornings each week and interacting with the customers.

The publishing world in the meantime, continues to make waves regarding the firm sale debate, which has now moved from Publishing News and onto The Bookseller. This is good, as it means I can post comments of my own, and maybe get some kind of dialogue going. There are one or two independent book sellers who have already added their own comments, and appear to have similar views to my own.

The article on The Bookseller does not say much that Publishing News did not, but whitters on about how unfair it is that book sellers should have to bear the risk, and heaven forbid, actually be responsible enough to carry the can for their own buying decisions. One retailer has said that the changes will affect areas such as academic titles, backlist titles bought for signing sessions, and marketing promotions, all of which would be counted as backlist, but would not be stocked by booksellers if they could not be returned.

The head of one retail chain, whom the article does not name, added that the level of returns was "ridiculous", and that he was sceptical about the motives behind a firm sale move. "There's a touch of green wash in recognising an opportunity to do something really significant in changing terms but dressing it up in green clothing," he said. "I believe that a move that forces improved efficiency is not necessarily a bad thing, but that comment applies to publishers and agents as it does to retailers." Same old, same old...

Another article, this time from Publishing News, states that publishers are reacting angrily to a crude attempt by Amazon to increase its discount. This will no doubt be of interest to my publishing friends across the pond. It is interesting to see that Amazon's demands are as I predicted some time ago, also affecting commercial publishers, and are no longer confined to the self publishing sector through print on demand, not that they ever were, since these days most commercial publishers also use this printing method at least for backlists. The debate re discounting has forced the issue much more into the open, and it is interesting to see the parallels here between the firm sale issue and this issue with Amazon, for if the book sellers get their way, then higher discounting will become the norm rather than the exception, in order to compensate for the loss of returnability.

It seems that Amazon are doing exactly what they did to the print on demand publishers - going from publisher to publisher with extortionate demands, and if they do not persuade one publisher to play ball, then going back to the first house and saying that X has agreed to such and such.

Publishers say that this isn't the first time this has happened, and they are angry and fed up. One unnamed spokesperson said: “UK publishers already give the biggest terms in the world, far larger than the US and Australia. What we see is Amazon attempting a strategy of world domination. In the US, we've already seen them demanding that publishers use their facility for print on demand. It seems that the only people who benefit in the value chain are Amazon. They already have 15 percent of the market in the UK.”

Publishing News estimates that if Amazon continue to grow at this rate, their market share will have doubled to 30 percent within three years. There is then a very real danger that this will result in book store closures. The article goes on to say what Angela Hoy and others like myself have been saying for months, namely that Amazon will then be in a position of such dominance that they will be able to dictate whatever terms they want and destabilise the entire market.

One CEO went as far as to hint that the Competition Commission should look at the situation, although others were not so certain. It certainly hasn't got print on demand authors very far in America. It seems that like the US, the Competition Com­mission here in Britain, pays little heed to protecting the interests of authors and publishers. Perhaps when Amazon do get to the stage where they have 25 percent of the market then they might be interested, but I suspect that by then it will already be too late, as hundreds of book stores, and small presses will have been driven out of business unable to compete with Amazon's aggressive pricing strategies and free deliveries.

Print on demand publishers may have found an ally, since one CEO commented that his company are not moving one single inch, and are if necessary prepared to lose a years sales with Amazon. I say good luck to him. He will need it.

The rise in the Internet does not impact only book sellers, as it is in many ways also responsible for the almost certain loss of my own job. How though do you stop this slide - the answer as always lies within the hands of the buyers - they have to change their attitudes away from themselves and immediate gratification to one of long term gain that benefits all. Everything in time always goes full circle, and in time it will swing back, but in the meantime I feel that we are in for an interesting ride. Where this will end up I do not know, but one thing I do know is that the scenery will be magnificent.

Green and Blacks (sadly not chocolate!)

My mid week news report from around the publishing world comes via some interesting stories on Publishing News. The first one is entitled "Rand attacks Green excuse". It is, as expected, about the firm sale debate - that is, moves towards firm sale on back list titles in a bid to reduce returns. The industry is understandably perhaps, but also predictably, not exactly happy at the prospect of the risk of these books not selling, being shifted on to them. Personally I think that it is well overdue, and I suspect that the majority of independent authors and publishers would agree with me.

The article states that in his inaugural speech as BA President, Graham Rand of Bertrams/THE (remember that Bertrams are one of the largest wholesalers in the UK and that the wholesalers control the supply chain) attacked what he termed the "green excuse" which is being used by some publishers to impose firm sale on back list titles. He claimed that this move threatened to disturb what had hitherto been "superb cooperation" by all sides of the industry on a range of environmental issues, with members both large and small, deeply concerned.

He went on to say that the returns question is a complex issue (not from where I am sitting) and worthy of discussion, but changes should only be made with agreement, and not imposed (pity Gardners didn't think of that when they dumped those 71 books on me back in February). The best though is yet to come, as he added that any new agreement would need to address the question of compensation if risk moves from one side of the business to the other.

No one compensated me when those aforementioned books were dumped in my living room back in February, and no one even bothered to ask or let me know it was happening, or Richard come to that. No, they just did what they decided was right without even bothering to ask my opinion. I would be fair to say that this was imposed upon me, without discussion and certainly without one single thought as to how it would affect me.

Why then should book sellers have the right to start claiming compensation for this when they do not give us that right? No one points a gun at their heads and forces them to buy certain books, okay maybe the public do, by asking for them, but that is business and if they don’t like that, then they are in the wrong business to begin with. Maybe though they could say that about me, as I have to be fair here and say that I did know that there was a risk that I would have some returns to deal with, but if they want us to play fair with them then that needs to be reciprocal, and so far I have little evidence that it is, or they ever intend to start treating independent authors and publishers fairly. Perhaps more to the point, these are decisions that they make whether or not to buy books, and they should have to live by the consequences of those decisions - what has happened to personal responsibility - and more to the point, why should authors and publishers have to bear the brunt of their mistakes?

The way the industry treats both authors and publishers is in my opinion, little short of blackmail. They have us over the proverbial barrow, as if we refuse to cooperate, they will not sell our books. This may sound extreme, but think on this for a moment, if you will. Independent authors cannot get their books into the majority of stores unless they are available on high discount (at least 40 percent) and sale or return (for this read that the book seller has the right to return those books back to the wholesaler, often in poor condition, at any time within a year). The wholesaler of course also reserves the right to return books to the publisher, should they find that they have too much stock.

If you will not, or cannot do business on these terms, then your books are effectively black listed and you cannot even get through the door. Make no bones about it, this is blackmail, and it is also unfair trading, that keeps authors out and stops them from reaching a maximum audience. After all, the Internet may be booming, but the majority of books are still bought in stores, as nothing can or will replace the thrill of browsing and the book shop atmosphere. Self publishers complain about Amazon and what they are up to, but the real problem in my opinion is the rest of the supply chain. They are the ones we should be wary of.

Maybe there is a risk that booksellers will stock less books, and make fewer sales, but to be quite honest, they will know what it bloody well feels like! Until I managed to push through the closed shop that the publishing industry is to the average self published author, with their outrageous demands of higher and higher discounts, and the right to return books at any time, often in poor condition, within one year of sale, I stood no chance of being stocked in most book stores at all. That well used phrase from the Bible springs to mind "do unto others as you would have done unto you". Another perhaps less spiritual one also to ponder on is - "what goes around comes around".

In the meantime, the industry has unveiled a new green initiative in the form of a brand new website http://www.green4books.org.uk/ aimed at raising environmental awareness within the publishing industry and helping to affect change.

There is of course far more to this issue than just returns, important though that is - it is also about using sustainable paper and ink, non polluting transport for both transporting books and staff, and all those other little things that businesses need - right down to buying fair trade tea and coffee. All these things and more (apart from the tea and coffee perhaps) are discussed in detail on the new site, and I recommend that you take a look.

The Guardian blog also has an interesting article on whether being a successful writer is really worth all the effort, or all it is cracked up to be. Although she was greatly honoured to receive such an accolade, Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel prize for literature states in the article that since she won the award, she has been so busy giving interviews etc, that she does not have the time to write.

The unpublished or struggling author may find this attitude strange, but actually I can understand where she is coming from. Writers are by nature a solitary bunch. We are good at writing because we are good at observing - people, ideas and situations from a distance, we work best on our own, as we are deep thinkers who need time on our own to perfect our craft, away from distractions. Because of this, we are not so good at publicity and self promotion, shying away from the limelight.

In my case, although I work with the public four days a week, I am far better and far more comfortable communicating via the Internet and by phone than I am face to face (the fact that through my telemarketing campaign I managed to get into all those Waterstones, proves my point). Given the choice and the opportunity, I would much rather have a desk job where I did not have to deal with the public face to face, dealing with their foibles and idiosyncrasies.

Success and failure can, as Joseph Heller points out, both be very difficult to endure. I have had a taste of both, several times, in my 42 years and 11 months on this planet, and I expect I have a lot more of both still to come. Along with success comes the so-called celebrity status, which can lead to various forms of escapism - drink, drugs, etc, but also the break up of relationships, as well as constant doubts as to whether someone is with you for just your fame/money, hangers on, depression, anxiety and so on.

Failure, or what we perceive as failure, also has its price - more anxiety and depression, and feeling that you and what you stand for is a complete and utter waste of time and space. Heck, some writers I know are terrified of success, and deliberately choose not to even try and get published in case they can't cope with a) the rejection and b) any success they do have. This is tragic, as you have to follow your dreams to the end, no matter where they take you.

People often make the mistake of believing that success must always mean monetary success, but it is not about this at all - it is about how you feel about yourself, and it is also about having faith that what you have written will reach the people that need to read it. I did not write my book for myself, I wrote it for others, so that you could learn and grow, understanding more about themselves, and more about this world that we live in.

You may sell 1 million copies of a book, but if no one understands it and it does not contain your heart and your soul, then no one will benefit from this. If the other hand, you sell just one copy of your book, and the message that it contains changes someones life, then you have been successful. I know which I would choose every time, and I know which I fall into as well. That makes me a huge success in my eyes, and that is all that I need to know.

News from the publishing world this week

There have been several interesting stories in the publishing press this week, the first of which concerns Waterstones, who are of course, the UK's largest and most influential book seller. The Bookseller Online reports that their business is very much in a growth phase, as the company has seen like for like growth in the last 16 weeks of the financial year jump by 6.6 percent.

MD Gerry Johnson said that this was largely attributed to a very strong performance from books, which are at the heart of this growth. The performance bodes well for the full year results, due for release on July 1st. Total sales at Waterstone's at the moment, are up by 4.7 percent compared to last year, with expected turnover of £563m, compared with £537.5m in 2007. This is an excellent record for such a competitive market given the fact that we are supposed to be heading into a recession, and it just goes to show the maybe the British public do value books after all, as they are obviously still spending money on them - including my own one - Genesis of Man.

Waterstones very much have the edge over Borders, as most of their branches are in town centres, and able to capitalise on passing trade as well as the lunch time brigade who visit during the working day, as indeed I often do. They seem to have found the correct balance between the needs of both authors and readers, which Borders have so far failed to do, and this is obviously paying dividends - in more ways than one!

Tesco in the meantime, has unveiled plans to double its own book sales within the next three years to £200m, and are also looking to directly challenge Amazon online. Whether this is a good thing remains to be seen, and I suppose will depend upon your point of view. I think though they may have their work cut out, as although their online inventory must be almost as large as Amazon's, people associate them more with top 40 paperbacks and celebrity titles than anything else, and there is of course far more to book selling than just this.

That being said, the company saw in growth in sales during 2006 of 16.6 percent volume and 19.15 percent in value, giving them a market share of some 10 percent. They are still then a force to be reckoned with.

Research from consumer rights agency Next Best Thing, confirms this week what I have long suspected - that it is not reviews or media coverage that drive sales of books, but rather, good quality displays in store.

The research, commissioned by The Bookseller surveyed 1000 people across the UK, one quarter of whom claimed to get information regarding new books and authors from such displays. This does make sense when you think about it, as I know from my own experience that the majority of books that I buy are those that I discover from just browsing the shelves. It goes to show just how important it is for the newly published to get their books into as many stores as possible, as it is the act of being on the shelves that drives that demand in the first place. It is just a shame that the majority of small and self publishers cannot afford the fees demanded by the chains for good placement and promotions that would drive their sales even more, but such is life. Sooner or later things always go full circle anyway, and our time will come, perhaps sooner than we think.

These findings overturn all conventional wisdom on the subject, which found that word of mouth is the most powerful tool for driving sales and creating best sellers. This is probably true to a large extent, but it is is true that this success would not happen if the books were not in the stores to begin with - as they have to be available.

The survey forms part of Reading the Future, a major consumer trends report to celebrate the 150th anniversary of The Bookseller. Other areas covered include cover design, discounting (the results of this one will be interesting), formats, browsing behaviour and emerging genres. Results will be viewed by people’s age, social group and current reading habits, and put in the context of wider cultural and economic patterns. I will look out for the full results when they are published and do my best to report back on here.

Talking of discounting, I see that Mexico has voted by a massive majority to introduce fixed book prices. Hallelujah ! The law was adopted by the Senate on 29th April by 107 votes in favour, with just two against and five abstentions, according to the French weekly Livres bdo.

This is the second time in recent years that the Mexican parliament has voted in favour of such legislation. The new law, which seems entirely sensible to me, if passed, will ban all discounts on retail book prices for the first three years after publication. This will not include school text books for elementary and lower secondary schools, which are bought by the State - I wonder why that is ! ?

This seems to be part of a growing trend, as many European countries also have such legislation, indeed, we did here in our own country until 1995. Such legislation now applies to much of Western Europe - including Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Spain. Israel is also working towards a fixed book price. Israeli ambassador to France Daniel Shek said in March that a single book price "will happen sooner or later, whether by agreement or legislation". Perhaps it will also be re-introduced here, for the sake of both book sellers and writers.

Will supply solutions benefit the self publisher?

There seems to be much going on in the book world this week, and it is only Monday - loads of news pages to get through and comment on, and I hardly know where to begin. The stories that interest me the most though concern as always our two largest book chains, Waterstones and Borders.

Just as Waterstones are preparing to open their centralised distribution unit in June, Borders are closing theirs in Cornwall, in an effort they say, partly designed to boost the company's green credentials by cutting down on the amount of miles that the books they stock have to be trucked around the country. Chief executive Philip Downer stated on Friday that he believes the business will be better served by publishers and wholesalers delivering direct to stores.

Amen to that, as it may finally end the ridiculous situation I spoke of last week, where rather than building up sales slowly over several months and then being taken on as core stock, it works the other way around. You cannot of course though get the sales when stores are not prepared to stock you in the first place, or in my case it seems, even talk to you as a fellow human being. This may then mean that self publishers such as myself finally begin to have a voice and an opportunity to get stocked in more than their local store.

In the meantime, Waterstones are preparing to open their own centralised distribution centre in Burton upon Trent in June, which I must admit I had been concerned about, as this may have effectively shut the door to any books that were not already core stock, including my own. MD Gerry Johnson though has taken steps to reassure small presses, which I guess would include people such as myself, that those who deal with Waterstones branches on a store by store basis will still be able to do this.

He stated at the Publishers Guild annual conference in Brighton that the company would not keep the expertise in Waterstones if they did not allow staff at store level to make buying decisions. He went on to say that the company should aim to have a 50/50 balance between core stock and stock driven at local level. He added that this was essential if the company is to survive. Wise words indeed, that for me as least strike a sensible balance between the needs of big business and the smaller publishers, both commercial and self publishers.

Perhaps more interestingly, Johnson also said that he hopes to start collecting books directly from printers, cutting out the wholesalers and book miles at the same time. I wonder what this will mean then for print on demand titles such as mine printed by Lightning Source and whether they will be able to come to a suitable arrangement re this that suits both parties. This will be a very interesting one to watch I feel, as it could drastically change the way that print on demand books are dealt with by our largest and most influential book chain - hopefully in a way that will benefit their authors as well as the book stores.

The Bookseller also reports though a hostile reaction towards the idea of firm sale, with that old chestnut still being trotted out - it is unfair that the book sellers should have to take all the risk. This would be laughable were it not so serious, for all the reasons that I have stated so many times on this blog. The discussion, the book sellers argue, is really not about moves towards firm sale, but how they can cut down on returns to begin with. They just don't get it though - if you want to cut down on returns don't order so many books in the first place - it really is that simple.
They keep insisting also that firm sale should mean higher discount and more favourable terms to compensate for this - yet this will cause irreparable damage to the small publishers that firm sale would help the most, as many of them are struggling to accommodate the demands of the industry as it is. Book sellers traditionally buy at discount of around 40 percent, but it does not stop there, as the wholesaler also wants their cut. By the time you add this on top, you are looking in reality at publishers having to offer a minimum of 55 percent discount just to get through the door.

I am in theory all in favour of higher discount to compensate for firm sale, but this should be tempered with a decrease in discount for sale and return to help the publishers who take the biggest risk and protect their interests. At the moment terms are usually 25 percent discount for firm sale and 40 percent sale or return. It would in my opinion make much more sense if this were reversed. It would certainly be a lot fairer as well - to all concerned and give book sellers one hell of an incentive to embrace this nuch needed change.

The other day I received a regular newsletter from Jerry Simmons, co-founder of the Nothing Binding Project, in which he listed some interesting statistics re internet sales. Research suggests that more books are sold on the Internet than any other product, and the number is increasing year by year.

Nielsen Online surveyed 26,312 people in 48 countries and found that 41% of Internet users had bought books online. This compares with two years ago when just 34% of Internet users had done so. Interesting, much of this increase seems to be in the emerging markets of countries such as South Korea and India, with British consumers in 10th place. The survey found that more than eight out of ten Internet users had purchased something in the last three months, a 40 percent increase on two years ago, to about 875 million shoppers.

The league table for Internet book buyers is as follows:

1. South Korea - 58%
2. Germany - 55%
3. Austria - 54%
4. Vietnam - 54%
5. Brazil - 51%
6. Egypt - 49%
7. China - 48%
8. India - 46%
9. Taiwan - 45%
10. UK - 45%
Percentage of Internet users buying books online. Source: Nielsen

As can be seen, the largest percentage of people buying books in any country was South Korea at 58%. Nielsen estimate that this equated to some 18 milion people. In the US, 57.5 million customers were estimated to have bought books, equating to just 38 percent of Internet users. In the UK the number is 14.5 million people, or 45% of those online. I find this particuarly interesting given that American authors seem to promote their books so much more online that we do in this country. Could this be because the vastness of that country makes travel more expensive and difficult I wonder, with security issues also to be considered, or this just a cultural thing?

When my Conversations with POD blog site was featured in the January edition of Writers News, I had just one response, and I cannot be sure that this came via the magazine, as the author in question is also a member of the Talkback forum that I post on. Despite my best efforts, the majority of the books featured on that site are by American rather than British authors, something that I hoped would be much more the other way around. Not that I have anything against American authors you understand, but the idea of the blog was to help promote home grown talent. So, British print on demand authors, where are you?

Taking the Hachette to firm sale

Writers Guild strike in America is intensifying - apparently an unnamed Hollywood studio has lost a $3 million contract because of it to make a film - that will teach them to honour writers a bit more won't it! I am afraid I do not have much sympathy for these people at all, who get rich on the backs of my colleagues across the pond and give them absolutely sweet fa. It is about time these people realised that contrary to popular belief, they need us far more than we need them .... Without writers they would all be out of business fast.

Support from the strike though seems to be coming from all quarters. USA Today reports that motorists driving past Universal Studios on Tuesday afternoon (yesterday) were treated to a cavalcade of stars almost as impressive as the Golden Globes ceremony. These stars were picketing in support of the Writers Guild strike which is now in its 9th day. As long at the strike continues the actors after all cannot work either, and they too are losing money. Mind you, most of them can afford to ...

The entire cast of Brothers and Sisters were there along with Executive Producer and writer Greg Berlanti as well as Matthew Perry from Friends and stars from The Office. Tonight show host Jay Leno rode past on his motorcycle to add his support and Ben Stiller walked down the hill from Universal Studios where he has been directing comedy show Tropic Thunder with a week of shooting still to go. He said, "As a DGA, SAG and WGA member, this is a very tough time. Movies that are in production get affected because no script changes can happen. We had to make sure any rewrites were done before the strike, but changes happen every day. So, I'm saying right now, if this movie's not funny enough next year, it's because of this strike. The writers have always been the ones who didn't get respect. In a way, I wish all the unions could have gone out at the same time, because it would have sent an even stronger message. Studios need to take this seriously." Good for him ! Perhaps writers in the UK should get together and refuse to allow their books into the chain stores until we get a better deal as well ...

This may not in fact be necessary, since environmental issues seem to be coming very much to the forefront in publishing this week, and one of the most overriding issues is of course the vast amounts of books which are pulped each year as publishers print far too many of them. Publishing News reporrs that the book trade's cross party Environmental Action Group, which is chaired by Penguin General MD Helen Fraser has agreed a target for the industry to reduce its carbon emissions by 10% by 2015. The group also believes that environmental initiatives should form part of the criteria for publisher and retailer of the year categories at the British Book Industry Awards, as organised by Publishing News, and also the Bookseller Retail Awards.

A working party is apparently satrting to look at issues such as transport, packaging and paper, as well as perhaps more cruciallym, long term issues connected to the supply chain, in particular, returns.

Last weeks Publishing News reported that the UK's largest publishing group, Hatchette Livre has released an ethical and environmental policy in which it has pledged to start selling its backlist consumer titles on a “firm sale basis”, in consultation with its customers (for this read book sellers) by the end of 2008. The policy document explains as I have said so many times, that the printing and multiple transportation of books that may end up being pulped is both costly and environmentally damaging and they are committed to reducing this practice. They go on to say that the estimated cummulative saving in terms of printing, paper, processing and transport will be in excess of one million books a year.

By the end of 2009, the group also hopes to have moved most all its trade publishing onto Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified paper, and to have made major progress in the same direction for their educational and illustrated publishing. The policy will be introduced gradually across the company's UK publishers starting with Little Brown at the beginning of 2008 and then other UK publishers, including Headline, Hodder & Stoughton, Hodder Education and Orion. I wonder how many of these backlist titles will then be maintained via print on demand. It will be interesting to see what happens here.

The response from book sellers, according to The Bookseller has been mixed. One more enlightened soul indie bookseller Clive Keeble, says that he hopes other publishers will follow suit, as the current system of sale or return is 'archaic and wasteful'. He goes on to say that it is poor business to expect others to subsidise one's business. I like this man and must find out what book shop he runs so that he can stock my book!

However, other booksellers expressed misgivings about what it would mean in terms of range. Waterstone's are said to be circumspect, stating that while they are committed to investigating ways of reducing returns, they had to ensure that any action the industry takes does not threaten specialist booksellers' ability to stock and sell deep range. That is rich I must say, since it due to the business activities of the chain store demanding more and more discounts so that they can have 3 for 2 promotions and so on that the majority of independents are going out of business in the first place!

The downside is that it may lead book sellers to be more wary of stocking back list titles, including mine. As Sheila O'Reilly, owner of indie Dulwich Books says, book sellers have two ways of buying stock - from wholesalers or direct from publishers. If they buy from the publishers direct they get less discount, usually with sale or return; if they buy from from wholesalers we get more discount and the right to return between 5% and 10% of the previous three months' sales. What this in practise means is that they have to have a 5 percent error rate. If firm sale comes in across the board, such book sellers then will be a lot more cautious about ordering such back lists (and books like mine) that do not have a provemn sales record.

Is is fair though to expect as Clive Keeble said, others to subside your business. Personally alhtough I take Sheila O'Reilly's point, I think not. Nobody else has a 5 percent error rate written into their supply contract, so why should book sellers be any different?

More worrying, book sellers may start to demand higher discounts to compensate for this loss, whihc is a move that small presses would strongly resist. Chris Rusbhy, Director of Bertrams, the UK's second largest wholesaler made the point that it is all very well to have green credentials, but there would be a saving that goes along with that, and book sellers should be able to share that saving. They are though missing the point - yes there would be savings in terms of less books being printed, but the books that are printed still have to shipped to the wholesaler, packed and then shipped off again, and this costs the same regardless. Personally I think the book sellers are just being greedy - I mean my book cost me nearly £5000 to write over 5 years, during which time I was not earning money elsewhere as I was writing full time. As it stands, who gets what can be broken down as follows:

book seller £6.00
print costs £4.06
wholesaler £2.25
me £1.60
publisher £1.08

This is why I would strongly then resist such a move and why I see parallels between this and the Writers Guild strike, since it is about the writers right (write!) to earn a decent living wage from doing what they do best. Call me old fashioned, but I believe the lions share should always go the person who created the work and not the one who is selling it.

Time for a Firm Commitment

This morning I spoke to a very strange woman in Borders, Birmingham who even though you can now get my book on sale or return, still demanded a 60 percent discount. 60 percent to them equals 75 percent to the publisher, since the distributor will also want their cut ! So I told her I could not do business on those terms, since it would leave me with nothing. She then got very upset with me (obviously not used to having authors tell her what terms they are prepared to sell on and not the other way around) and told me that the book was listed on their database as local interest anyway, and they would therefore have to put it in that section, where it would not sell ! What a load of rubbish - other stores have been perfectly happy to buy copies and put them in the MBS section.

Got straight on to Paul anyway, who is speaking to their head office to try and get the book sent out to all their stores anyway, and he got them to change it to MBS. He also gave me the number for Waterstones Buying Department, where I spoke to a very nice man called Justin Hutchinson, who is apparently the small publisher coodinator. After checking that my book was in fact available for sale through them, he asked me to email him asking for a list of all their stores, which I did, and back it came within 5 minutes. What wonderful service !

Have done some more ringing round then today and managed to secure some more orders. So far then six Waterstones have definately placed orders - Godalming, Epsom, Redhill, Aviemore, Barnstaple and Kingston. I also have possible book signings at Guildford and Staines. Several Borders have also ordered copies -Whiteleys in London, Fleet Street in London, Wimbledon, Kingston and Lakeside. Newbury have put me on the list to do a talk at their theology group, and Brighton and Oxford Street are also considering the book. All in all then a very good days work.

On another note, Neil Denny, editor in chief of the Bookseller has an interesting piece on this blog today, discussing the pros and cons of firm sale versus sale or return. I posted my own somewhat watered down take on it, at the time riding high on my successes of the past week. Then I rang that strange woman in Birmingham though and changed my mind.

It seems to me that the publishing industry is all topsy turvy, it is to the best of my knowledge, the only industry where the buyer rather than the seller dictates terms. It is a non win situation for all round - especially for us self published authors who already face huge prejudice in some circles from those who resolutely refuse to label us as anything other than vanity press. If this were not bad enough, we then find that because our books are, for the most part not available on sale or return, we cannot eveb get through the door. Because only sales through tills count towards totting up the sales of each book, no matter how enterprising you are then in selling through other outlets your book will never get noticed, and never get the publicity that it deserves. All because of this 'closed shop attitude'.

I for one do not think that it is right or ethical than stores such as the aforementioned Borders demand they we supply to them on those terms, as what it basically then means is that they get all the money. They in fact end of making in some cases, twice as much profit as the author and publisher put together - an absurd situation, which by any stretch of the imagination cannot be right. This is why then I would applaud the end of this practise, since it would mean that slowly, but surely, the playing field would be levelled, leaving us to compete on much more equal terms. It seems to me that the real problem with the publishing industry is nothing to do with too many books, or even a lack of marketing expertise on behalf of the sellers - although these are issues that need to be addressed - no the real problem is too many middle men wanting their cut, and thus undermining the writers right to earn a proper living from doing what they love !

Don't get me wrong, I realise how fortunate I am to be able to offer my books on these terms, and it has opened many doors - but I should not have been forced to take this step in the first place, and neither should Richard. I look forward to the day then when this practise stops for good.