tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post111537607094429751..comments2024-03-28T13:18:28.238+00:00Comments on Grumpy Old Bookman: New thinking by bookseller -- world grinds to halt againMichael Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11338398159818400930noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-84502237589573208252007-08-29T15:15:00.000+01:002007-08-29T15:15:00.000+01:00I have mixed feelings on this as well. I am a self...I have mixed feelings on this as well. I am a self published author myself with Authors OnLine Ltd, but did consider publishing with Authorhouse. Having seen the Authorhouse stand in the Oxford Street branch, I have to say that I do tend to agree with Peter, in that people do not look for, for example religious books anywhere other than the relgious section, and the books will therefore be difficult to find. The Authorhouse stand is right in the middle of the fiction area on the ground floor, and mixing genres like this, all on the same stand is somewhat confusing to the customer.<BR/><BR/>On the other hand, when I pitched my book to Borders in Oxford Street just recently they turned it down. The copy I sent them was passed on to their Head Office to look at, so maybe they did me a favour in bringing it to their attention, who knows? Would I have stood a better chance if I had signed up to the Authorhouse package. This package does not come cheap, so realistically, can the authors expect to recoup their costs? These are all unknowable and unanswerable questions, and I guess that only time will tell. I will not be in a hurry though to move my book to Authorhouse !Junehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16586833802576378185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1150577797472492942006-06-17T21:56:00.000+01:002006-06-17T21:56:00.000+01:00As a Waterstones employee and buyer in a branch th...As a Waterstones employee and buyer in a branch this is very interesting turn of events. In the past few years Waterstones has vastly cut down the amount of suppliers it uses - this is well known - but the reason it did this is that because they felt that anything that didn't come from a big publishing house was inferior and not worthy of our time. Someone had done alot of number crunching and most of the "dead" stock came from small publishers or was self-published. Having a self-published section will "ghettoize" these books but it may possibly draw attention to them. Most booksellers don't keep these books in a sufficient quantity to display them and unless they are hand-sold disappear into the shelves. I still haven't made up my mind on this issue. I mean, I don't want anything in my section that I am told to have that I wouldn't otherwise stock, and I have taken risks on a lot of books that I consider worthy when it has been against policy to stock them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1115973931615922202005-05-13T09:45:00.000+01:002005-05-13T09:45:00.000+01:00The books produced by AuthorHouse will only be in ...The books produced by AuthorHouse will only be in a section of the bookstore labeled "Self-Published." In other words, a ghetto for self-published books. If you were to write a biography, it will not be shelved among the other biographies, but only in the Self-Published section. <BR/><BR/>Nobody goes into a bookstore to browse for the newest self-published books. They look for books on their favorite subject, and self-published is not a subject category. I dare say that many people don't even know you can self-publish a book.<BR/><BR/>To paraphrase the Pythons, "Scam, scam, scammity scam.<BR/><BR/>I envy the inexhaustable ingenuity of these predatory con men. If only I didn't have a conscience, I could really make money in publishing.Peter L. Winklerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16005846686173676213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1115973790624560152005-05-13T09:43:00.000+01:002005-05-13T09:43:00.000+01:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Peter L. Winklerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16005846686173676213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-1115400923765393012005-05-06T18:35:00.000+01:002005-05-06T18:35:00.000+01:00And Michael, in the United States, there is always...And Michael, in the United States, there is always Oprah at the end of the day...<BR/>cheersSuzan Abrams, email: suzanabrams@live.co.ukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08818807164881810296noreply@blogger.com