Okay, I know this isn't about my first sale. But I'll get to that later in t
he month. Promise.
Today I want to pick your brain. I want to know how you decide which books to buy and where to buy them. First let me give you some context...
There's a debate in the industry about something called "returns."
Returns are the unsold books that the bookseller sends back to the wholesaler. Yep, you heard me. The bookseller doesn't have to be responsible for their inventory. They can (at any time) send books back to the wholesaler. No sales are ever really final unless you make the books NON-returnable.
This is a dirty word in bookselling. Booksellers hate non-returnable books. They won't usually order them for store shelves unless the bookseller is pretty darned convinced that book will sell itself. This business model evolved because publishers tried to get booksellers to take a chance on new authors. Somehow returnable books for "new authors" became returnable books for "all authors."
There has always been grumbling in the industry, but lately some not-so-small publishers are experimenting with non-returnable books. Returns are horribly costly for publishers.
As you might expect, the books returned are in pitiful shape after being shipped around the country four (4) times (first to the wholesaler, then bookseller, back to the wholesaler, and finally back to the publisher). The publisher generally has to pay for shipping twice which is why paperbacks are rarely returned. The covers are stripped off and returned for credit.
Massive amounts of books are printed and never sold. They're pulped usually. I could go on about the ins and outs of returns, but that's not the point. I just wanted you to know what returns are and how NOT having returnable books would affect shelf-space. (i.e. a book would get darned little of it.)
SO...how important is it to you that the book is on the store shelves? Is that how you make your buying decisions, by browsing the shelves every so often?
Or do you do most of your shopping online these days and add books to your cart until you're ready to order?
Are you willing to track a book down once you've found out about it?
Are you willing to ask your bookseller to special order a book for you?
We all love a bookstore, me included. But I rarely go to a bookstore to purchase a particular book. All my planned purchases are online. I buy more "planned" books than "browsed" books.
How do you buy books?
